from the dept. Ascom launched a Corded ISDN phone with WAP access called Ascom Eurit 4000 on CeBIT. Why? Because Ascom believes WAP gives easier and more convenient access to the Web.  Ascom’s bucking the trend a bit here, with other corded smart phone producers like Samsung choosing to equip their high-speed ISDN phones with access to the wired Web. The WAP-enabled Ascom Corded ISDN phone was launched at CeBIT, and will be available in October/November and will cost around EUR 350. Land of the ISDN The main market for the telephone is Germany, Scandinavia and Spain, countries where ISDN is very popular. While ISDN can’t match the blistering pace of ADSL ( a connection speed of either 64kbs or 120kbs as opposed to up to 576kbs for ADSL), WAP pages are displayed within seconds. Fast and easy The ISDN speed is fast enough to show HTML pages with no problems whatsoever, and Samsung has chosen the Web version in their corded smart phone. So whyWAP? “WAP makes it faster, and a lot easier”, said Ascom sales executive Jørn Finstad, to WAP.com. “You just press a special WAP button, and you’re in”. 10 lines WAP is perfect for small devices, and even though the Eurit 4000 is pretty chunky the display will still show just 10 lines. When it comes to news, weather and stock prices 10 lines is enough, Finstad believes, and it makes displaying pages easier and faster. And it’s certainly cheaper than connecting to WAP with a mobile. Home office solution It takes just seconds to check whether you have new e-mails or whether a chat friend is currently online. No more having to start the PC and log on to the Internet. And your children will love it. Sending SMS messages is child's play with a full keyboard available. “This is a perfect solution for your home office”, said Finstad. “We will sell this to business customers working from home. The Eurit 4000 will be a good supplement to your private computer”. No complicated installation In contrast to the Samsung smart phone, which was launched as a phone for newbies to the mobile Internet, but was actually quite complicated to use, Ascom promises that using the Eurit 4000 is as easy as it gets. “Simply unpack it, plug it in and the user can access the WAP-enabled Internet sites immediately at the press of a key”, Ascom proclaims. But even though this is a phone for beginners, it is still firmly aimed at the business users. In keeping with that Finstad says the next version of Eurit 4000 will probably be delivered with a scanner for Smart Cards, making e-business easier.
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