Inextricably Wireless & Internet

If ever there were any doubt, Wireless 2000 confirmed that the Internet world has landed smack dab in the middle of wireless. Without spending inordinate time speculating which industry sector will consume the other, let's just say that for the time being wireless and the Internet are inextricably hitched in a kind of 3-legged race. They each need the other to progress forward, and together, they can move ahead faster. No foot-dragging will be permitted or accepted. In this 3-legged race, service providers seem to be concerned about which companies will own customers who use the services. Major players who spoke at Wireless 2000 had their own unique spins.

Chris Gent, Vodafone AirTouch chief executive, suggested the best brand would draw and win the customer. He predicted that his company would become the leader in international wireless Internet services and rate plans. There's a reason he is motivated to move in this direction aside from the premise of being first in an international play. He believes that the implementation of data services will accelerate voice services and make them that much more successful.

So how's a recently conglomerate-size company that crosses the golden pond going to achieve international brand recognition? Gent referred to a customer survey that suggested currently well-known companies are more important than price. Gent's recent acquisitions will help with this piece. However, if the company forgos its multiple-name string as a moniker, it could shake recognition.

The other part of the current equation is that customers prefer low price to features. This wouldn't seem to bode well for all of the wireless-data features that the Internet could unleash. Gent, however, suggested that features soon would eclipse price concerns because they will help establish brand. As far as features are concerned, Gent's company will be ready to oblige this new view.

Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com founder & CEO, challenged the wireless industry to give up its notion of subscriber "ownership." He said customers own themselves. With the vastness of the Internet, customers have the freedom to move wherever they need to or want to. He explained that there is such a large pie, there will be plenty for everybody. He pointed out that human beings increasingly will be frustrated by the "time-starved world" in which we live. Wireless will allow us to win some of that time back.

Alain Rossman, Phone.com's chairman & CEO, took a different tack. He suggested that soon it may be difficult to distinguish which companies are wireless and which are Internet. Therefore, customer ownership will depend on how successful each side is in integrating the other side. And perhaps it might become a moot point.

Maybe the discussion of ownership is simply something for us to do around water coolers until we have services and customers. Keiji Tachikawa, NTT Mobile Communications Network president, dispensed with speculating on ownership and talked straight numbers and real-world performance. He's added 4.5 million wireless-data subscribers in one year. He has access to 5,900 information sites, 500 of which are part of the i-Mode portal. The majority of subscribers (52%) use i-Mode for entertainment. In fact, 1 million of his subscribers each pay the equivalent of $1 a month to receive a new cartoon on their handsets every day. As for working with Internet companies, he suggests a simple, straightforward model: If NTT does the billing for the content provider, it gets 9% of every $1.

If you compare Tachikawa's real-world results with speculation of a market chomping at the bit to get going, you almost have to wonder if the market really is too big to concern ourselves with ownership. Perhaps what it boils down to is this: Do what you do the best you can and let the market develop around you.