The convergence of the Internet and wireless networks was punctuated last week as Internet heavy hitters Amazon.com Inc., America Online Inc. and Oracle Corp. made announcements extending their services further into the wireless realm.
Perhaps the strongest statement made was Amazon.com’s aggressive entry to the wireless space through its Amazon.com Anywhere wireless initiative.
“We believe wireless devices, specifically with the emergence of new data standards, are going to be a big area where people can access our services,” said Nayeem Islam, director of information technology at Amazon.com.
To facilitate this goal, Ama-zon.com bought Convergence Corp. for $20 million in stock. Convergence develops software solutions for wireless devices to access Internet content.
“The wireless space has some major challenges,” Islam said. “We needed the talent in-house to go after it.”
Besides gaining access to Convergence’s technology, Amazon.com will have Convergence personnel lead its wireless strategy.
Amazon.com displayed further commitment to the wireless space by joining the WAP*Forum, the first retailer to do so.
“You’ve seen a lot of information services on WAP, but you’ve not seen shopping services,” said Chuck Napier, formerly vice president of marketing at Convergence and now product manager for Amazon.com Anywhere services. “Our goal is to be the top provider of shopping services on wireless devices.”
Amazon.com’s first step in this effort is its Web clipping feature, which Palm VII users can download to shop and buy products online from the wireless device.
The company also signed deals with Motorola Inc. and AvantGo. While the specifics of the deal with Motorola have not been yet released, it points to the kinds of devices Amazon.com is targeting-such as wireless phones and pagers.
Amazon.com was the first to join AvantGo’s new e-commerce initiative, designed to allow users to buy goods and services over wireless mobile devices. AvantGo wirelessly extends Internet, intranet and other applications to handheld computers based on either the Palm Computing or Windows CE platforms. It allows developers to write one application, which AvantGo delivers to the devices and smart phones available today.
The company has provided breaking news, stock portfolio and other personalized information to date, and now is adding e-commerce to the mix.
Looking to the future, AOL and Oracle have made more tentative steps into the wireless space as well. With the introduction of AOL version 5.0, AOL included a bridge to bring interactive services to mobile devices, even though the software is designed for personal computers. Like Amazon.com, AOL introduced last year a strategy to extend its content to devices other than computers, called AOL Anywhere.
“We are confident that AOL 5.0 will lead the interactive medium’s next wave of growth and create a bridge from the PC to other interactive devices as we move into a more connected society,” said Steve Case, chairman and chief executive officer of AOL.
The 5.0 software contains an interactive calendar that can be adapted to mobile devices.
In an interview with Reuters, Oracle said it plans to launch a product called Portal-To-Go” that will allow users to shop from existing mobile phones. The product is a microbrowser based on eXtensible Markup Language. Further details of the product will be available when it is introduced at Telecom ’99 this week in Geneva.
Luring these Internet companies to the wireless space is the emergence of both devices better suited to access Internet content-such as the Palm VII-as well as common standards for data delivery-specifically, WAP.
“As more WAP services take off, and more devices like the Palm VII come out, we intend to make our services available on the more popular ones.” said Am-azon.com’s Islam.
