Penetration of Mobile Devices
In a 2001 report by Datamonitor, in the United States, titled
"U.S. Mobile Devices to 2006, a Land of Opportunities," it was stated that there
were 81.7 million mobile phone shipments in the United States by 2001.
Multiplying at a compound annual growth of 17%, this figure will reach 183.8
million in 2006. In the meantime, shipments of handheld mobile devices will
reach 49.9 million in year 2006. This will represent an increase of 22% from the
year 2001. The report forecasted that the U.S. market will replicate Europe's
success in wireless communication and growth by twofold in the next five
years.
A survey, titled "Are you Ready? The use of mobile data
applications in Europe," carried out by Arthur Anderson in 2000, focused on the
corporate business market for mobile data and included 749 companies in Europe.
In the survey, 78% of the participants viewed mobiles phones as critical or very
critical to their business. Convenience and speed were some of the reasons for
the popularity of mobile phones. Other benefits included the ability to gain
operational efficiency, improve communications within the organization,
especially with staff members constantly on the move, and the ability to be
contacted from anywhere at anytime. Although more than three quarters of the
participants admitted that mobile phones were critical to the survival of their
business, the survey unraveled that few companies in Europe had been using
applications that run on mobile platforms to deliver services to their
customers. That was evident by the fact that only 6% of the respondents used
mobile phones for e-commerce transactions.
While many people saw mobile phones as potential business delivery
channels with which to improve relationships, the survey results showed that
slow speed, limited bandwidth, high cost, etc., were some of the barriers for
using mobile devices as a business delivery platform. Most of the respondents
said that they were concerned about WAP security issues. The survey also showed
that only 9% used mobile phones to access financial information, 11% used mobile
phones to access information such as traffic and weather, and 8% used mobile
phones to access news. Despite the fact that mobile phones were not used for
e-commerce-related activities, it is generally expected that this will change,
as the services provided by mobile devices improve and become more affordable
and secure. The survey also showed that 24% of the respondents were using PDAs,
21% used WAP phones, while another 44% planned to use WAP-enabled mobile
phones.
Vodafone, a mobile phone operation in Britain, working jointly
with Ford, a car manufacturer, to bring wireless Internet to cars (Rudkin, 2001). Such
wireless Internet service will be made
available by pushing buttons on the car's stereo system. The wireless service
will supply traffic information and help in the event of emergencies to the
drivers of Ford cars, by facilitating GPS technology. In essence, on top of
providing traffic information, the system will provide directions to drivers on
how to get to a selected destination. It will also trigger emergency services
whenever the car airbag is activated. Future services to be provided by Vodafone
and Ford will include messaging services, weather information, and stock quotes.
These services have been available in Germany since March 1, 2001. Other target
implementation locations include Britain and other European markets.
The use of WAP was extended to create an organization's IntraWAP
services (Loken, IntraWap—Wireless Offices, 2001). This service is similar to
intranet services that were available through a desktop-bound Internet browser.
A WAP-enabled phone can be used to access an organization's intranet site
outside the office location. Such a service eliminates current problems with an
intranet services modem and a notebook computer.
WAP technology was also extended to allow town councils in Europe
to extend services to the public (Loken, 2000). A wireless pilot program in
Stockholm, which was jointly developed by Telia, a mobile phone operator in
Stockholm, and Stockholm Parking Corporation, allows a driver to park at a
parking space and calls a specific number to register the parking lot. When it
is time to leave, all the driver needs to do is to call the same telephone
number, and the parking fee will be added to the customer's telephone bill. Such
a wireless service allows consumers to park their cars conveniently by
eliminating the need for consumers to queue and the need to have coins or small
change to pay parking fees.
The use of WAP and mobile devices in entertainment and gaming
businesses has great potential (Rudkin, 2001). In the United States, Digital Avenue, a WAP
games developer company, put some of its most popular games onto its mobile
portal (http://www.digitalavenue.8m.com). Games including Black-jack for
gambling fans, Power Hockey for sports fans, Quiz for intelligent games fans,
Monkey Island for adventure game lovers, and many other games applications, such
as Trivial Pursuit, have been brought to WAP devices through SMS technology by
Motorola and Codeonline (Loken, 2001). Codeonline is a Finnish mobile entertainment
company. The games are expected to be available to all Motorola partners and
will be available in the United Kingdom from April 2001.
Animated messages were brought to European WAP users by FunMail
(http://www.funmail.com). FunMail is the organization that
brought full-color animated messages to
i-mode users in Japan. With such animated color messages, a WAP user will be
able to send nontextual-based messages to another WAP phone user. Hewlett
Packard Singapore reported that the company and Intel awarded a grant of $1
million to help five local companies deploy wireless solutions developed at
Hewlett Packard's Mobile E Service Bazaar (http://myfsi.hp.com/solutions/esip/wp.pdf). The grant will help
various WAP applications, such as mobile connectivity to office and personal
e-mail, booking of cinema tickets via wireless devices, and wireless order and
inventory services, to be introduced to the Singapore market. The grant, in
essence, will help development and implementation of wireless technology to be
boosted in Singapore and, in return, help to promote the development of wireless
services to allow Singapore-based companies to tap into wireless technology and
that consumer base.
Hewlett Packard, in September 2000, announced that it signed an
agreement with Singapore Telecom and Lycos Asia to launch a product called HP
Wireprint (http://www.hp.com.sg/news/2000-09-27.html). This e-service
allows users to retrieve and send information over a secure channel to mobile
devices or other output devices like printers and facsimiles. Unlike traditional
mobile printing, HP Wireprint does not require the presence of the source file
on the mobile devices. Furthermore, the printer drivers do not need to be
installed on the mobile devices. From the user's side, all that is needed is
user identification and password in order to access the shared resources, such
as a network-shared drive on the network in the office. The service will first
be deployed in the Asia-Pacific region and will then progressively expand
world-wide.
The Singapore government is also interested in adopting some WAP
applications to deliver public services. Such applications add additional
channels for government to deliver public services and add convenience to
public. The Ministry of Defense (MINDEF) extended its IPPT (a physical fitness
test) booking service to national servicemen using WAP-enabled phones (http://www.ippt.mindef.gov.sg/ippt/wap/defencetown.wml). MINDEF
also allows national servicemen to register their intention to temporarily leave
the country through its Going Overseas WAP application.
The stockbroking industry is one area where WAP applications and
mobile devices can be used more effectively. In Singapore, two stockbroking
firms brought online trading facilities to WAP technology. They are POEMS and
Fraser Securities. The WAP site of POEMS allows consumers to trade stocks, unit
trust, and account information over WAP-enabled mobile phones (http://www.poems.com.sg). The WAP
trading is available only to POEMS customers
who subscribe to Mobile One, Singapore Telecom, or Starhub mobile phone
operators. There are selected mobile phones that had been certified to be
WAP-trading enabled. Services available in WAP trading include the service to
allow consumers to place an order to trade in The Singapore Stock Exchange and
other linked exchanges. Consumers are also able to view the status of their
orders online, through WAP-enabled mobile phones. Consumers can also set alerts
so that when a given counter reaches a given price, an alert is sent from the
POEMS computer server to the consumer's mobile phone. Other services include
account information facility, whereby consumers could check on their shares
position, the amount of money that is due to or from POEMS.
Fraser Securities Pte Ltd, another stockbroking firm, provides
online share-trading services via a mobile network to share investors in
Singapore. Its Web site is currently accessible through Singapore Telecom
E-Ideas. E-Ideas is a mobile commerce product from Singapore Telecom, where
m-commerce services are grouped into categories for easy access (http://www.fraserdirect.com.sg). The trading features provided
by Fraser Securities are similar to those provided by POEMS. The difference is
only in the mobile phone operator. While POEMS allows customers to access its
site through any one of the three mobile phone operators in Singapore, Fraser
Securities allows its customers to access its site only through Singapore
Telecom.
Banks also start to offer WAP services using mobile devices. DBS
Bank customers who possess a WAP mobile phone or handheld devices would be able
to use the WAP-based banking services through DBS Wireless Banking (http://www.dbs.com/ebanking/wireless). DBS Wireless Banking
services allow customers to check their account balances and perform fund
transfers between different accounts. DBS WAP services allow customers to access
bank rates (e.g., fixed deposit rates, loan rates, etc.) and request financial
news (e.g., news on stocks, shares, and corporate announcements) from the bank.
Customers can also use the service to locate DBS or POSBANK offices, branches,
and ATMs. For security, the WAP services use WTLS (Wireless Transport Layer
Security) to protect a transaction by utilizing encryption technology. The WTLS
security module that the bank implemented supports up to 128-bit key
strength.
In the telecommunication sectors, the three mobile phone operators
in Singapore, namely, Singapore Telecom, Mobile One, and Starhub, have also
launched their WAP services. In comparison, the three companies are offering
services that are similar in nature to those services offered by
telecommunication companies in countries such as Britain and the United States.
Singapore Telecom launched a WAP service
available through mobile phones and PDAs called E-Ideas (Intelligent Do It
Yourself Electronic Access Services). Singapore Telecom customers who signed up
for this service are able to have an E-Ideas menu in their mobile phone and PDA
devices. The menu lists a selection of e-commerce sites accessible through their
mobile phones. The service allows customers to use their mobile phones to
perform online transactions, such as electronic trading and electronic banking,
online taxi reservation, and e-mail, any time of the day and anywhere in the
world, as long as Singapore Telecom mobile phone roaming service is available.
According to Singapore Telecom, there will be more services, such as electronic
ticketing, electronic games, etc., planned to enrich Singapore Telecom E-Ideas
(Emanuel, 2000).
E-Ideas is aimed to benefit people constantly on the move, enabling them to
access a wide range of information and services.
Starhub is another telecom player who introduced a personalized
WAP service through its innovative product called iPower. iPower allows
consumers to access the Internet without using a desktop computer. Unlike
SingTel's E-Ideas, iPower allows personalization of the customer's mobile phone.
The personalization allows customers to organize their bookmarks to the WAP
site. Such personalization can be configured from the Starhub Web site. Starhub
also extends its e-mail services to its mobile phone customers. Customers are
allocated an e-mail address such as [telephone-number]@starhubmail.com.sg. This
e-mail service allows customers to send and receive e-mail messages from their
mobile phones. Basic e-mail services, such as managing messages and an address
book, are also provided.
Mobile One Pte Ltd (M1), one of the three mobile phone operators
in Singapore, launched Mi World, a WAP service available exclusively to M1
customers. Like its competitors, it allows its customers to get access to the
latest financial, local, and international news, check weather and traffic
conditions, e-mails, games, and banking with OUB Bank. M1 also allows its
customers to purchase hampers and cards using their mobile phones. M1 presents
WAP share-trading services through POEMS and Keppel Securities to allow its
customers to place a share via their mobile phones.
WAP-based games form another WAP service that enables people
to use mobile devices to gain access to a wider range of games while on the move
(http://wirelessgames.com). A membership is required to access
the full range of games available on the Web site. The Singapore-based portal of
Oktopas (http://www.orktopas.com) provides news information that includes
4D and Toto result numbers, weather updates, and so on. The site also lists
other WAP sites that are available in Singapore. The listings of the WAP sites
are categorized in order to facilitate
navigation and searching. The WAP site allows users to browse other WAP sites,
such as Singapore eGuide and POEMS. In Singapore, WAP infrastructures and
services are fully operational; however, the slow adoption of WAP and mobile
devices is largely due to the limitations of mobile devices, as reported in an
article in Computer Times (March 29, 2000).
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