ebookers.com and BT Cellnet Form Partnership to Provide WAP Travel Services to Consumers
LONDON, April 18 /PRNewswire/ -- ebookers.com (Nasdaq: EBKR; Neuer Markt: eb6), the leading pan-European travel specialist, today announces that it has formed an partnership with BT Cellnet, and its Genie Internet service (www.genie.co.uk), the UKs market leaders in mobile Internet services.
The partnership will provide BT Cellnet's customers with access to the ebookers.com search engine for flights and other travel services through one of BT Cellnet's new range of Wireless Application Protocol, or WAP-enabled Internet phones. The service is offered via a link from the mobile phone to the Genie Internet Wireless portal
In addition, the partnership will give ebookers.com access to a large potential customer base. BT Cellnet expects sales of nearly all new mobile phones, and other new mobile devices, to be Internet-enabled within 18 months and that 85 per cent of all mobile handsets in use will be Internet-enabled within three years. By 2003, BT Cellnet expects more people in the UK to be accessing the web from mobile devices than from desktop PCs.
According to recent studies, there is a ready market for Internet-enabled phones. Research, from the NOP Research Group, commissioned recently by BT Cellnet shows that 67 per cent of UK consumers with mobile phones also have Internet access and that more than half of all consumers would today buy an Internet-enabled phone. Dinesh Dhamija, CEO of ebookers.com said:
"We are especially pleased to be working with BT Cellnet, the market leaders in the mobile Internet arena for our first WAP venture. The speed of evolution of WAP technology and the potential access to a huge number of customers is a very exciting prospect for ebookers.com. We have developed this technology and formed this alliance as we feel that it is important to capitalize on the WAP revolution from the very beginning.
"We will continue to pursue other such alliances, whilst continuing with the development of our own technology to ensure that in the near future it will be even simpler for consumers to book online with their mobile phones."
Brian Greasley, General Manager of Genie Internet said: "As the UK's mobile Internet market leaders, BT Cellnet and Genie Internet are looking to offer customers the best quality WAP content. This deal with ebookers.com helps us do just that." About ebookers.com
ebookers.com plc is a leading online European travel agency offering complete one-stop, online shopping with a host of travel products and services, including negotiated discount airfares with 100 major airlines, and discounts with over 14,000 hotels worldwide. ebookers.com is the technology and travel spin-off from Flightbookers plc, the London-based travel agency which in 1996 became the first travel company to establish an interactive website in the UK. The ebookers.com group also established the first interactive travel websites in France and Finland. The Company was established as a separate Internet company in June 1999. ebookers.com operates in the following ten countries: Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands and the UK. The company completed its initial public offering in November 1999 listing on the Nasdaq and the Neuer Markt in Frankfurt, Germany. Forward Looking Statements
Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this news release are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward looking statements. Potential risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, the Company's ability to identify, acquire and integrate its potential subsidiaries across Europe, its ability to significantly increase its online revenues and sales volumes, to maintain and develop relationships with travel suppliers and strategic partners and to attract and retain customers, potential adverse changes in its gross mark up or in commission rates, unforeseen events affecting the travel industry, the impact of year 2000 issues, and the Company's dependence on its ability to establish its brand. These and other risk factors are described in detail in the Company's Prospectus dated 11 November 1999, which has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, USA and the German Prospectus dated 11 November 1999, filed with the Neuer Market, of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Germany.
/CONTACT: Jenny Evans of ebookers.com plc, +44-0-20-7757-26-69, jennifer.evans@ebookers.com; or Alex Mackey, alexmackey@gcifocus.co.uk, or Nick Lambert, nicholaslambert@gcifocus.co.uk, both of GCI Focus, +44-0-20-7398-08-00; or Emmanuelle Thiney, ethiney@makovsky.com, or Mac McNeer, mmcneer@makovsky.com, 212-508-9651, both of Makovsky & Co., for ebookers.com plc; or Damian Peachey, of BT Cellnet/
LONDON, April 18 /PRNewswire/ -- ebookers.com (Nasdaq: EBKR; Neuer Markt: eb6), the leading pan-European travel specialist, today announces that it has formed an partnership with BT Cellnet, and its Genie Internet service (www.genie.co.uk), the UKs market leaders in mobile Internet services.
The partnership will provide BT Cellnet's customers with access to the ebookers.com search engine for flights and other travel services through one of BT Cellnet's new range of Wireless Application Protocol, or WAP-enabled Internet phones. The service is offered via a link from the mobile phone to the Genie Internet Wireless portal
In addition, the partnership will give ebookers.com access to a large potential customer base. BT Cellnet expects sales of nearly all new mobile phones, and other new mobile devices, to be Internet-enabled within 18 months and that 85 per cent of all mobile handsets in use will be Internet-enabled within three years. By 2003, BT Cellnet expects more people in the UK to be accessing the web from mobile devices than from desktop PCs.
According to recent studies, there is a ready market for Internet-enabled phones. Research, from the NOP Research Group, commissioned recently by BT Cellnet shows that 67 per cent of UK consumers with mobile phones also have Internet access and that more than half of all consumers would today buy an Internet-enabled phone. Dinesh Dhamija, CEO of ebookers.com said:
"We are especially pleased to be working with BT Cellnet, the market leaders in the mobile Internet arena for our first WAP venture. The speed of evolution of WAP technology and the potential access to a huge number of customers is a very exciting prospect for ebookers.com. We have developed this technology and formed this alliance as we feel that it is important to capitalize on the WAP revolution from the very beginning.
"We will continue to pursue other such alliances, whilst continuing with the development of our own technology to ensure that in the near future it will be even simpler for consumers to book online with their mobile phones."
Brian Greasley, General Manager of Genie Internet said: "As the UK's mobile Internet market leaders, BT Cellnet and Genie Internet are looking to offer customers the best quality WAP content. This deal with ebookers.com helps us do just that." About ebookers.com
ebookers.com plc is a leading online European travel agency offering complete one-stop, online shopping with a host of travel products and services, including negotiated discount airfares with 100 major airlines, and discounts with over 14,000 hotels worldwide. ebookers.com is the technology and travel spin-off from Flightbookers plc, the London-based travel agency which in 1996 became the first travel company to establish an interactive website in the UK. The ebookers.com group also established the first interactive travel websites in France and Finland. The Company was established as a separate Internet company in June 1999. ebookers.com operates in the following ten countries: Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands and the UK. The company completed its initial public offering in November 1999 listing on the Nasdaq and the Neuer Markt in Frankfurt, Germany. Forward Looking Statements
Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this news release are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward looking statements. Potential risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, the Company's ability to identify, acquire and integrate its potential subsidiaries across Europe, its ability to significantly increase its online revenues and sales volumes, to maintain and develop relationships with travel suppliers and strategic partners and to attract and retain customers, potential adverse changes in its gross mark up or in commission rates, unforeseen events affecting the travel industry, the impact of year 2000 issues, and the Company's dependence on its ability to establish its brand. These and other risk factors are described in detail in the Company's Prospectus dated 11 November 1999, which has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, USA and the German Prospectus dated 11 November 1999, filed with the Neuer Market, of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Germany.
/CONTACT: Jenny Evans of ebookers.com plc, +44-0-20-7757-26-69, jennifer.evans@ebookers.com; or Alex Mackey, alexmackey@gcifocus.co.uk, or Nick Lambert, nicholaslambert@gcifocus.co.uk, both of GCI Focus, +44-0-20-7398-08-00; or Emmanuelle Thiney, ethiney@makovsky.com, or Mac McNeer, mmcneer@makovsky.com, 212-508-9651, both of Makovsky & Co., for ebookers.com plc; or Damian Peachey, of BT Cellnet/
