Results of the Telephia, Inc. Steering Committee Meeting on Tuesday for the Wireless Industry:
Copyright 2001 Business Wire, Inc.
Business Wire
February 13, 2001, Tuesday
DISTRIBUTION: Business Editors
LENGTH: 1016 words
HEADLINE: Telephia and Industry Leaders Convene To Discuss the Future of the Wireless Internet
DATELINE: SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 13, 2001
BODY:
Steering Committee Finds that Female Users are a Rapidly Growing Segment of Wireless Data Consumers
More than 30 prominent technology companies joined Telephia, Inc., the leading provider of competitive market intelligence for the wireless industry, at its headquarters on Thursday to take part in the company's second wireless data/Internet steering committee. The daylong event provided an interactive forum for industry leaders to discuss the development of standards for wireless data measurement systems and cooperation between businesses with concerns in the wireless space.
Telephia focused the Steering Committee's first meeting of 2001 around the wireless data and Internet consumer experience in order to help industry players address the needs of that increasingly important yet difficult-to-reach user segment. Telephia presented committee members with recent findings from its wireless data user surveys and quality of service tracking products. The committee also discussed Telephia and comScore Network's joint findings on the relationship between the hardwire and the wireless Internet experience in addition to soliciting detailed feedback from the committee on the current and future needs of the wireless data industry.
Among the member companies of Telephia's Wireless Data Steering Committee are 2Roam, AGENCY.com, Amazon.com, AvantGo, Bonita Software, Cell-Loc Inc./TimesThree, comScore, DoubleClick Networks, Engage Inc., Excite@Home, InfoSpace Inc., Inktomi Corp., Keynote Systems, Nextel Communications, Nuance, OmniSky, Openwave Systems, PacketVideo, SignalSoft, Sprint PCS, Ticketmaster Online-Citysearch, Virgin Mobile USA and weather.com.
With the continuing rapid growth of the market for wireless data, the committee was eager to examine and discuss the results of Telephia's most recent consumer and industry surveys and tests. Telephia executives presented a user tracking study, which was based on a survey of the Telephia Wireless Data ePanel. This survey is the industry's first comprehensive feedback from a standing panel of current wireless data users. The Wireless Data/Wireless Internet survey includes information on satisfaction with devices, service providers and the wireless Internet experience. The latest results confirm that women are a rapidly growing component of the wireless data using populace, representing 40 percent of consumers in the Telephia survey in 4th Quarter 2000. This is a significant increase from the 19 percent size of this female segment in 2nd Quarter 2000. The Telephia Wireless Data ePanel also indicates that wireless data devices are being used for personal (43 percent) as well as business (23 percent) purposes, with one-third (34 percent) of the panelists indicating that they use their devices for both business and personal purposes. The study also examined a number of other key issues around the concepts of voice navigation, consumer satisfaction, m-commerce and consumer's willingness to accept advertising on their wireless device.
A special Telephia Wireless Data Quality of Service Survey was conducted in January 2001 with only the wireless Internet users of the Telephia Wireless Data ePanel. The survey examined important issues regarding consumers' satisfaction with the wireless Internet and their concerns with wireless Web access and speed. The study also covered consumers' responses to the challenges of their wireless Web experience and how it impacts their perceptions of carriers and content providers. The Wireless Data Steering Committee meeting was the first venue at which Telephia's wireless Quality of Service surveys and test results were made public.
Committee members agreed that one of the primary benefits of such quality of service testing is its implications for maintaining and improving company-consumer relationships, by helping to pinpoint where service breakdowns occur and establishing a customer feedback loop within the user interface.
"It was a unique privilege to be able to tap the minds of such an impressive and diverse group companies with various wireless data concerns, and the feedback we received will prove invaluable to our leading role in the development of standard measurements for a rapidly expanding industry that evolves in new ways every day," said John Oyler, president of Telephia. "Not only are we now better equipped to tailor our own products to respond to the needs of the industry at large, but we also hope that everyone who attended the Steering Committee came away with a better sense of the primary challenges facing wireless data users today so that we can work together to address those needs."
The Wireless Data Steering Committee's ongoing purpose is to shape the industry's first standardized measurement metrics on wireless data service quality, traffic measurement, m-commerce and advertising across leading mobile phone, personal digital assistant (PDA) and two-way pager platforms. The committee held its first meeting in late November of 2000 on wireless data service quality and the informational needs of the wireless consumer and currently plans to convene quarterly.
About Telephia
Through its proprietary data gathering services and partnerships with premier information providers, Telephia offers an innovative approach to collecting timely, accurate and integrated marketing and network quality data. Its wide array of syndicated information products plays a vital role in helping wireless voice and wireless data/Internet businesses improve their network service and market position. San Francisco-based Telephia is a privately held company with leading investors that include AEA Investors, Oak Hill Venture Partners, The Megunticook Fund and Cedar Grove Investments, LLC. For further information, see Telephia on the Web at www.telephia.com or call 415-395-0500.
CONTACT: Telephia, Inc.
Alan K. Brune
Vice President of Marketing
abrune@telephia.com
415/505-5374
OR
Calysto Communications(TM)
Laura Borgstede
lborgstede@calysto.com
404/266-2060 x208
URL: businesswire.com
LOAD-DATE: February 14, 2001 |
