So many cool apps, so little WAP

The wireless industry has opened its arms to the numerous content providers, but it is struggling to create common interfaces that allow those content providers to deliver information to users.

The Wireless Application Protocol Forum might have its hands full trying to develop a common technology, but it does not lack assistance. SUMmedia.com, an e-coupon content provider, recently joined the forum in May, hoping to make the Internet as commonplace to mobile devices as it is to PCs.

Founded in 1999, SUMmedia.com provides localized online coupons through its eCoupon portal, savingumoney.com. TheWeb site currently is available throughout Japan, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, parts of Canada and Australia, but availability of localized information remains spotty in the U.S.

Instead of continuing to help small companies without Web expertise increase sales by relying on e-coupons to entice shoppers, SUMmedia.com is taking a stab at wireless. It launched a Web site called SUMmobile.com in May, and the company will concentrate on providing services that support its savingumoney.com coupon concept to wireless devices.

"We see wireless as the next logical space in terms of distributing coupons," said David Noble, chief information officer for SUMmobile.com. As a member of the WAP Forum, SUMmedia.com wants to give consumers access to e-coupons from their cellular phones and other WAP-enabled devices.

"Because 3G will increase bandwidth, carriers will be looking to have killer apps and increase air time," said Evan Baergen, vice president of emerging technology for SUMmedia.com. While the technology behind wireless e-coupons is simple, "with 3G we will be able to attach jingles and graphics, and it will be just like being online," he said.

But many carriers are not ready to push digital data to handsets, said Steve Stutman, president and founder of ClickaDeal.com. Similar to SUMmedia.com, ClickaDeal.com has created an integrated database and interface platform, which delivers geography-sensitive directory information and e-coupons to mobile subscribers using the short message service and WAP protocols.

"In August of 1999 we had our software ready to deliver content, but the problem has been that carriers were not capable of handling the traffic," Stutman said. ClickaDeal.com has tested its technology in more than 15 major cities.

SUMmedia.com will launch in Hong Kong first, followed by Europe and then North America. It intends to roll out the technology for personal digital assistant (PDA) devices in North America within the next couple of months.

Because not all consumers care about coupons, it may be hard to attract them unless the savings are being sent to them automatically. "Unless they are coupon clippers, forcing consumers to search for coupons may not be a successful model," said Ken Hyers, an industry analyst for Cahners In-Stat Group. However, protecting privacy is critical.

That fact is not lost on SUMmedia.com.

"We are not interested in spamming people, and we target individual users with what they want to receive," Noble said. "We want to offer substantial savings to consumers so mobile operators can benefit [from offering the service]." The company plans eventually to push coupons to registered users based on their purchasing preferences and location.

Although neither SUMmedia.com nor ClickaDeal.com announced exactly how consumers and merchants will interface with the service, both have ideas about how it will shake out. For instance, when a consumer walks into a record store and wants to use an e-coupon, he or she might be able to click and fax it to the merchant or e-mail it. Or the consumer could have the merchant type a PIN number into the handset to redeem the coupon.