Software developer Unwired Planet Inc. introduced an Internet access solution that promises to be a “Killer App” for wireless data services, beginning with Cellular Digital Packet Data.
The Redwood Shores, Calif.-based company said its UP.Link open software platform will enable cellular phone and two-way pager users to access information and services on the Internet and on private corporate intranets.
To access information or transmit a message, the customer, using the familiar keypad and a displayed menu of applications, sends a request for information that is routed through the wireless CDPD network and then the wireline Internet or a proprietary wide area network to a Web server where the application actually resides. Only the results of the query are transmitted back over the network and displayed on the device.
The platform consists of browser software licensed to device manufacturers, middleware server software licensed to corporations and network carriers interested in building UP.Link networks and the company’s Handheld Device Markup Language for developing applications.
The UP.Link platform also includes a full-featured two-way messaging service.
Applications written in UP’s HDML language could include access to corporate information such as product availability, pricing and delivery schedules as well as public information, including stock quotes, news, weather forecasts and airline schedules.
Because the Internet browser is resident on a cellular phone, applications also can be developed to automatically place a call if needed.
The browser is tuned to retrieve time-critical, text-based information, not access the Internet’s more familiar graphical World Wide Web pages.
Initially the browser will be included in two “Smart Phone” products, the PocketNet phone from AT&T Wireless Services Inc.-developed by Pacific Communications Sciences Inc.-and Mitsubishi Wireless Communications Inc.’s MobileAccess phone, both of which are equipped with CDPD modems.
“We wanted to try to make the phone do more rather than try to make a computer smaller,” said UP President Chuck Parrish, referring to industry efforts at developing personal digital assistants.
UP’s browser included in a smart phone “is the definitive wireless Internet appliance,” said Kendra VanderMeulen, vice president and general manager of AT&T’s Wireless Data Division.
“The device makes a surgical strike into the Internet to extract the precise information you want, when you want it. The result: Individuals and organizations will exploit the true essence of the Internet-its core content-with speed and ease they’ve never experienced,” she said.
AT&T said it plans to operate a gateway server to support PocketNet customers this fall. Service will first be offered to corporate users but once a healthy installed base is established, the company plans to offer consumer-oriented service in 1997.
AT&T said the phone will be available for about $500. Service will be sold on a flat-fee basis-at a slight premium over the company’s regular CDPD pricing-for varying allowances of Kilobyte packets used, a spokesman said.
UP said Ameritech Cellular Services, Bell Atlantic Nynex Mobile, Comcast Cellular Communications Inc. and GTE Mobilnet Inc. also are planning to deploy the technology.
Because Unwired Planet’s HDML allows applications to run on existing Internet Web servers and infrastructure without modification, the new software solution should ease the integration burden that has slowed CDPD implementation.
“This adds only about a one percent incremental effort on top of existing work that’s being done on developing corporate intranets,” Parrish said.
He noted that a smart phone solution for Internet access fits into the existing sales channels for wireless voice and lends itself to “show-and-tell” product demonstrations that should shorten the sales cycle.
And it’s a way for wireless data carriers to “harness all that energy of the Internet,” he said.
A free UP.Link software development kit can be downloaded from the Unwired Planet Web site at http: www.uplanet.com, the company said. Included are a cellular phone simulator, HDML language reference guide, a developer’s guide and a development license.
