Surf the Net on Your ... Phone?
AP Online, Friday, April 16, 1999 at 17:47
By DAVID E. KALISH
AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) - Futuristic devices that offer brand new ways of
surfing the Internet are hitting the market, promising a nifty
alternative to the personal computer. But do enough consumers want
to check out Web pages on their telephone?
Gadget makers will soon find out. The French telecommunications
company Alcatel is talking with U.S. companies about introducing a
''smart'' home phone this fall that would give Americans quick
access to the Web and electronic mail without a PC. One potential
partner reportedly is America Online, the largest Internet service
with 17 million subscribers.
Alcatel's phone, called WebTouch, is about the size of a
hardcover novel. It has a 7.5-inch touch-sensitive screen, a
pull-out keyboard and up to 10 special buttons that can be
programmed to jump the user to weather updates, stock quotes or
order pizza from the corner restaurant.
Elsewhere, makers of mobile phones such as Qualcomm, Motorola
and Nokia are soon coming out with nearly a dozen new Web
''companions'' that add e-mail and Internet access to wireless
phones.
The pitch in upcoming marketing campaigns will be relatively
simple: Why bother booting up your computer to surf the Internet
when you can just reach for the phone?
Currently, less 1 percent of the 69 million cellular phone users
in the nation have Web phones, according to the Yankee Group, a
Boston-based research firm. But that is expected increase to about
21 percent by 2003 as prices come down and technology improves.
But the devices face obstacles. Vendors must simplify Web
information and graphics so they don't clutter relatively small
screens. Some analysts say the gadgets could confuse consumers by
combining Internet and phone functions.
To be sure, the beauty of the home phone is its simplicity.
''The main drawback is this converged idea -- Let's glue a phone
and a Web browser together,'' said Tom Rhinelander, an industry
analyst with Forrester Research, a Boston-based high-tech
consulting firm. ''How are you going to get people to understand
how to use this?''
Alcatel is betting it can. The Wall Street Journal reported
Friday the company is a probable partner with America Online in
delivering a screen phone to U.S. consumers. AOL, by marketing to
its millions of subscribers, could stoke a mass market by offering
discounted subscriptions to early adaptors of the technology. A
phone is just one of a slew of Net-surfing gadgets planned by AOL.
An Alcatel spokesman, Gean Christophe Huertas, declined to
comment on any AOL deal but confirmed the company is talking with
''several U.S. partners to develop our screen phone in the United
States.'' AOL spokeswoman Wendy Goldberg also would not comment.
Alcatel hopes it can duplicate the success of its Minitel screen
phone, which is widely popular in France.
Don't expect the PC to go away. Potential smart phone customers
are expected to still use a PC to for lengthier Web browsing, since
computers boast larger screens.
''It's not in competition with the PC,'' said Beatrice Mandine,
an Alcatel spokeswoman. ''In our visions, it's a very different
approach.''
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