NEW YORK-Mobilestop.com, the newborn Internet offspring of Strax Inc., a Miami-based wireless phone and accessory distributor, launched its Web site this month and plans operations on four continents within a year. The company intends to be a one-stop shopping and information site for all things wireless.
Arnthor Halldorsson, former chief executive officer of TAL Ltd., a Global System for Mobile communications carrier in Iceland, is CEO of the new company, which he called a “mobile-commerce enabler that is a window to the world of wireless.”
For consumers, Mobilestop.com plans to offer a convenient place to comparison shop for handsets, accessories and wireless service plans, including prepaid. It also will provide online customer service and user manuals and information about wireless industry technology, trends and news.
For businesses, including carriers, Mobilestop.com intends to enable e-commerce. A key aspect of this service will be disseminating information for businesses that want to match the prices of other wholesalers, retailers and carriers. Affiliates and partners of large carriers and vendors also may find the business-to-business offerings useful if they want to broaden their own Web sites’ retail offerings with mobile products and services.
For companies whose own systems cannot conduct e-commerce, Mobilestop.com will serve as an outsourced supplier invisible to its clients’ customers. It will design external consumer “storefronts with the same look and feel of the parent Web site.” This external storefront infrastructure also will permit independent retailers to source product from carriers and manufacturers.
Web-based retailers that do not carry wireless products and services today will be able to incorporate these offerings as part of their existing “shopping carts.” Mobilestop.com will supply the back-end system for this e-commerce offering.
“We will become the logistics manager, the partner to the portal and/or carrier for guarantee of delivery, price and quality,” Halldorsson said.
By the end of this year, Mobilestop.com expects to have in place agreements with distributors in Europe, Asia and South America. The North American market will roll out last but not least.
Mobilestop.com’s Oracle database is capable of converting its stored information into appropriate languages, measurements and currencies. The company’s goal is to provide a one-stop-shop wireless solution worldwide.
Ultimately, Halldorsson said it is the goal of Mobilestop.com to act as a catalyst for three key improvements in wireless commerce: mass customization, in which end users can order and receive products and services specifically tailored to their individual needs and wants; just-in-time delivery, in which smaller carriers can purchase and obtain quickly only as many devices or accessories as they need, rather than having to bulk buy upfront without knowing actual demand beforehand; and overall lowering of prices by eliminating middlemen in the supply and distribution chains.
Halldorsson said he believes wireless Internet connectivity quickly will become the preferred means of conducting e-commerce for two primary reasons. Because of their encryption capabilities, wireless devices and networks provide superior levels of authentication to their wireline counterparts. Within the next several years, the number of Internet-enabled wireless devices is projected to exceed those dependent on wireline connections.
In the looming battle between Internet portals and telecommunications carriers over customer ownership, Mobilestop.com will be a neutral third party, he said. Its system also is technology independent.
Halldorsson sees the wireless world as a pyramid that has three stories within it. The broad, supporting base comprises network infrastructure manufacturers, which provide the Internet gateways. Resting on this foundation are the specialized software houses providing implementation tools and applications testing. On the top floor are the content service providers that operate and manage portals.
“The system we’re building hooks into the new breed of mobile portals popping up. This is where we come in with our value proposition,” Halldorsson said.
“Part of [that] is to build an industrywide database for mobile products from various carriers and manufacturers, both [original equipment manufacturers] and aftermarket, not just for e-commerce but also for logistics and sourcing.”
Mobilestop.com is entering a space already occupied by other companies, but it argues its business case on the basis of the comprehensiveness of its planned offerings.
“Interestingly, despite the size of the Internet and wireless markets, our research indicates there is no dominant player in the same wireless e-commerce space,” Mobilestop.com said.
“However, some major [companies like] Nokia (Corp.) and AT&T Wireless Services (Inc.) and e-commerce sites, (like) Cellmania.com, ePhones.com, Point.com and Telstreet.com, offer some of our products and services.”
