Taxed, but Trying

Using a wireless phone to access the Internet today is like doing your own taxes. Lots of people try it once — and then return to their accountants the following year.

Wireless data — much like the tax code — would benefit from key improvements to the user interface and specific apps that take the pain out of the experience. Today, only about 6 million people use U.S. wireless data services. By 2007, that number is expected to jump to 172 million, according to The Strategis Group (www.strategisgroup.com).

Better technology and apps will make wireless data services easier to use. However, in the intervening years, here are critical components for unleashing these apps and services:

• Customizing each subscriber's home deck will be at the top of carriers' lists. Subscribers already are bored with the 10 preset sites on their Web-enabled phones. They want to see their personal favorites — not those sites that have been pre-ordained by partnership agreements. Once carriers provide a simple way to set up favorites, usage will spike.

• Simply providing access to wireless Web sites isn't going to be enough. Consumers have become accustomed to big, color screens and fat pipes via their landline appliances. The information tailored for the wireless Web isn't likely to approach that level until it differentiates itself in other ways. Location-based services is one of those ways. Airflash (www.airflash.com) conducted a survey that revealed that more than half of respondents would pay for location-based services and 20% would change carriers in order to get those services.

• With location-based services comes the natural entrepreneurial urge to launch wireless advertising. But before rushing headlong into wireless advertising, carriers and their partners should take the issue of privacy seriously. If subscribers begin receiving unwanted advertising messages on their handsets, carriers could provoke massive churn. Also, subscribers will be more receptive to wireless ads if they are personalized and useful.

• If carriers effectively use targeted wireless advertising, subscribers might be more likely to latch onto m-commerce opportunities. Starting with micropayments of a few dollars, people will begin using their wireless handsets as they currently use their credit or debit cards. Big-ticket purchases are probably more than five years away, but the evolving efficiency of e-wallets and money-based apps will open up new financial inroads.

• Already, some handsets include MP3-player features, and wireless games are becoming more sophisticated. As these things take hold, users will begin to see the possibilities of an expanded device — color screens and streaming video. Because most wireless Web browsing today is text-based, color screens aren't a necessity. But with future 3G networks that can support HTML browsing, imaging and video, larger color screens will replace today's small monochromatic displays. This will open up opportunities for new, sexier app development.

• Wireless access to e-mail will be a standard feature on all wireless devices and service plans in five years. Early e-mail apps can't handle attachments, spreadsheets and complex enterprise business. However, someone soon will unveil the next paradigm for making this killer opportunity more efficient for the end user.

• Finally, for all of this to come true, carriers will have to make big strides in two areas: technology and marketing. Because ISPs continue to raise the bar with faster wireline Internet access speeds, wireless access will have to pick up its pace. Rapid acceptance of m-commerce, wireless e-mail and location services will hinge on how much carriers invest in their networks today. As for marketing wireless data, new services must be explained clearly and realistically.

The number of wireless handsets is expected to exceed the number of PCs by 2005, and most will be wireless-data-ready. This bright future should encourage carriers, W-ASPs and others to improve today's user experience. Now, if they only could do something about the tax code.