HELSINKI, Finland-Nokia Corp. and Agence France-Presse have signed a global cooperation agreement to develop news services based on the Wireless Application Protocol. AFP, one of the world’s three leading news and photo agencies, will use WAP-based mobile services to provide the latest general, sports and financial news in English, Spanish, French, German and Portuguese.
“The launch of our WAP services builds on AFP’s strong presence on the Internet, moving us now into the new era of mobile access to the Internet,” said Monique Willa, AFP’s director for strategy, business development and partnerships. “Through this partnership with Nokia, we will be able to deliver a wide range of news and information to people who need to be on the move.”
AFP, with 1,200 reporters, 200 photographers and 2,000 stringers working in 165 countries, provides multimedia news services to more than 150 Web sites in 20 countries.
“Several organizations and operators throughout the world have already launched mobile Internet services using Nokia technology,” said Pekka Salonoja, vice president of messaging and service platforms for Nokia. “We believe that AFP, as one of the world’s leading news providers, has an important role to play in the development of mobile global news services.”
