And he's also anxious to move into Western Europe before the arrival of rich cyberpowers from America. To date, though, big American brands are barely established on the Continent. America Online Inc. has taken a bruising from free Internet providers in Britain and from a host of national ISPs run by large phone companies. And eBay Inc., while opening a site in Britain, is still a foreigner to the rest of Europe. The Scandinavians must move fast to remain one step ahead of their American rivals.
Web phones are one way to do that.
EQ Online, a Helsinki company that went online a year ago, offers standard brokerage services on PCs. But the company is preparing a similar service for mobile phones, with a German-language version for export. CEO Petri Rutanen says his company's plans coincide with the development of Internet-surfing smart phones at nearby phone giants Nokia and Ericsson, which should be hitting the market in Europe later this summer. The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.