Wilson and Horton announces...
A telephone competition is the first stage in the launch of a new mobile information service from iTouch New Zealand.
Unveiled this morning, the competition invites people to ring an 0900 telephone number (see below) for the chance to win lunch with a famous sports star.
Also included in the prize: a "doggy bag" containing $5000.
There are eight sports starts featured in the competition: Nicki Tanner, Dean Barker, Hamish Carter, Leilani Joyce, Sarah Ulmer, Stacey Jones, Belinda Colling, and Mark Robinson.
On the 1st of May, iTouch will begin providing a range of information through its 0900 telephone service. Services will include share prices, banking, news, sports and weather, as well as more competitions.
Users will receive prompts to guide them through the system and to make their selections of information that will eventually range from sports results to share prices.
iTouch's managing director, David Sweet, said users would be able to receive information anywhere, anytime.
Most of iTouch's 0900 services will be charged at 99c a minute plus GST. Mr Sweet said the average 0900 call to the service was expected to last less than two minutes.
"The information is up-front to allow people to push their way through the service as quickly as possible," he said.
The interactive voice service will be followed by a short-message service and a mobile internet service next month on the Vodafone network.
The last of these will enable the delivery of transaction services through the latest generation of wireless application protocol-enabled mobile phones.
Information services will then be progressively rolled out. These will include news, sport, business, weather and entertainment. Each category will contain a range of information and transaction services.
In the business category, for example, users will be able to obtain real-time prices for shares, commodities and unit trusts, alerts of significant price movements, security trading, news and transactional services.
Initially, much of iTouch's information will be sourced through Wilson & Horton, publisher of the New Zealand Herald. However, partnership discussions with suppliers of compatible information and services are under way.
Mr Sweet would not disclose forecasts of user numbers but said the company's growth forecasts were "ambitious."
To enter the iTouch competition, ring 0900 70050.
Calls cost $0.99 a minute plus GST. Children ask your parents before calling. One prize only. Prize restricted to one person. Competition finishes midnight 30 April 2000.
