Enhanced specialized mobile radio operators are poised to lead the country in rolling out Wireless Application Protocol services next year.
Today, no U.S. wireless provider offers full WAP services. But SMR operators Nextel Communications Inc. and Southern Linc both have embraced pre-WAP services, with an eye for full WAP deployment by next year on their respective integrated Digital Enhanced Networks.
The primary provider of iDEN equipment, Motorola Inc., already has three Internet-ready handsets on the market, the i1000plus, the i500plus and the new i700plus. The phones use the UP.Browser microbrowser from Phone.com Inc.
Both Nextel and Southern Linc have introduced these phones, along with installing Phone.com’s UP.Link Server Suite technology in their networks, to offer a pre-WAP Wireless Markup Language solution.
When fully WAP-compatible phones and server software infrastructure go commercial next year, these providers will have had several months experience selling and operating wireless Internet services.
Analysts point to several aspects of iDEN technology and SMR business plans as reasons for the advanced state these carriers enjoy.
First, iDEN is a packet-data based technology. Packet data services can carry larger data loads at higher speeds than circuit-switched networks. This environment allows more data-intensive applications.
“The advantage of packet data is that it is a much more economical way to send data because a single channel can be shared,” said Ben Linder, vice president of marketing at Phone.com Inc. “The volume of information is very small and can be used with great efficiency.”
Southern Linc’s network of 127,000 square miles in the South is 100-percent packet data now, while Nextel is in the process of upgrading its nationwide network.
Also speeding the deployment of wireless Internet services on iDEN networks is the fact that all iDEN comes from a single provider, lowering the dependencies and quickening time to market.
“The nice thing about iDEN is that it’s a proprietary technology with one provider,” said Steve Virostek, wireless analyst at the Strategis Group. “That is sometimes looked on as a negative, but it means shorter development cycles when you’re trying to implement something new.”
Motorola introduced its three UP.Browser iDEN phones this summer, giving the two carriers plenty of time to test and distribute the devices without the need for interoperability testing or cost-comparison debates.
But perhaps more important than the technology is the type of user SMR networks target from a marketing perspective.
“Certainly, they serve the business customer,” Virostek said. “This group is the first and foremost target market for wireless information services. It’s easy to justify the expense if it’s tied to greater productivity and efficiency.”
Going further, Nextel’s group connectivity functions allow specialized groups of workers to communicate in a set community, allowing WAP developers to write applications specific to that group.
“They have a lot of sub groups,” Virostek said, such as construction, financial and entertainment workers. “These groups make it attractive from an application-developer perspective to write to iDEN because you know you have a specific market … As an application developer, you can be more focused because you are writing to a vertically integrated industry of suppliers and contractors.”
Finally, SMR providers are known for emphasizing the differences between their networks and traditional cellular or personal communications services networks. WAP technology provides carriers with a wide range of Internet services they can provide customers to differentiate themselves.
Nextel aggressively entered the Internet access game by joining with Microsoft Corp. to offer a co-branded version of the MSN.com Mobile portal as part of the Nextel Online effort, which carried with it a $600 million investment from Microsoft. Originally, Nextel planned to use a portal from Netscape Communications Corp.
The deal allows Nextel to offer content and applications from the MSN.com site, where users can personalize and access content from either their Nextel phone or their PC. Services include e-mail, address book, calendar and information such as news, stock quotes, weather and sports scores.
Southern Linc aimed to offer much of the same with its Internet-enabled Informance Solutions portfolio, which includes a wireless Internet dispatching service, vehicle location service and other applications.
Informance Solutions allows users to send and receive e-mail, access contact lists and address books, send and redirect job orders, track vehicle location, access databases and get Internet-based content.
The company partnered with eDispatch.com Wireless Data Inc. to provide dispatch solutions; Data on Air Inc. for the location services and with Cerulean Technology Inc. for its PacketCluster Patrol public-safety information solution.
But rather than partner with an existing wireless portal, Southern Linc created its own portal called My Linc, branded as its own, but outsourced through Phone.com’s MyPortal service.
This is important because Nextel’s deal with Microsoft’s MSN.com could prove counterproductive since the MSN deal is not exclusive to Nextel’s network.
Nextel is counting on its Nextel Business Network and various third-party applications gained through its Nextel Developers Program to provide a higher tier of differentiation.
According to Virostek, Nextel and other SMRs lead the industry in differentiation, and WAP services are just one more tool for them to do so.
“They’ve always built on differentiation,” he said. “You can expect them to continue. The key thing you do is raise the cost of churning to way beyond the cost of the phone and the cost of subscription to service.”
