The WAPHome Portal (http://www.waphome.co.za), South Africa`s premier WAP Portal has released new mobile banking services for the first time in South Africa. NBS is the first bank to release WAP-enabled electronic banking services.
WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) is a protocol standard that provides Internet access for small hand-held devices, such as mobile phones and personal digital assistants via a mini-browser built into the unit. The WAPHome portal is a mobile handset gateway built by TranXactive (http://www.TranXactive.com) and features free localised WAP content, personalized home pages, an e-mail account link and a WAPSite directory. New services that have also been released are Event Reminders and the Personal Contactbook.
"Mobile banking will be one of the killer applications for WAP," says Richard Him Lok, TranXactive`s Director of Internet Services and E-Commerce. "Cellular subscribers with WAP-enabled phones will be able to do their banking transactions - like money transfers, balance enquiries and bill payments - from anywhere, anytime."
NBS has released their WAP application to the public, racing to be the first online bank to be mobile. Mosaic Software, member of the e-commerce division of Comparex Holdings developed the NBS WAP site.
"As soon as you connect to the banking services, you will see a padlock icon on the top line of your WAP screen", says Him Lok, "indicating that you are now on a secure channel - just like on an Internet browser, with Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption. This enables the user to feel confident that the transactions being made over WAP are private and protected."
WAPHome allows the user to easily setup links with either banking service with Over-The-Air (OTA) configuration. An SMS message containing the settings for the service is sent to the handset on request. "On receipt, a user clicks on the Save option on the WAP phone which is configured automatically with a connection to the mobile banking service" remarks Him Lok, "it`s dead simple to get connected with OTA". WAPHome also features Old Mutual`s mobile financial services, and customers can transact with their Unit Trusts over a secure channel.
WAPHome also features a dedicated dial-up number - optimized for WAP access - which the public can use freely when connect to the secure banking services. "Normally you would require an Internet subscription with an account login and password. Then, depending on where you are in the country you would have to setup the dial-up number for the nearest Internet POP node. WAPHome provides you with a countrywide 082 number and open login to do your mobile banking from wherever you are."
Another new WAPHome service that was recently released is the Personal ContactBook. "If you`ve ever had to re-enter all your contact names and numbers when you lost your handset or changed service providers, this feature is certainly appealing. Your online ContactBook allows you to permanently store and access an unlimited number of cellphone contacts from anywhere via WAP - along with additional home, office and fax numbers; e-mail, physical and postal addresses; as well as business details. And WAPHome allows a user to link these entries to their Event Reminders so that you can call them with a birthday wish on the day of the event...! "
Says Him Lok: "We believe that m-Commerce - or Mobile Commerce - will be the driving force and enabler of e-Commerce business in this country, due to the stunning popularity and growth of cellular phone users in South Africa. Consider that in South Africa, the current number of over four million cellular phone subscribers is more than double that the base of Internet users - and continues to outstrip the growth of Internet users."
TranXactive specializes in the development of unified, Internet-based business applications that can deliver content over multiple interfaces - allowing websites to extend their reach over a convenient, mobile WAP channel.
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