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Pastimes : The New Qualcomm - write what you like thread. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: S100 who wrote (2718)	2/26/2001 12:51:25 PM
From: S100	Respond to of 12245

WAP Torture Think mobile commerce is a snap? Not with wireless application protocol. Business 2.0 undertook a painful m-commerce challenge: buying a book using a Motorola WAP phone and Yahoo! Shopping. March 06, 2001 issue SUBSCRIBE to the B2.0 Lineup Kim Cross Sign up. Registered a My Yahoo! account online, then entered credit-card information in a mandatory Yahoo! Wallet, which links the card data and shipping address to the phone. Total time spent: 0:21:00 Browse. Scrolled down the shopping menu on the phone's screen: Messaging, games, America Online, Amazon.com, Yahoo!, MSN Mobile, Fidelity Investments, and more. Launched browser. Total time spent: 0:21:30 Shop Amazon. Typed in Milan Kundera, the name of a prolific author, on alphanumeric phone keys. (Slow going: Entering an "S" required pressing the "7" key four times.) Three Kundera titles turned up. Our choice: The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, in paperback for $10.40. Short customer review: "I hope someone will read this." Total time spent: 0:27:00 Dropped by Amazon. Clicked "buy." Following a series of required steps, keyed in name, email, shipping address, and credit-card number. Clicked "buy" again. Screen response: "Site unavailable." Order not confirmed; time to start over. Total time spent: 0:42:00 Switch to Yahoo! Back to the start screen-and this time, the Yahoo! channel. Confusing menu botched the search, turning up books about-but not by-Kundera. Finally keyed in The Book of Laughter and Forgetting. Total time spent: 1:02:00 Purchase! Search turned up books from several stores, ranging from $6.50 to $12.35. We picked the lowest price (from Powells.com). No indication provided on whether it's paperback or hardcover or when it will arrive. Punched in "Buy." Total time spent: 1:03:00 Back to the Net. Checked status of a previously unconfirmed Amazon order. Site displayed the message: "Waiting to begin processing." Searched Amazon's help site to activate the order; no luck. Total time spent: 1:08:00 Five days later... Business 2.0 received two packages from Amazon, each containing a copy of The Book of Laughter and Forgetting . A third copy arrived the next day, from Powell's. business2.com