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Speech By Mr Michael Yap, Chief Executive, National Computer Board at the Launch of www.i-One.Net and i-One Kiosks Live on Orchard Road, and Presentation of Strategic Partnerships In Technology on 6 May 1999"I am excited to be here today to be part of this significant occasion to launch the i-One website and the 'live' i-One kiosks on Orchard Road. I see an extensive network of well located public kiosks as an important part of our effort to bring IT to everyone. With kiosks in public places, PCs in libraries and community centres, we aim to provide easy online access to all. Today, some 50% of households still do not have PCs at home. The convenience offered by a pervasive network of kiosks, much like our ATM network, cannot be under-estimated. And, if these kiosks are connected to Singapore One and are EC-enabled, they are transformed into 'singing & dancing' kiosks delivering a whole host of new and exciting services. At this point, I would like to pause to congratulate Mr KK Fong and his team at i-One for having the vision to deploy such an extensive network of kiosks. I appreciate the hard work that has gone into this. I understand that the effort required to build each kiosk in a public area is, in some ways, like putting up a building. In a recent NCB survey conducted covering eight industry sectors, only 9% of companies said that they were already buying and selling on the Internet. Sixty-three per cent (63%) said that they were not aware or saw no need. Some of the reasons cited included initial start-up costs and on-going operational costs. This is where I can see an e-Commerce service provider, such as i-One.Net, playing the role of supporting businesses with a readily available e-Commerce platform to deliver their online services. By making it easy and affordable, i-One's services can potentially benefit businesses, particularly the smaller ones who feel that they are not quite ready or not quite IT savvy. These businesses will be able to give e-Commerce a try without having to make a big investment themselves. Significantly, the i-One web-site will not only be available to the public kiosks users, but also everyone else who has access to Singapore One or the Internet. The customer reach is tremendous. It is encouraging to see private sector players like i-One coming forth to contribute towards our objectives of making Singapore an electronic commerce hub. I hope to see more of such private sector initiatives. I also look forward to having more Singapore businesses try out and evaluate the value of doing business online. I urge everybody in Singapore to experience online services for themselves and get a feel for the net way of life. With more services coming online, I believe that it can give all of us the productivity and efficiency which we have all been looking for. Finally, I would like to take this opporutnity to wish i-One a most successful launch and may the phrase 'I want kiosks' be on the lips of everyone, after today.
Thank you."
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