While the wireless community continues to search for the killer application that will make wireless Internet access mandatory, the mysterious application may be as simple as following the model set out by the wired Internet.
Eric Harber, vice president of marketing and business development for wireless Internet search provider Pinpoint, noted that rapid acceptance of the wired Internet only took off once search engines came around offering simple searches for information based on keywords. These search engines, including Yahoo! and Alta Vista, unlocked the information available on the Internet to anyone.
In addition to lacking the screen size and graphic interface most people have become accustomed to with the wired Internet, wireless Internet access via cell phones and personal digital assistants is severely handicapped by the lack of convenient input. Attempting to enter a Web site that is not bookmarked on a carrier’s site can turn into a key pressing marathon.
“One thing I often bring up as an example is that if someone wanted to reach the Wall Street Journal’s wireless Web site from a wireless phone, it would take at least 38 keystrokes just to reach the site,” said Jud Bowman, president and co-founder of Pinpoint.
Bowman noted accessing the same site through Pinpoint’s service requires less than five keystrokes.
According to Forrester Research, for every key press required to access a mobile service, the number of potential users drops by half.
Pinpoint currently offers its Search Anywhere platform, a unified search and navigation program allowing keyword searches of the company’s index of wireless Web sites and a wireless directory providing a menu-driven system to locate pages and applications created for the wireless Internet.
Pinpoint said its Search Anywhere platform indexes current wireless document formats specifically, and recognizes the varying capabilities of wireless and wired devices to deliver mobile-specific information to the device.
The company recently announced an agreement with wireless data services provider i3 Mobile Inc. to integrate Pinpoint’s platform into i3 Mobile’s mobile portal solutions. With the agreement, Pinpoint said more than 55-percent of wireless users would have access to its search technology through more than 25 wireless network operators and new media distributors.
Pinpoint also joined the Ericsson CDPD Solutions Provider Program to deliver end-to-end mobile Internet navigation solutions. Ericsson’s CDPD network, a packet data enabler solution, is currently being deployed in markets in Latin America and Asia.
Another company attempting to ease the search capabilities of wireless Internet users is VeriSign Inc. The company, which is currently the Internet’s biggest domain name register, said its recently introduced service will allow companies to use their telephone number as their Web address, simplifying the input process for wireless handsets and PDAs.
“The number of consumers who want access to the wireless Internet is growing, and they are looking for a solution that is simple, quick and efficient,” said Stratton Sclavos, president and chief executive officer of VeriSign. “The ease of use provided by WebNum will spur the use of wireless Internet access and truly make mobile commerce a reality for millions of consumers, as well as benefit carriers at the same time.”
The initial WebNum product will include Existing Telephone Numbers that match existing landline, mobile and 1-800 telephone numbers and are mapped directly to a Web site, and Logo Numbers, which use between one to seven digit shortcuts designed to work globally and extend a company’s existing service.
Instead of typing in a www.companyname.com address into a handset or PDA, users would type in either a phone number or a number corresponding to the company’s name spelled out on the keypad.
“Wireless Internet access will not achieve mass market acceptance until the experience is less technology-centric and more user-centric,” said Callie Nelsen, senior analyst at IDC. “An assignment of meaningful numbers to an existing Web site helps ease the navigation burden while maintaining the branding and online identities of companies.”
While VeriSign’s solution seems an easy answer to the navigation problem of wireless devices, some analysts question if going with a number-based domain name will be easier for users to remember than a name.
“It’s kind of bizarre,” Philip Redman, research director for Gartner’s wireless team, told Cnet.com. “It’s hard enough to remember Web addresses
