WAP Forum chief quits

The WAP Forum will have to find a new chief executive by this summer, after Scott Goldman, announced his resignation, yesterday.

Goldman, who will step down in June 2001, had been a high-profile leader of the WAP Forum. Speaking at m-Commerce World last month he insisted that the Wireless Application Protocol had a bright future. He joined the organisation in November 1999, having previously worked at BuyWireless.com and the Goldman Group.

A spokeswoman insisted that the decision was mutual. "Scott is moving on to do something else, but he'll still have an active role within the WAP Forum," she said, adding that Goldman remained a strong advocate of WAP.

In a statement, Goldman explained that he leaving because he was close to successfully completing the launch of a new version of WAP. "When I joined the WAP Forum in November 1999, I was primarily charged with helping to ensure the successful completion and launch of WAP 2.0. Since then, this goal has been achieved," he said.

WAP 2.0 will will support colour graphics, animation and large file downloads, as well as location-based services and data synchronisation. The WAP Forum is made up of all the major players in the mobile world, including Nokia, France Telecom, Motorola and NTT DoCoMo -- which operates i-mode in Japan. There have been suggestions that arguments between competing companies may have led to Goldman's departure.

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