SIEMENS Launches WAP-enabled range of mobile phones

Range starts from AED700

Dubai – (5 July 2000)

Bashar Dahabra (right), MD of Info2cell, Asim Sukhera (middle), Siemens area manager,
and Kazi Najib Ashraf (left), Siemens regional service manager at the press conference in Dubai.

Leading German mobile phone manufacturer Siemens, today announced the launch of their new range of WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) enabled mobile phones in the region.

The new range includes the C35 and S35 models, both of which come with integrated WAP 1.1 browser.

The launch follows an exceptional year in 1999 for Siemens when its Information and Communication products division, which includes mobiles phones, doubled earnings from USD940 million to USD1.8 billion. Here in the Middle East, the company recently announced that it had moved into the top four mobile phones brands in the region, with sales in excess of 120,000 units between February and September of last year alone.

The C35 model

Designed to appeal to consumers who want the functionality of high-end features at an affordable price, the C35 combines many of the features of high end models, with a user friendly operability. Weighing just 115 grammes and only 88cm³ in volume, the model has a standby time of up to 180 hours and a talk time of up to 300 minutes. With features such stopwatch, currency converter, silent alert and clock with date and time stamp , the C35 is set to raise the standard of mobile phones for predominantly private and social use.

Designed to appeal to the increasingly sophisticated age sector of 16 – 30, the stylish handset includes exciting new entertainment features such as “Picture Messaging” and “Calling Faces”. “Picture Messaging” allows the user to send fun and emotive images instead or in addition to text messages via SMS (Short Messaging Service).

“Calling Faces” adds further emotional value to every call by allowing users to add amusing and personal face icons to important names in their address books. When your mobile phone rings, the screen will flash with your chosen face in addition to the name and number. Other entertainment features include games and a ring tone melody composer.

Users are able to personalise their C35 by selecting the menu level to meet their individual needs. The menu can be set to “fast” if simple tasks such as making and receiving calls is all that is required. Alternatively, more sophisticated users may choose the “complete” setting to use all the phone’s features.

The S35 Model

Weighing just 105 grammes, the Siemens S35 is one of the lightest and smallest mobile phones in the high-end range. Targetted at the business sector, the S35 has a catalogue of features to satisfy the most user, including the WAP 1.1 browser, opening the door to the world of mobile online information and business services. The Infrared Interface (IrDA) also makes the handset easily compatible with laptops and personal data assistants, such as the Siemens IC35 (The Unifier).

Designed with the business user in mind, the phone has voice-activated dialling – operational even when using a headset**. Unique to the S35’s features is voice memo, programmable user profiles, complete organiser functionality with calendar, appointments and a business card sending and printing facility. If a break from work is needed, the S35 comes complete with games and a ring tone melody composer.

The large animated graphic display, capable of showing up to seven lines also means that arranging business schedules on a phone has never been easier. Talk time is up to 360 minutes, standby time is more than nine days. The Triple Rate Vocoder facility offers superior digitised speech quality.

One of its major features on both models, for easing up the use of text messaging is the integration of Intelligent Typing*. The user simply presses each desired letter key once, and the dictionary recognises the words the user is trying to spell.

Both models are similarly on Dual Band EGSM 900 / GSM 1800 status allowing them to be used throughout in the Middle East, Europe, Asia and Africa. Also for the region, both models have Arabic display.

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WAP for all

Focusing on the issue of WAP, Asim Sukhera, area manager for Siemens Information and Communication Mobile said: “Although service providers in the GCC have not yet launched WAP services, almost all of them will do so in the coming months.”

For Siemens, the focus is on educating the markets about WAP and its potential for the region. Earlier this year, it signed a partnership with global portal Yahoo! Company officials believe that general consumers, rather than purely business users, will be the heaviest users of WAP services once they are launched. Already Europe is seeing banking, retailing and entertainment go mobile. Market research company, The Yakee Group, estimates some 48 million WAP-enabled mobile users by 2002; a figure they expect to rise to a phenomenal 203 million by 2005 (Source: Mobile Executive July 2000).

“We believe we must take the first step in educating consumers about the potential of WAP here in the region,” explains Sukhera. To that end, the company is partnering with Info2cell, the Middle East’s first wireless content provider. The regional partnership will see Siemens and Info2cell join hands in WAP demonstrations and in media communications to raise the awareness of the technology.

“For us, the partnership is an ideal means of educating our consumers now - before the technology is launched in many countries here,” explains Bashar Dahabra, managing director of Info2cell. “All of which will mean that people will generally be better aware of the technology and how to use it, when it is launched.”

Siemens officials have already said that the company is aiming to increase its global sales in mobile phones to 60 million units by 2001 and clinch the number three ranking among mobile phone manufacturers.

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