Introduction
The number of
subscribers with wireless access to the Internet through laptops, personal
digital assistants (PDAs), cellular phones, pagers, and other wireless devices
is rapidly increasing. In 1998, 1.2 million people had wireless web access. IDC
predicts that in 2003 the number of wireless Internet subscribers will be 40.4
million. Because this market is growing at such a fast rate, content providers
see an opportunity to enter the market by forming partnerships with wireless
carriers to deliver data applications to wireless devices. In fact, companies
solely dedicated to this type of service are starting to appear.
Analysts predict that
e-commerce will be a key application for wireless Internet access. Buying
books, trading stocks, reserving hotel rooms and renting cars from anywhere
will be easy and consumers will demand these types of services. IDC states that
the wireless Internet transaction value in 1998 was $4.3 billion. This number
is expected to increase to $38 billion in 2003. IDC predicts that carriers will
eventually charge a flat monthly fee for wireless access.
Wireless Content:
Internet Portals
The Strategis Group
defines a wireless portal as "a customized point of entry through which a
wireless subscriber can access a limited number of Internet sites and
services." Many wireless carriers offer internet content to their subscribers
through partnerships with some of the large internet content portal companies.
For example, AT&T offers its wireless Internet Digital PocketNet
subscribers content from ABCNews.com, Bloomberg.com, AOL, and ESPN.com. Sprint
PCS partners with AOL, CNN.com, Amazon.com and The Weather Channel. Other
wireless carriers, such as USWest and AirTouch, have similar deals. Wireless
networks that transmit data at speeds equivalent to or under 56 Kbps, or
narrowband networks, are currently more readily available today than wireless
broadband networks. Data delivery to wireless devices will be restricted by
narrowband networks. Access to graphics and content best accessed through
high-speed connections will be limited. Instead, time-sensitive and
personalized data delivery, as well as e-commerce activities, will fuel the
initial drive for the wireless content market.
Wireless portals will
be targeted toward broad consumer markets and toward vertical business markets.
It is expected that portals will serve as personalized information aggregators
for end-users. Corporate wireless portal solutions may offer secure end-to-end
wireless connectivity for business end-users, similar to a wireline intranet.
Analysts expect two types of consumer portals to appear. "Push" portals
will enable the end-user to set up custom information that they would like
delivered to them periodically.
"Push and
pull" portals will both deliver personalized content to the end-user and
allow the end-user to search the portal for information. Corporate wireless
portal solutions will provide customized services like time sheet and expense
report monitoring and integration, billing capabilities, sales force
automation, and access to inventory databases.
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