EarthLink announced that it plans offer its own brand of converged wireless data and voice devices. The company is the first ISP to provide end-to-end wireless data and voice solution. The first product will be available this spring and will include a complete package of software on handheld device. The package will contain e-mail, voice calling and Internet browsing applications all provided and supported by EarthLink.
The e-mail client on the new devices will be protected by EarthLink’s spam filtering application, spamBlocker, because EarthLink expects that mobile spam will become a problem for users of converged devices as wireless access becomes more popular.
Brent Cobb, vice president of EarthLink Wireless, said that mobile professionals relied on wireless e-mail to make them more productive and if spam was not controlled it had the potential to eliminate the very reason for having a wireless device in the first place. He added that EarthLink was looking at voice the same way it has looked at wireless e-mail and Internet, as an application that the company’s customers wanted as a part of a complete wireless solution.
EarthLink has decided to offer the new solutions in response to requests from its wireless data customers who needed an experienced provider to allow them to take advantage of the convergence of applications on next generation devices. In the past four years, EarthLink has provided the data-focused mobile professionals with wireless services on multiple platforms, using many data networks such as CDMA 1xRTT, DataTAC, Mobitex and ReFLEX.
The new EarthLink wireless data and voice solution will be provided on handheld devices with a full QWERTY keyboard and PDA functionality that allows users to access data from a calendar or address book, while receiving or initiating voice calls. EarthLink will announce service plans and pricing for its new Wireless E-mail and Voice service and price bundles with EarthLink’s other access services this spring. Additional devices will complement EarthLink’s wireless data and voice product lien later this year. For further information on the new solution, visit www.ctia.earthlinkwireless.net.
