SINGAPORE (02/21/2000) - With clearly stated ambitions of becoming the "Yahoo of the WAP world", homegrown company Wapworkz Technologies Pte. Ltd. has officially launched its WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) search engine and portal.
Linking over 1,000 WAP applications, the Orktopas search engine provides WAP content providers with a platform to advertise their services and acts as a conduit of information for mobile phone users with WAP-enabled cellular phones to access other WAP sites. Orktopas also provides reviews of other WAP-related sites.
"We want to be the convenient point of entry into the WAP world," said Benjamin Ng, managing director of Wapworkz.
According to Kings Lim, founder and technology officer at Wapworkz, the Orktopas technology stands out as it can differentiate between the different browsers accessing the Orktopas search engine, and is able to adjust its data to conform to the different browsers and devices that Wapworkz has tested.
For instance, when a PC browser accesses the site, it is redirected to a Web site. But a WAP browser will get a scaled-down version of the site.
The search engine is compatible with most phones, and adjusts to the various screen sizes, memory limitations, and graphical, text alignment capabilities of each WAP device, said Lim.
What started as a hobby among the three founders has blossomed into a search engine that receives over 1,000 hits a day.
With launches in Germany and Korea, the company has shifted its attention to the regional market. To date, telecommunications providers M1 in Singapore, and Malaysia's Maxis Networks have soft links to the Orktopas portal.
The company has embarked on providing local Singaporean content, by initially WAP-enabling "need-to-have" information, such as traffic updates, weather reports, live stock updates, electronic-mail. They plan to then progress to "nice-to-have" information that may include lifestyle-related information, like the latest sales around town, or telephone directory listings.
Today, Wapworkz is still in startup mode, with some funding by angel investors, with limited revenue streams. However, the company plans to move towards a more traditional service provider role, where they will provide services to WAP-enabled Web sites, to generate revenues through royalties.
Aside from orktopas.com, US-based www.phone.com is another provider of WAP-enabled software. In addition to information-based services, the site also provides subscribers access to telephony services, which may include over-the-air activation, call management, billing history information, pricing plan subscription and voice message management.
Wapworkz can be found at at http://www.orktopas.com.