DPWN Dumps Digital Signature Business

Deutsche Post, the German postal service operator, has announced that it is to withdraw from its business with digital signatures, declaring at the same time that it was to sell its loss-making subsidiary Signtrust. Deutsche Post said its withdrawal was due to the fact that the market appears to be unready for digital signature technology, meaning that it could not implement its strategy for this area of the business. The decision puts under the spotlight the commercial potential of digital signatures in Germany. Few companies are involved in the business, which in Deutsche Post’s case cost 25 euros per year for the signature as well as a one-off cost of 60 euros for the capability to read signatures. It had been hoped that digital signatures would bring in annual turnover of 50m euros within the next couple of years, as well as making a profit by 2004