Data Gadgetry

What's an easy way to keep your customers using more airtime? One solution could be wireless data. According to Frost & Sullivan, the market for wireless data services will grow at a 35% compound annual rate through the year 2002. The many gidgets and gadgets now included on wireless phones can occupy your subscribers for hours, keeping them glued to the handset in fascination, or perhaps frustration, at the impressive array of information and services offered.

WHAT'S OUT THERE? Until recently, data was only a concept and a skeptical technology advancement with many critics. Now, manufacturers are making these technologies a reality by offering a host of advanced wireless data products and services. Several companies featured these products and services at Wireless '98.

For example, Nokia has released the Artuse wireless data enhancer. The product provides continuous wireless data connectivity, faster data transfer and effective wireless data management for GSM subscribers.

The enhancer also optimizes application protocols, enabling faster e-mail and Web services to subscribers. Users can receive e-mail in the background while running another software application. Also, users can preview messages, choosing which messages they want to receive and transfer the large attachments until later. By reducing the volume and formatting of Web content, subscribers will receive Internet data faster and will be able to view the information on smart phones and other portable devices.

Samsung has developed a handset that "puts the office in the palm of your hand." This smart phone, the SCS-100, is a dual-mode wireless phone that incorporates a palmtop computer and Internet access. The data transmission allows subscribers to send and receive faxes, e-mails, short messages and Internet access via a pocket version of the Internet Explorer. The phone also offers word-processing capabilities via pocket versions of Word for Windows and Excel and organizational tools, including an electronic calendar, address book, notepad, calculator and personal organizer.

On the services side of wireless data, Qualcomm has announced a strategic initiative to deliver integrated, end-to-end wireless data solutions to its CDMA customers. The initial goal is to jumpstart the wireless data revolution, dubbing it "the quickest way to data" and providing carriers with data-enabled handsets, infrastructure and value-added application services.

According to Clint McClellan, Qualcomm strategic marketing director, the company has taken a new approach to handsets.

"Basically, we see phones as data terminals," he said.

The convergence of wireless telephony and information delivery offers new technologies that will enable carriers to link to the Internet and support enterprise networks, giving subscribers access to information and applications. Specifically, Qualcomm's Eudora Internet messaging software provides users with mobile applications such as e-mail, calendars, and scheduling and contact management.

Sony is throwing its hat into the data ring with digital wireless audio-visual entertainment (D-WAVE). This concept, illustrated in its D-WAVE Cosm communicator concept phone, represents Sony's goal to turn wireless products into a range of content and information in the form of voice, image, web content and ultimately video. The Cosm concept phone offers web access, point-and-shoot digital camera capabilities, data and image downloading capabilities, and access to localized information through supporting Internet service providers. The phone also functions as a wireless modem and supports enhanced network features.

D-WAVE is still in the concept phase. Therefore, product availability has not been determined yet. The roll-out depends on several factors, including the speed at which IS-99 carrier coverage is provided as well as on the availability of Internet access from supporting Internet service providers and the development of localized content.

TOO MUCH TOO SOON? As manufacturers rush to bring this burgeoning wireless data into the mainstream, there's an underlying concern regarding how much time consumers are willing to spend discovering all of the added features. Are consumers even aware of the features, and do they care? Will the high expectations of wireless data scare consumers?

Paragon Software, a provider of accessory software, predicts that data features will be used as frequently as the voice features offered through wireless phones. But the key is to simplify a subscriber's daily life.

Colin Calder, Paragon managing director, said he hopes to change user behavior by connecting users' phones with their PCs. By changing this behavior, carriers are provided an entry point for selling value-added wireless services such as text messaging and Internet access. He added that wireless data will redefine the industry, but how it is presented to consumers is vital to a successful implementation.

Analysts estimate that by 2010, the amount of information is projected to double every two weeks, and the typical business manager will read 1 million words per week. They also estimate that more information has been developed in the past 30 years than in the previous 5,000 years.

With this in mind, the wireless industry will continue introducing the most technologically able, ergonomically pleasing and orderly form of voice/data communications to take wireless phones beyond voice-only capabilities.