| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 15/05/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 4 |
| Copyright: Other |
Thomas Cook rings in mobile changes
Operator to use WAP technology to offer Internet travel services for phone users
Report by TANYA JEFFERIES
THOMAS Cook plans to exploit an anticipated explosion in ownership of mobile phones by offering users Internet travel services from July.The company will initially launch a travel information service on the new generation of Wireless Application Protocol phones which have Internet access.
It will then start allowing customers to make holiday and flight bookings and buy foreign currency later in the year.
Thomas Cook Interactive’s ventures and futures director Bill James said: “Mobile phones are becoming part of people’s lives. They are becoming indispensable because they make people’s lives easier. We really want to become a part of that revolution.”
There are currently an estimated 400m mobile phone users worldwide but this figure is expected to rise to 1bn by the end of 2002.
James claimed Thomas Cook’s new mobile Internet phone services will complement its existing Internet services.
“The reality is that new technologies will bring different benefits to customers at different times,” he said.
“There are certain services that will be very valuable to me when I have my mobile phone and am on the move, that are very different from those that I need when I am sitting in front of a PC or TV.”
Thomas Cook will use a new secure system for processing mobile phone travel transactions which has been developed by its technology partner Sonera SmartTrust. The system involves the use of a personalised smart chip that customers can take out and transfer from one phone to another but which no outsider is able to read or copy.
Customers will also be assigned a pin number which represents their digital signature.
Thomas Cook and Sonera are currently trialling a foreign currency ordering service in Finland using the new system.
On trial: Timo Laaksonen of Sonera Corporation and Thomas Cook’s Bill James test out the new WAPs
How WAP phones will work
n Input personal and credit-card details on Thomas Cook’s Internet site at www.thomascook.com.
n Wait to be sent a smart chip to insert in the back of your mobile phone and a pin number to use when making bookings.
n Visit Thomas Cook’s mobile Internet site (which has yet to be named) using your phone.
n Input travel or foreign-exchange requirements and make a booking.
n Enter the personal pin number, your digital signature.