"This will revolutionise the use of the Internet in Norway," says Turid Grotmoll, Managing Director of Telenor Privat, adding that Norway is the first country in the world with this technology.
User-friendly The Telenor SmartPhone can be plugged straight into an ordinary ISDN socket, and can be used both as a conventional telephone and for surfing the Internet. You can even surf and talk on the phone at the same time. Telenor emphasises that the telephone set is not a PC, but that you can both send and receive e-mail from it. The SmartPhone also has a built-in smart card reader, which amongst other things will enable payments to be made safely via the Internet.
"You get a running message on the telephone when someone has sent you e-mail, without having to pay any call charges or be connected to the Internet. That makes the Telenor SmartPhone even more user-friendly than a PC, which has to be connected to check whether you have any new e-mail," says Ms Grotmoll.
No previous knowledge required
"I believe this will be a great success, enthuses Ms Grotmoll. "The Telenor SmartPhone is so simple and practical to use that it will catch on with experienced Internet users as well as those who haven’t yet tried surfing the Net. You need absolutely no previous knowledge to use the Telenor SmartPhone."
The price of a Telenor SmartPhone terminal will initially be around NOK 3,000 – 3,500, with a monthly subscription charge of NOK 50.
The Telenor SmartPhone has been developed in collaboration with Samsung and Alcatel.