As the wireless industry is ramping up efforts to convince customers to use their mobile phones for Internet access via Wireless Application Protocol technology, some are taking the concurrent step of preparing for voice access to the Net as well.
The issue was the subject of an IDC conference last week in Denver called “Web Talk 2000: Opportunities to Mainstream Internet Voice.” What became clear throughout the course of the day is that voice user interfaces to the Internet are expected to complement text-based WAP service, not compete with them.
Voice-enabled Internet services have many advantages over WAP, according to Dana Thorat, senior research analyst of residential broadband and telecommunications for IDC. They give end users greater accessibility to the Internet. Users can interact with the Web while driving, for instance, not to mention how much more intuitive it is than even the best text-entry system. In addition, it removes the equipment barrier to access the Internet for those who have no PC or browser-enabled phone.
However, the limitations of voice-recognition technology demand integration with WAP and other text-based services.
“WAP is not going away,” she said.
Currently, the voice Internet industry thoroughly depends on WAP for its own success. The voice recognition, speech-to-text, and text-to-speech technologies needed to make voice browsing a reality remain at an early stage, so the focus today is to validate the technology while growing the base of wireless Internet users. The current standard for wireless Internet use is WAP.
Consumers are accustomed to using the Internet on a computer and interacting with it via text and graphics. The WAP initiative suggests users begin accessing the Web on wireless phones, which requires text-only interaction, stripping away the graphics.
Voice Internet applications take the next step of doing away with both graphics and text-the two media users are comfortable with-and replacing it with voice only, something even newer than wireless Internet access.
So voice Internet players rely on the WAP industry’s efforts to popularize new methods of accessing Internet content. As WAP technology grows more pervasive, more consumers will use their wireless handsets for Internet access, growing awareness of that capability and identifying the wireless handset as an Internet access device. This is expected to open the door for voice Web technologies. Once consumers realize their cellular phone can access the Internet via data, they may take the next step of doing so by voice.
In projecting the possible market for voice Internet services, IDC looks squarely at WAP evolution.
Iain Gillott, vice president of worldwide consumer and small business telecom at IDC, said WAP handset proliferation is on the verge of exploding.
At the end of 1999, he said, 67 million U.S. households had Internet access. IDC expects that to grow 50 percent by 2003 to a total of 101 million households. Meanwhile, wireless Internet use was only 7.3 million users year-end 1999. That is expected to grow to 61.5 million by 2003-a growth rate of 731 percent.
“By mid-2001, all digital handsets shipped in the world will be WAP capable. Period,” Gillott said. “With churn rates in wireless as they are, the average life of a phone is 12 to 15 months. As you get new phones, you’ll get WAP-capable phones.”
As much as voice Internet players are dependent on WAP evolution, WAP soon will come to need voice applications to remain popular. Key to carrier success in the WAP world is forming partnerships with compelling content and complementary technologies, Gillott said, and voice Internet access is a powerful example. Users may navigate through selected WAP sites using the keyboard and have the option to “click-to-talk” at any time, which would either connect the user to a live customer representative or provide a voice-based interactive service for more complicated transactions.
