Wireless Data: Comedy & Reality

Wireless data was the hot topic at PCIA GlobalXChange. Nearly every keynote address took on the topic. Even Sinbad had an opinion: "The key to technology is to lie," he said, drawing raucous laughter from the Gala audience. "3G? That's just a good opportunity to talk about technology you don't have."

According to keynote speaker Risto Perttunen, McKinsey & Co. leader of global wireless e-commerce practice, the youth market drives wireless-data uptake. In Finland, he said, young people realized they could use SMS to cheat on tests. And police have used wireless systems to more efficiently issue traffic citations.

Jeff Hawkins, Handspring founder, chairman & CPO, addressed the convergence of portable devices, mobile telephony and data in his keynote, during which he incidentally used the platform to demonstrate the new Handspring VisorPhone.

Hawkins said conventional thinking pegs wireless data as the killer app. He doesn't agree.

"Voice is the killer app for smart phones today," he said, hence his company's introduction of a voice attachment to its PDA-form device, the VisorPhone.

Hawkins thinks the wireless industry needs to concentrate on making voice better by improving functions such as caller ID, call history and conference calling.

A keynote presentation from Motorola's Janiece Webb focused on partnerships, convergence and market growth. Webb, senior vice president & general manager of personal networks group, told the gathering of industry insiders that they would soon be able to take photographs with their wireless handsets and transmit them to their PCs for storage and organization.

In marketing these data-based applications to a tech-wary public, Webb stressed the importance of simple presentation. Using a Wizard of Oz analogy, she urged companies to "put the magic out front and the technology behind the curtain."

The "Web without wires," as Motorola calls it, will evolve faster if it is based on standards, Webb said. This is why Motorola sponsors The Open Group, which focuses on an open IP network for voice, data and video.

When Yoshinori Uda, NTT DoCoMo senior executive vice president, took the stage to talk about the success of i-mode, the entire audience sat upright like eager students. Everyone wanted to know how DoCoMo has amassed more than 10 million wireless-data users. Uda predicted that three main types of data terminals will evolve: basic handsets, visual phones and data-dedicated terminals - all eventually with color displays and on-board cameras.

Representing a true convergence of wireless and the Internet was keynoter Dennis Patrick, AOL Wireless president. He noted that as far back as 1990, the industry was saying wireless data was "going to explode."

Patrick thinks the explosion has now arrived and is being driven by the "killer app," which is the Internet itself.

"All devices will have data capabilities," he said.

The recent announcement of a partnership between DoCoMo and AOL Wireless is ripe with possibilities, and Patrick addressed a few. He said the deal would include AOL e-mail and instant messaging via i-mode phones, AOL Japan at DoCoMo retail outlets and cross marketing. The deal seems to epitomize the convergence of fixed and mobile Internet service.

Contrary to popular belief, the convergence of wireless and the Internet is not a 1-way street with tardy Internet companies eager to make a grand entrance into the wireless world. According to Sadhana Joliet, Yahoo Everywhere senior producer, Bell Mobility noticed that 35% of its wireless-Internet traffic was coming from people dialing Yahoo.com from their phones. So Bell Mobility approached Yahoo about adding the portal to its preprogrammed menu of sites.

Yahoo Everywhere was formed last year when Yahoo acquired Anywhere Online. Since that time, the company has inked 26 deals with service providers and device manufacturers. And just like everyone else in this space, Yahoo Everywhere is learning along the way. When Yahoo makes a deal with a service provider, deciding how and who to pay can be different every time.

"The revenue models depend on the carrier," Joliet said. "Some don't allow us to advertise. Everything's new. We're all still figuring it out."

In the future, wireless-Internet services could generate dollars for providers and portals alike. But nearly everyone agrees that "opt-in" policies respecting consumer trust are crucial to mass-market success.