Maurice, Good Call>
From the July 26, 1999, issue of Wireless Week
Access: Here, There, Everywhere
Wireless E-commerce Provides Mobile Transaction Tool
By Brad Smith
It's all about time and money. It's also about making the traditional office obsolete. As the number and types of wireless
e-commerce services proliferate this year, they all have the use of time and money in common. Wireless e-commerce is
following the path of the Internet, but it is also giving that path ubiquity with its anytime, anywhere capabilities. For some, that
renders offices unnecessary, except as a central repository of data, communications and ideas.
Recent weeks have brought a spate of announcements on new services that push the boundaries of wireless e-commerce.
These new services are aimed at real estate, lending, government services and online banking.
The upshot? A two-way tool for business and consumers that allows businesses to sell products and services and for mobile
consumers to complete the transaction.
"What all these services have in common are financial applications and that they are time-critical," said Alan Reiter, president of
Wireless Internet & Mobile Computing.
Domestic providers are following Europeans in this evolution, he added. Norwegian carrier Telenor Mobil, for instance,
enables customers to use a wireless handset to check theater listings, reserve seats and pay for tickets. British carrier CellNet
has sold about 150,000 handsets for use with a wireless banking service.
Handset sales are outstripping those of personal computers, and more than 12 million handsets with Internet-access capabilities
will be sold next year, according to the International Data Corp. These numbers are attracting a widening audience of
e-commerce solutions.
In the United States, BellSouth Wireless Data LP has started supplying its interactive paging service to all the field loan officers
of K. Hovnanian Mortgage Co. Hovnanian's loan officers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Florida will use the
service and Research In Motion Ltd.'s Inter@ctive Pager 950 as a remote tool to streamline loan applications.
"Wireless data communication has streamlined our internal communications and, in the process, saved the company time and
money," said Jim Graf, senior vice president of the mortgage company.
The Tornado Electronic Messaging Service in Minden, Nev., also licensed its unified messaging service to HomeSeekers.com
Inc. to link real estate agents in the field to a central database of prospects and contacts.
The Miami-Dade County Building Department recently started using the in.Touch software from ClientSoft Inc. to wirelessly
link building inspectors to legacy data and applications in the office. Instead of waiting days for results, contractors get
approvals in minutes.
Finally, the largest bank in the United States, Bank of America Inc., is working with software developer 724 Solutions Inc. to
turn wireless devices into "portable banks" for its 32 million customers. The applications allow simple inquiries, plus fund
transfers and bill payments.
Analyst Reiter sees a common thread: "The whole thing is financial. If money is involved, people care."
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