Yahoo and Lucent become WAP messaging partners

Justin Pearse ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 29 Feb 2000 17:30 GMT

At the CTIA Wireless 2000 show in New Orleans on Tuesday, Lucent Technologies will demonstrate how instant messages can be sent and received between Yahoo Messenger software and WAP-enabled devices.

The service, enabled by Lucent's Wireless Data Gateway, will allow users to communicate via Yahoo Instant Messaging, regardless of whether they're connected to a WAP phone or a PC.

As soon as a network recognises that a user's phone is switched on, the user is notified of other members in their 'buddy list' who are connected to the Internet, allowing messaging to take place. The group of other users is notified when the phone is switched off.

The lack of SMS in the States, being a feature of the mainly European GSM network, means that such mobile instant messaging solutions are likely to be extremely popular. However, SMS use in the UK has exploded in the last couple of years, so despite the popularity of online messaging services, they're unlikely to have great appeal to UK wireless users.

The agreement follows Monday's announcement that Nokia and AOL are to work on developing AOL's Instant Messaging service for Nokia's range of wireless devices.

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