WAP Joint Venture with Eircell
Ryanair Holdings PLC
12 April 2000
RYANAIR.COM AND EIRCELL
ANNOUNCE W.A.P. JOINT VENTURE
Ireland's Largest Website And Ireland's Largest Mobile Phone Company Team Up
To Offer Low Fare Website Access
Ryanair announced today (Wednesday, 12th April 2000) that as a result of an
agreement signed between Eircell and Ryanair, customers of both companies will
shortly be able to book their flights via their mobile phones through the
integration of WAP technology and the hugely successful Ryanair Website. The
agreement was announced by Michael O'Leary, Chief Executive of Ryanair at the
COMMS 2000 conference at the RDS in Dublin this afternoon.
The joint development and marketing initiative builds on the two companies
success in their respective areas - the Ryanair.com website and Eircell's
mobile internet offering.
Ryanair's hugely successful internet booking service which now accounts for
over 30% of bookings made with Ryanair will be made exclusively available on
Eircell's WAP information service in the Republic of Ireland. A customer with
an Eircell WAP phone will then be able to check flight availability and book
and pay for their Ryanair flights using their mobile phone in the same way
they can currently use their PCs.
The agreement to provide WAP flight booking service exclusively on Eircell
mobile phones includes a major co - marketing initiative that will see each
company promoting the others services. Both companies confirmed that the WAP
booking services will be in place before the summer and Ryanair's Chief
Executive, Michael O'Leary said:
' This is a deeply significant move for Ryanair, helping reduce our costs and
significantly extending the success of our internet booking service and giving
even more access to Ryanair's low fares to Eircell's one million mobile phone
users. As a pioneer of quality WAP services and a leading innovator in the e
- commerce sector, Eircell was the obvious choice for us. Eircell is
undoubtedly driving the change from voice to data in Ireland making WAP,
mobile internet and increased data speeds a reality for Irish users'
Welcoming the announcement, Eircell's Chief Executive, Stephen Brewer said:
'Eircell and Ryanair are natural partners as the driving forces behind new
development in their respective business sectors. We have always chosen top
calibre content providers to work with us in the data revolution. Ryanair has
demonstrated its innovative nature through its strategic use of internet
technology as a key distribution channel. Our aim is to build on the success
Ryanair has achieved with its website, and to deliver it to a bigger audience
using the most pervasive and most personal electronic device - the mobile
phone'
For further information
please contact: www.RYANAIR.COM - The low fares website of
Europe
Pauline McAlester
Murray Consultants
Telephone: 01 - 663 3332
Editor's Note
WAP is the technology that allows Eircell customers to browse the internet
using their mobile phone. Eircell is Irelands leading mobile phone operator
with more than 1 million customers and 5 million conversations a day. The
company employs one thousand people and invests five million euros a month in
infrastructure and customer care.
RYANAIR.COM is now Irelands largest website, with an audited figure of 8.9
million page impressions during March. As Ryanair's low fares network
continues to successfully expand in Europe, the growth in business and
bookings at RYANAIR.COM continues to grow exponentially.
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