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Technology Stocks : InfoSpace (INSP): Where GNET went! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: The O who wrote (20575)	8/4/2000 11:12:36 PM
From: Killswitch	Respond to of 28311

Bluetooth is a wireless data specification that will start showing up in laptops, cellphones, and other devices around the end of this year and early next year. It is a wireless, kinda-slow (sub-megabit) way to get your devices talking to each other. Example applications would be: your 3G high speed phone sits on your desk providing a data link to your laptop so you can surf the net. Or you have a wireless earpiece when you walk around that lets you talk via bluetooth to your phone in your pocket. Higher speed versions of this could (using video compression) transmit high-res display from your phone to a monitor or head-mounted-display. We're talking 2-3 years from now tho I think.

To: The O who wrote (20575)	8/5/2000 1:01:19 AM
From: levy	Respond to of 28311

O here ae some more thoughts on how you might use your cell phone...the E WALLET No Need To Shop ’Til You Drop Punch In A Product Code, Get A Mobile Price Comparison By Heidi Schumacher You’re wandering through the aisles at Best Buy, but you wonder whether that DVD player that’s “on sale” is available elsewhere at a lower price. Instead of running across town checking prices, you punch in the gadget’s Universal Product Code on a Web-enabled phone and, voilà, you have an answer. That, at least, is the dream. A new comparison pricing service agreement between Verizon Wireless and BarPoint.com, however, does in fact provide price information and product reviews. And it underscores how merchants, carriers and analysts view comparison shopping as a potential driver of wireless Internet usage and m-commerce. Verizon also has a deal with InfoSpace Inc., whose platform enables comparison shopping, m-commerce and a promotional engine for providing special sales or discounts. Most new, consumer-oriented applications–such as stock trading and wireless purchasing–will be transactional. Comparison shopping is ideal for mobile devices, and it may drive use of the wireless Internet, says Joe Laszlo, analyst with Jupiter Communications. Properly conceived and implemented, the service may lead customers to shift their desktop online activity to their mobile units, Laszlo suggests. Developers, carriers and handset makers must make the wireless Internet as easy to use as its wired cousin, keep it logical and minimize the number of clicks, according to Peter Grubb, Verizon’s director of Internet development. BarPoint.com clearly hopes that it has achieved simplicity. Customers enter a unique product identifier, such as a UPC number, rather than searching a broad category that may give unrelated results. Jeff Sass, executive vice president of BarPoint.com, suggests that on a mobile device, punching in a 12-digit code is easier than conducting a text search. When a shopper enters a product’s code into his handheld, he gets a general description of the product plus additional options that may include price comparisons, product reviews or a list of similar products. The shopper then can evaluate whether they are getting a good deal. InfoSpace, another Verizon partner, already provides shopping platforms to AirTouch–now a part of Verizon Wireless–U S West Wireless and GTE customers, and will launch services with AT&T Wireless and VoiceStream in the next few months. “Bar code comparison shopping is an absolutely great feature, but it’s the tip of the iceberg,” says Steve Shivers, vice president of wireless Internet services at InfoSpace, which is acquiring comparison shopping site IQorder.com. The InfoSpace platform will provide users with an e-wallet, for which customers must register their name, address, credit card number and other ident-ifying information. When the subscriber purchases something that information is transferred to the merchant. Jupiter’s Laszlo says being able to buy through a wireless device still is fairly novel and will allow companies to attract impulse shoppers. Having an extensive database that provides impartial information and a lot of choices will be what keeps customers coming back. By combining IQorder .com’s database with its own technology, Info-Space plans to offer that kind of extensive information. But Shivers says the big revenue streams will come from wireless promotions that give customers savings. “Promotion will be an explosive area.” InfoSpace has teamed with major wireless carriers, credit card companies such as American Express and 4,000 merchants in metropolitan areas to create a promotional search engine that allows them to offer special deals to their customers. Customers can wirelessly search for restaurants near them that are running special offers and then opt for an electronic coupon. The discount is automatically taken off their bill when they use their registered credit card. If these packages of services are as simple and effective as advertised, the mobile Internet may well usher in the “Age of the Power Shopper.” wirelessweek.com