Internet via mobile phone software firm Phone.com Inc has signed up Argo Interactive Plc of the UK to provide HTML-to-WML (wireless markup language) translation software for its wireless application protocol (WAP) web servers. The Redwood City, California-based company also announced yesterday that over 25 mobile phone manufacturers have been recruited to use its UP.Browser microbrowser in their WAP-enabled phones.
London-based Argo develops the ActiGate system, which translates HTML web pages into the WAP-friendly WML in real time, allowing companies to save great amounts of time recoding sites manually. ActiGate will sit on Phone.com’s UP.Link WAP servers, enabling network operators the chance to aggregate web content into value-added services for WAP handset users. Argo could not comment when asked if a bundling deal had been struck with Phone.com.
Phone.com’s new browser customers include ten recently recruited Japanese manufacturers, including NEC, Casiom Sanyo, Kyocera, Sharp, Sony, Denso, Toshiba, Hitachi and Matsushita (Panasonic). The UP.Browser software is currently being ported for compatibility with GSM, CDMA, PDC, PHS and TDMA mobile telephony standards.
