Vodafone and IBM in data services pact

By RICHARD BRADDELL

WELLINGTON - Vodafone New Zealand and IBM have joined forces to develop mobile business services including remote database access from mobile phones.

The wireless internet application (WAP) based services will enable people in the field, such as sales representatives, to interactively access customer records, stock databases and internet resources.

"This is the next wave of the e-business revolution," said IBM New Zealand managing director Ken Symington.

The agreement is additional to a recent global contract between the two firms to develop and run a web portal for wireless devices.

Vodafone began trials of WAP in February. While it will support only a trimmed-down version of the internet, it offers considerably more scope for data services than existing short message services.

In a separate development, Vodafone and iTouch New Zealand, sister company to Herald publisher Wilson & Horton, have launched a system enabling the delivery of news, sports results and business updates to Vodafone cellphones.