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Technology Stocks : Nokia (NOK) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: 49thMIMOMander who wrote (15527)	10/3/2001 2:39:00 PM
From: Eric L	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 34857

re: SIM - WIM WAP - Take That (Liberty Alliance) SUNW & NOK >> Nokia Fosters No-Hassle Alliance Jos Schuurmans Nordic WirelessWatch Helsinki October 02, 2001 Commercial transactions over electronic networks require secure connections and reliable identification of both merchants and customers. The technology has been available for years, albeit not on the level of mass implementation. Disagreement on international standards between those who have the technology and those who have a "not invented here" syndrome, is just one of many reasons why it's taking so long before a common modus operandi arises. Many Internet users have lost their patience and are shopping around freely, conducting credit card transactions that may be fairly sufficiently encrypted, but without really knowing who is on the receiving end. Is the shopkeeper really who they say they are? Can they make a run with your credit card number? Yes they can. Some of the frontrunning firms in mobile commerce are trying to do it right from the start. In Helsinki, a pilot project by Nokia, Nordea, and Visa, was launched last week to test secure mobile transactions using dual-chip technology. The SIM chip from the operator in combination with a WIM (Wireless Identification Module) chip from a bank that cooperates with a credit card company, turn the mobile phone into wirelessly networked plastic money. The obvious advantage is increased security. But there is another, really important advantage: usability. In the mobile environment, ease of use is more critical to the take-off of commercial transactions, than in the fixed networked environment. With SIM, WIM, and WAP, the user - mistake: I mean, the handset - can immediately and automatically be identified, as well as the reliability of the shopkeeper. A malicious merchant cannot abuse the credit card number for other purposes, since the digital signature is only given for a particular purchase. No typing in of names, addresses, credit card numbers. No hassle. E-commerce over the Internet, on the other hand, is severely hindered by hassle. While people seem less and less bothered by the security aspects of using their credit card over the Net, they are certainly bothered by having to set up a user account for every online shop they browse. That's why Microsoft has initiated its 'Passport' service some time ago, to provide Internet users with a data profile that allows them to smoothen the data exchange and identification when using commercial services. And that is why as of now, Microsoft's arch rival Sun Microsystems is leading a competing consortium, dubbed the Liberty Alliance. The groups aims to give consumers secure, private identities so that they can do business more readily on the Internet and with mobile phones. The key phrase here is: "and with mobile phones". And Nokia is part of the new alliance. Do we see a pattern here? Yes we do, actually more than we have space to describe here. One pattern is that of the continuing polarization between the fixed networks legacy world - MS hassle - and the mobile innovation world - the Big Three handset makers and Sun's Java. Another pattern is Nokia's maneuvering in the grey area overlapping the fixed and mobile Internet spheres. With its push for IPv6 and for secure mobile transactions and now this Sun thing, one wonders: is Nokia going to bring WIM in as a Net ID? << - Eric -