DRAFT - NOT FOR RELEASE

Mobile Wireless Internet Forum Creates Marketing Awareness and Education Committee to Increase Vendor and Consumer Awareness of Mobile Internet Technology

FREMONT, CALIFORNIA - December, 2000 - The Mobile Wireless Internet Forum (MWIF), an industry organization committed to driving a single open mobile wireless Internet architecture, today announced the formation of the Marketing Awareness and Education (MAE) Committee. The membership of MWIF formally elected Brigitte Arnold, Vice President of Business Development and Marketing for the Mobile Internet division of Siemens AG to chair the new committee. The MAE Committee will promote industry and public awareness of mobile wireless Internet standards.

"MWIF will communicate the value of this technology to the industry and to consumers," said Arnold. "We need to become true evangelists of this technology, and to help people to understand its business value and its lifestyle value. People need to understand how their lives will be better once they embrace this technology. And vendors and operators alike need to understand how to profit from the platforms in which they have invested."

The MAE Committee has plans to demonstrate the tangible benefits of standardized mobile wireless Internet technology to vendors via trade shows, symposia and other venues. It will focus on the value of MWIF's Network Reference Architecture (NRA) through real life examples, and show how it can improve the lives of corporate executives, small business people, and consumers alike.

"We need to adopt a user-centric approach, showing everyone - businesses, and consumers - how the NRA can offer the services they want, anywhere, any time, on any device," continued Dean Sirovica, Vodafone, President and Chair of MWIF. "We will also show vendors how this user-centric approach will enable them to offer more services with more flexibility, and increase their revenue streams. The MWIF Board of Directors is very excited about the planned activities of the MAE Committee."

"Consumer education and acceptance is the key to the success of mobile wireless Internet technology," concluded Arnold. "I am very enthusiastic about the prospect of contributing to that acceptance, and, by extension, that success."
 

About Mobile Wireless Internet Forum

The mission of the Mobile Wireless Internet Forum is to drive acceptance and adoption of a single mobile wireless and Internet architecture that is independent of the access technology.

The Mobile Wireless Internet Forum was founded in January 2000 as a non-profit mutual benefit corporation under California law. Membership in the Forum is open to any organization with an interest in promoting the objectives of MWIF. Membership information can be found on the Forum's web site at mwif.org.