Mobile Internet: takes the lead

No announcement was complete at Wireless 2000 without a wireless data spin

Randy Salo, vice president of strategic marketing for Wireless Knowledge, discusses the company's new product, the Workstyle Server, which is geared toward attracting U.S. operators.

Data was clearly the theme at Wireless 2000. Big or small, new or old, just about every vendor had some sort of wireless data solution to tout. Most operators also had wireless data plans to discuss.

"We see ourselves as a delivery portal," said Mike Kalogris, chairman and CEO of Triton PCS. "Carriers betting on a specific portal or menu of services are not going to be the big successes. We can ride every horse - we don't need to pick and choose."

In addition to vendors and operators, this year several content providers - both established and new - demonstrated the growing role they play in the wireless marketplace.

Phone.com is one established vendor that showcased its expanded MyPhone applications. The offering, which Ben Linder, vice president of marketing for Phone.com, described as a voice portal, has been assembled via various acquisitions. The platform includes unified messaging, synchronization capabilities, call management and instant messaging components, which can be accessed via voice commands. "It's a great complement to [Wireless Application Protocol]," Linder said.

Unified messaging can earn significant revenue for carriers, said Alain Rossmann, chairman and CEO of Phone.com. While wireless users access content about once per month, stock quotes three times per month and e-mail four or five times per month, they use unified messaging an average of eight times per month, he said. In addition, customers that sync their wireless phone address books with their PC address books use their phones about 10% more than other users because it is easier for them to find phone numbers, he said.

Nokia introduced the Artuse MAX WAP portal, which operators can self-brand and customize. The product also serves as a platform for building customized applications using open standards, including Java, or for adding existing applications. Creating a content-rich and easy-to-use portal - and one that incorporates location information - can give operators a competitive edge, said Kim Purdie, product marketing manager of North American customer operations for Nokia.

Lucent Technologies showcased its data services platform at the conference, including the different types of services that operators can deliver based on the Data Gateway.

"The gateway adds location and presence so [application developers] can location-enable databases. It adds a new dimension," said Steve Spencer, director of wireless Internet applications for Lucent. For example, Lucent demonstrated a location-based content application with Strategy.com, a data mining company. The gateway allows operators to offer companies such as Strategy.com location information for the creation of enhanced wireless applications.

The softer side of wireless data

Software companies also are jumping into mobile data by offering wireless versions of traditional wired data services. Software.com displayed its InterMail solution, which is used widely in the wired ISP environment. Sprint PCS uses Software.com's solution to deliver e-mail to its Wireless Web customers. The software allows operators to brand their own e-mail services and add different types of messaging applications. It can deliver e-mail and other content, such as schedules, task lists, contacts and address books and Internet-based information, via short message service (SMS). As more WAP-enabled phones and platforms hit the market, Software.com can support WAP-based applications.

BulletIn.net's mobile e-mail product works with WAP-enabled phones and with SMS-capable handsets. The Internet messaging company used Wireless 2000 to introduce new capabilities to its wireless e-mail offerings. Users now can send e-mail to individuals or group lists via stored addresses, similar to one-number dialing. Another new feature enables users to forward e-mail attachments to other e-mail accounts.

The company aims to make the mobile e-mail experience as simple as possible, said Andy Rabhan, director of marketing for BulletIn.net. "The user is in control of how many SMS blocks he gets," Rabhan said. The solution currently is being used by Vodafone U.K. and Vodafone New Zealand.

While those solutions allow wireless operators to target mass markets, other vendors focused on offerings specifically for business users. Wireless Knowledge showcased its new Workstyle Server, which the company introduced just days before the show began. The product is geared toward attracting more U.S.-based operators to the company's services. "When we launched Wireless Knowledge 14 months ago, the original product was Revolv, which was a service," said Randy Salo, vice president of strategic marketing for Wireless Knowledge. That service currently is in broad trials in Europe.

However, the U.S. market might be better served by a stand-alone product not hosted by a third party, Salo said. The Workstyle Server, a product that enterprises install in existing platforms, aims to meet that need. Automatically detecting which type of markup language the end-user device can read, the server extends corporate-based information to mobile workers.

The first iteration of the server can deliver information from Exchange 5.5 and by mid-year will support Lotus Notes and POP3 Internet mail. In addition to mail applications, Wireless Knowledge will focus on enabling sales force automation applications with the server. "The object is to be a solution out of the box," Salo said. The servers will be distributed by wireless operators, value-added resellers and Wireless Knowledge.

Other companies will be introducing solutions that enable access to corporate-based information. Palm, Sun Microsystems and iPlanet E-Commerce Solutions said they will develop an end-to-end solution that allow mobile business customers to use their Palm OS devices to access corporate information and applications.

Data-tizing the network

In addition to enabling platforms and applications, equipment providers also introduced products that allow operators to increase their data capabilities. TDMA operators saw some of the first solutions in this vein.

Nokia introduced an enhanced data rates for GSM evolution-based solution for TDMA and GSM networks, allowing for data rates up to 473 kb/s. Nokia plans to deliver the solution to operators at the end of next year and expects voice-over-IP solutions to be available in 2002 or 2003, said Mike Robinson, vice president of business development for EDGE/IP telephony at Nokia.

Qualcomm touted its HDR (high data rate) solution for increased data capability over CDMA networks. HDR requires operators to set aside a channel exclusively for data and can deliver 2.4 Mb/s speeds.

"1X already doubles voice capacity so it frees up a channel," said Kim Kleber, director of product marketing for HDR at Qualcomm. The RF characteristics of HDR are comparable to CDMA 1X and IS-95, so operators won't have to redesign their existing networks to accommodate it.

In the U.S. where the availability of new spectrum for third generation services is uncertain, operators are considering solutions such as HDR to deliver 3G-like solutions, Kleber said. At the show, Lucent committed to working closely with Qualcomm and CDMA carriers worldwide to get input on HDR and to propose the solution as a CDMA standard.

Motorola used the conference to introduce its own CDMA high-data solution, which serves as a competitor to Qualcomm's HDR (Telephony, Feb. 28, page 44). Motorola's 1X Plus offers voice and data over the same channel. 1X Plus is a software upgrade that can deliver as much as 5.2 Mb/s data rates. Motorola also is involved with operators and the CDMA Development Group to standardize an increased data rate solution for CDMA carriers.

Nortel Networks is moving forward on its data-enabling solutions via an IP trial with Vodafone AirTouch in Dallas. The trial aims to further Nortel's promise to reduce the total cost of transporting a megabit from 37cents to 4cents; it already has achieved a decrease to 20cents per megabit. The demonstration will continue in stages as new equipment becomes available.

Nortel also discussed its alliance with Research in Motion. Nortel invested $25 million in RIM with the goal of creating an end-to-end wireless data solution. RIM traditionally has built devices and worked with application providers in the two-way paging industry. "We'll take it out of paging and into cellular," said Dave Murashige, vice president of marketing for Nortel.

A lesser known company, IPmobile, took advantage of the show to tout its wireless IP solution, Airscape, which allows wireless operators to allocate bandwidth for tiered Internet services. The Airscape solution consists of the AirGateway platform, which is comparable to a Class 5 switch, and the AirEdge, which is like a PBX that sits at the customer premises. Together, the platforms enable service providers to offer different gradations of services by separating bandwidth into segments. "The service provider can create the type of service that [the customer] needs," said Russell Davis, president and CEO of IPmobile.

Content providers, operators meet

In addition to the vendors, content players from the Internet world had a presence at Wireless 2000. Those companies attended the show to discuss relationships they have with operators and vendors.

MSN Mobile continues its push into the wireless world with recently signed deals with Vodafone AirTouch and Nextel that will offer content and e-mail services to customers. The first iteration of MSN Mobile was a push notification service that delivered information such as news and weather to users. The second version of the product, which will be available to operators in April, will allow users to send and receive Hotmail, track stock portfolios and get travel information.

MSN would not reveal details about the business relationships it has built with operators but discussed ideas for shared revenue opportunities. For example, MSN's Web site currently supports advertising that some day might port to the wireless world. "We don't know what makes sense in terms of ads [for MSN Mobile]," said Deanna Sanford, lead product manager for MSN. The company also is keeping its eye on mobile e-commerce opportunities as a possible revenue stream.

Possibly the largest content provider on the Internet, America Online, announced several partnerships during Wireless 2000. Sprint PCS said it will bring some of AOL's content to Sprint PCS Wireless Web customers. AOL also formed a relationship with Nokia to develop a wireless version of AOL's Instant Messenger application. Such a solution would allow real-time communication between Nokia phone users and AOL instant messaging users. AOL also teamed with BellSouth Wireless Data to deliver AOL e-mail and instant messenger applications to users of devices that operate on BellSouth's nationwide data network.

Amazon.com, which also had a presence at the show, has been busy building relationships in the wireless industry as well (see story on page 42). It announced a deal with Motorola that will bookmark Amazon.com's Web site on phones, allowing users to easily access the site. That deal is part of Motorola's Web W/O Wires Alliance program, which aims to make it easier for customers to access Web sites via phone.

Amazon.com also made a deal with Bell Atlantic Mobile, which is focused on building services that use CDMA data capabilities and fit horizontal markets. "We recognize that the horizontal market is ready to go," said Dick Lynch, chief technology officer for BAM. The relationship with Amazon.com will allow BAM customers to perform e-commerce on their handsets.

"This marks the beginning of our wireless e-commerce strategy," said Bell Atlantic chairman and CEO Ivan Seidenberg. "We're planning to establish our own branded Internet portal to allow custom access to the Web, which we think will increase sales of bundled services and decrease churn."

BellSouth Cellular also is moving forward with its data strategy. The operator continues to test WAP services on its GSM network as it waits for WAP-enabled handsets. One trial includes information services from Infospace.com. BellSouth Cellular also has recently implemented a portal from MyWay.com that can be accessed by BellSouth customers, including wireless and broadband users. Ultimately, BellSouth aims to aggressively chase e-commerce opportunities, said Carlton Hill, director of Internet initiatives for BellSouth Cellular.

As vendors touted their wares and operators discussed plans, one operator already had rolled out a widespread wireless data offering that is more successful at this early stage in wireless data development than many could have imagined. NTT DoCoMo's CEO, Keiji Tachikawa, discussed his company's i-mode data offering. In the year since NTT DoCoMo launched i-mode in Japan, it has garnered 4.5 million data customers - 15% of the operator's 28 million customers. These customers spend a flat $3 per month to get the service and add an average of $9 to $10 per month on usage, Tachikawa said. In addition, i-mode users on average spend an additional $12 more than on voice.

NTT DoCoMo has amassed 5900 content providers and caters specifically to the uses that it finds are most popular among customers. Customers use i-mode 52% of the time for entertainment services. Users pay $1 per month for one of the most popular services, which sends a new cartoon character to the phone every day. NTT DoCoMo retains a portion of that monthly fee for handlingthe billing for the content provider.

Despite the success of i-mode, most operators don't intend to imitate NTT DoCoMo's billing procedures. Customers pay on a per-packet basis, a method that most operators in the U.S. consider confusing. Most users have trouble understanding the billing, Tachikawa said. However, "they understand it's cheap," he said.

The day when a store clerk routinely asks "Will that be cash or phone?" is becoming only a slightly distant reality. While carriers, handset vendors and application providers tune up to accommodate wireless data services, secure, ubiquitous and localized e-commerce over mobile devices requires another step in technology and education - a step U.S. players have been slow to take.

But as evidenced at Wireless 2000, U.S. wireless companies are beginning to address the mobile e-commerce market. "Certainly you don't have the same device penetration or frenetic activity that we've seen in Europe and Japan," said Lee Wright, CEO of AnywhereYouGo.com, a community Web site for wireless application developers. "But initiatives such as Amazon Anywhere [a business division of Amazon.com providing e-commerce to wireless Internet devices] will spur existing Web entities and entrepreneurs" to enter the market, he said.

Many of the upstart developers come from the financial services realm. Banking and securities trading applications appear to be a natural fit for wireless e-commerce because the transactions are instantaneous and don't involve the physical exchange of goods. There's also a belief that individuals likely to use such services have the early-adopter mentality and wealth to drive market growth.

For example, 724 Solutions of Ontario, Canada, a developer of Internet infrastructure software for financial institutions, signed an agreement with Motorola to put its secure financial services platform on Motorola's Timeport handsets. The company also has partnered with Bank of America to develop a software platform for secure wireless banking. Customers will be able to access up-to-the minute account balances and transaction details, conduct real-time fund transfers and make bill payments. Bank of Montreal's Chicago-based subsidiary Harris Bank is running a trial of similar services in the U.S.

"This kind of a device play is turning into a core part of a bank's strategy," said Alistair Rennie, 724's senior vice president of marketing.

With roots in wireless securities trading and banking, w-Trade Technologies is trying to branch out into other applications. The 3-year-old company, a spinoff of financial software provider UNIF/X, recently introduced nine wireless commerce platforms, including w-travel, w-dining, w-entertainment and w-auction. The solutions target companies building multiple types of wireless Internet presences.

"The lines between financial services and other types of e-commerce are blurring," said Donna Oliva, CEO of

w-Trade. As IT managers and developers experiment with wireless applications, they will find building device-specific applications from scratch time-consuming and difficult and turn to packages for a broader development strategy, she said.

w-Trade's platforms, really software templates, enable providers to rapidly build wireless services for a variety of hand-held devices. Wireless data networks supported include GSM, cellular digital packet data, CDMA, Mobitex and Ardis. The software is available in a straight license or as an application service hosted in w-Trade's two data centers.

Securing transactional applications will be another lucrative area for developers. Aiming to be the "VeriSign for wireless" is Diversinet, a wireless security infrastructure company. Its products include digital security certificates and digital permit servers that authenticate users and allow commerce providers to issue secure tokens such as redeemable coupons. Banks are again the target early adopter customers, but the company plans to attract application developers in the Linux OS community to encourageembedding of the technology in other vertical applications, said Nagy Moustafa, president and CEO of Diversinet.

Pushing the U.S. market from underneath are the application developers. New players include Scandinavia-based Oz.com, formerly a virtual reality developer that has morphed into a mobile e-commerce player. The company is targeting telecom operators and wireless service providers with a hosted solution called mPresence that offers secure messaging services. The solution is based on iPulse, a product jointly developed with Ericsson, and also offers integrated billing and commerce services across fixed and mobile networks.

There's still tons of work to be done building the wireless infrastructure for e-commerce and educating device holders to use the services. But with Internet e-commerce providers salivating at the prospect of a store in every pocket and start-ups building the security and software infrastructure for such airwave transactions, operators will have to move with the times or get out of the way.