Wireless Internet Sites: The Quest for Content

At the border between pre-linked content and the wide-open wireless Internet, one could imagine a sign that reads: "Enter at your own risk. Only certain types of sites may be accessed." Indeed, getting much out of any wireless Internet service beyond the provided bookmarks can be like looking for El Dorado. Yet there is a growing amount of unique content out there in the wireless Internet wilderness.

One service has made it easy for subscribers to stake their claim on the wireless Internet. Launched a year ago, TagTag now hosts about 33,000 WAP sites. A registered user can build his own free WAP site through TagTag's wired Internet site (www.tagtag.com). Users input the information they want to appear on the site and can select graphics from Tag-Tag's database. The most popular categories for TagTag-built WAP sites include entertainment, education and personal sites, said Matevz Kovacic, Inetis CEO. Inetis is TagTag's parent company.

"We provide an easy way to create and host WAP sites," Kovacic said. "(With) no download of software needed, (it's) just a few clicks, and you can present your WAP site to the mobile and Internet world."

With about 700 WAP sites built per week, TagTag lets average consumers develop the wireless Internet frontier. With that much content added to the wireless Web every week, might this type of service drive more traffic to the wireless Internet?

"It could lead to an explosion of WAP sites out there, if they make it that easy," said Cynthia Hswe, Strategis Group analyst. "I could see teenagers loving this stuff, but you'd have to put the phones in their hands."

Hswe added that carriers would certainly be happy to have the added traffic come to the wireless Internet.

Unfortunately, the dark side of the wired Internet already has made its way to the wireless version. Ten of TagTag's top 12 sites for January were sex-related. Other wireless Web link pages list an abundance of pornographic sites. For those of you who thought pornography would never make it to the wireless Web due to phones' low screen resolution, think again. Hswe said that American carriers would have problems supporting a service prevalent with such material.

On the other end of the spectrum, a category that might be keeping pace with the number of sex sites is religion. You can read from most of the world's major holy texts and even find sites that offer news and schedules for local churches.

One way carriers could give their subscribers a slight nudge onto the wireless Internet would be to offer notable links on their monthly bills.

Here are some wireless Web site discoveries: - Short wisdom from ancient Taoist texts (www.tagtag.com/waptao).

- Medical advice from Pocket Doctor (www.pocketdoctor.co.uk): Enter your symptoms and get a prognosis, read questions to ask your doctor and find definitions for health terms.

- Yeats Country Cheese (www.yeatscheese.com/hellowap.wml): Recipes for foods using a variety of cheeses.

- The Simpsons (www.tagtag.com/simpsonswap): News, pictures, episode guides and games about TV's animated family.