Pam Hardin
Tech Support Team Leader
Softquad Software, Ltd.

will come to Seneca's
BCS 500 class to talk about
XML basics - April 9th - 3:20 ~ 5:00
XMetal 2.0 - April 11th - 11:40 ~ 1:20

IEC students welcome to attend to hear the presentations

"The rapid growth in mobile telephony in recent years provides a strong model for the adoption of undeterred mobile computing. The Strategis group recently estimated that there will be around 500 million mobile phone users worldwide in 2001, and 700 million by 2003. Consistent with this projection, Nokia estimated that there will be a billion mobile phone subscribers worldwide by 2005. The rapid transition from fixed to mobile telephony will almost certainly be followed by a similar transition from fixed to mobile computing in the near future. Some of the key factors that are driving

the evolution and adoption of mobile computing are:

•      greater reliance on computing and communication technologies. 
•      societal shifts toward a more mobile workforce 
•      increasing need for remote communication, computing and collaboration 
•      greater geographical mobility among corporate individuals 
•      greater need for communication and collaboration at all levels 
•      greater criticality of time and effective decision making within narrow  windows of opportunities 
•      increasing availability of wireless connections at affordable rates 
•      new and important requirements for mobile computing support such as
•      intelligent mobile agents

     and mobile knowledge networking."

Personification Inc. is a Toronto based company involved in ...

 

The pioneers of the record player were Thomas Edison, (1847–1878)  with his phonograph, and Emile Berliner (1851–1929), who invented the predecessor of the vinyl record 1896. Edison's records were made of tinfoil, upon which a groove of unvarying lateral direction but varying depth was cut. 

Edison claims to have had as one of his original purposes, being the relationship between a businessman dictating letters to a secretary. Edison tried to produce a machine that would record the gentleman's speech, which could then be later played back by the secretary in a manner which would allow her to type out the words.

What we fail to see sometimes is how quickly older inventions also spread fast and had their diverted and entertaining applications. How many readers of this page would be surprised to learn that edible records made of chocolate were a culinary delight in 1903.

Of course, in 2001, we know that the phonograph's Killer Ap was not business oriented, but rather applied to music and it was entertainment purposes that drove subsequent developments.

The reason we deliberate on this historical tale in IEC 802/812 is to keep in mind that all the businesses presently trying to find a great Ap for wireless technology, may be missing (what has been historically a great driver of inventions) the most powerful Ap - entertainment.

written with notes from Prof. Richardson's class on History of Technology
 www.witiger.com/centennialcollege/GNED117.htm

"The convergence of wireless devices and the Internet is creating  an important new channel to market — and the next wave of  change across industries. Mobile business, or m-business as it has come to be known, will enable organisations in every  industry to

• expand their markets, 
• improve their service and 
• reduce their costs. 

"If the "wireless" future" is behind schedule, analysts say three converging trends

• increasing use of the internet
• handheld devices
• cellphone services

Profitguide says in their April 2001 issue
"the real question is not will wireless impact your firm - or when - but how?"
 

• "TextSummary uses state-of-the-art algorithms to analyze a document's structure, grammar and keywords generating a coherent summary of the original - without compromising its meaning. 
• PhoneSummary takes the data generated by TextSummary and converts it to voice. Any web content can be summarized and delivered in  audio format through a telephone."

www.plesman.com/eb/news. html?CONTENT=news/eb021124a

"The mobile Internet market is growing quickly, but bandwidth and handset design limitations mean the wireless experience won't match the desktop experience any time soon." Matt Friedman writing in the Plesman publication, Computing Canada, Nov 2000

Friedman notes that "the mobile market is growing quickly. Almost 30 per cent of Canadian households have at least one mobile phone. Sales of Internet-equipped phones  are skyrocketing, while sales of PDAs are expected to double over last year's. There will soon be a vast, mobile Internet-equipped market hungry for content and services."

however, despite this trend, Friedman cautions "...You can't build much of a display into a mobile phone without seriously compromising its portability, and unlike computers, most mobile devices are designed to be operated with one hand.... The killer app for the wireless Internet may not be traditional Web browsing at
all — at least not in the short term — but direct, person-to-business electronic  commerce. In effect, the wireless device becomes a combination of interface, credit card, smart card and ATM."
 

"Wireless To  Dominate Web by 2001"

Nora Macaluso wrote in  E-Commerce Times in April 2000 an article titled  http://www.ecommercetimes. com/news/articles2000/000411-3.shtml

Macaluso quoted IDC's prediction that by mid-2001 all digital cellular devices will be WAP-capable. IDC was further quoted by Macaluso as saying that the shift to wireless is driven in part by a growing trend on the part of phone service and other providers to encourage customers to use the Web for customer service, bill paying and account information. It is a logical extension for these companies to prompt consumers to buy products and services over their Internet-ready phones. 
To access the original report from IDC, written by Iain Gillot, see below.

"the mobile market is growing quickly. Almost 30 per cent of Canadian households have at least one mobile phone.[Nov 2000] Sales of Internet-equipped phones are skyrocketing, while sales of PDAs are expected to double over last year's.  There will soon be a vast, mobile Internet-equipped market hungry for content and services."
 www.plesman.com/eb/news.html?CONTENT=news/eb021124a
"The truth is that there are a whole lot of cell phones and mobile devices in Canada, and they're growing rapidly," said Mark Dickelman, vice-president of m-commerce and wireless at the Bank of Montreal

WAP

By Matt Friedman writing in   www.plesman.com/eb/news.html? CONTENT=news/eb021124a

"WAP has been hyped as the be-all and end-all of the wireless Internet, but it's important to remember that it's just one of many technologies,"
Mike O'Farrell, executive vice-president for business development of Toronto-based mobile developer PCS Innovations Inc.

"... WAP has to overcome at least two substantial obstacles before it's  really ready for prime time. The first problem is that for now, digital wireless connections are limited to a glacial 9600 bits per second — about a sixth the  speed of a pokey 56k modem. It's unlikely that anyone would have much of an "Internet experience" at that pace. However, the bandwidth issues are sure to be solved in due course. 

 A more serious question is whether handheld, mobile wireless devices like cell  phones and personal digital assistants are even particularly well suited to online browsing. You can't build much of a display into a mobile phone without seriously compromising its portability, and unlike computers, most mobile  devices are designed to be operated with one hand."
Friedman
 

Future market size -
Included in the November 1999 CNET news piece is the statement that
"Boston-based market researcher Yankee Group forecasts that the wireless data market  will grow from $1.8 billion this year to $13.2 billion by 2003."

WIRELESS
BANKING
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

WIRELESS
BANKING

In the March  2001 edition of Plesman publication's "eBusiness Journal", several article discuss wireless banking. Howard Soloman writes a particularly interesting article titled "Banks and brokerages are cautiously rolling out wireless services"  www.plesman.com/eb/news.html?CONTENT=news/eb030316a Interestingly, Soloman points out some of the experiences particular Canadian banks have had trying to marry a technology to a particular function. Soloman notes "tiny cellphone screens and slow networks mean frustration"

Historically speaking , the ease with which "first adopters" use a new technology, and its application, is critical to whether it will contine. When pocket pagers first came out they were bulky, expensive and had limited coverage - it wasn't until the cell phone industry took off in the mid-1990's that pagers had a system to piggyback on (the cell phone network) to carry their signal - then they became popular.

Solomon cautions that "Wireless won't be a big money-maker for the financial services industry, but banks and brokerages are slowly adding it to their product offerings" because no one wants to be left behind. 

If there room for optimism. Solomon notes " industry analysts say there's no one wireless killer app, getting access to financial services is thought to be one of the biggest reasons why people will want Internet-enabled cellphones and personal digital devices, which are slowly entering the market."
 

The situation in March 2001
"Demand is not high at this point," says Jim Connor, manager of electronic services technologies at the Royal Bank. Most use it to check balances, he  said. "Overall, it's not overwhelming traffic," agrees David Sypher, senior  vice-president of direct channels at discount brokerage TD Waterhouse.  Schwab Canada finds only about three per cent of its trades are done through  wireless devices. "

How is Canada doing in the international arena of wireless banking?
Solomon notes
"Canadian financial institutions have been among the North American leaders in offering wireless access. Schwab Canada was the first brokerage, beating its U.S. parent to the air."

In conclusion, Solomon offers that "the future of wireless financial services is in the hands of carriers and device manufacturers. With bigger  screens, users can get graphs and more than three lines of information. But the  networks that can handle such data are at least a year away."
 

WIRELESS
BANKING
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

WIRELESS
BANKING

March 09, 2001 article by  Victoria Berry  "Wireless banking brings partnerships"  Two partners bring Bank of Montreal to market quickly

Mark Dickelman, vice-president of m-commerce and wireless for the Bank of Montreal, as quoted by Berry, says he "fully expects wireless banking to surpass the popularity of PC  banking in record time."

The full story, at
 http://www.ITworldcanada.com/cw/displayArticle....................
explains that Bank of Montreal, which already has a relationship with  Sun Microsystems and 724 Solutions, expanded this relationship for developing wireless banking services.

BOM implemented the Sun infrastructure and hardware and 724’s  E10,000 solution in anticipation of customer demands. Dickelman noted "the wireless market may not have boomed yet, but when it does the bank  will have a well-run solution. Veev.com allows the bank’s wireless clients to access all account transactions, re-order cheques, take part in the bank’s brokerage services and do some trading," according to Dickelman.

What does 
wireless mean 
to the human 
experience?

"... wireless is really about instant information, a priceless commodity that will let you make decisions and transactions anytime, anywhere"

What is instant information? (WTGR)

• instant ability to see/read real-time stock quotes as the prices are moved by the market
• marketing and promotion information cast to you instantly based on your geographic location in an urban area (so you can buy something in close proximity)
• instant ability to reply to a human (voice, text, or image based content)

location determinant
location indeterminant
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

the human business
relationship experience:

location determinant
location indeterminant
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

the human business
relationship experience:

location determinant
location indeterminant
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

the human business
relationship experience:

location determinant
location indeterminant

20th century Scarborough - the Macdonald's franchise owner buys real estate across from the local high school, which is adjacent to a medium size mall which is only served presently by a Becker's and a Tim Horton's.

Both of these situations are location determinant - meaning the factors of 

• customer location
• supplies and materials
• labour available
• publicity and marketing

• customer location is not a factor, they can be anywhere FedEx ships
• supplies and materials are minimal since most is digital and the actual product can be assembled and packaged almost anywhere
• labour is split between the call center - located in a bilingual Atlantic Canada province, and offsite webmasters
• publicity and marketing is mostly online, with some billboards placed in the CBD

• customer location is a factor, the software only calls their phone if they are within a 80 metre range of a small Tim Horton's kiosk
• supplies and materials are non-existent - it is a service, not a physical product being sold
• labour is split between the call center - located in a multi-lingual north Toronto (English, Mandarin and Cantonese)  and offsite webmasters
• publicity and marketing is mostly offline, with some sandwich boards placed on the sidewalk noting the existance of the service and offering online coupons through the cellphone

2.5G
3G
 

Bluetooth enabled devices, such as handhelds, will allow wider range access to the internet but at present (August 2000) no such devices are publically available. The reason for mentioning this now is that future applications will greatly increase the number of people accessing the internet from various mobile devices. Even more people accessing the Internet means more potential customers for B2C situations.
WTGR

"The idea behind Bluetooth is to avoid the inconvenience of cables by enabling devices such as mobile phones, PCs, printers and handheld computers to communicate with one another over short distances using low-power radio signals to transmit data"
Laura Rohde of IDG News Service
page 17 in Aug 25th, 2000 edition of ComputerWorld Canada

"Bluetooth"

"The Bluetooth communications device is a small, low-powered radio in a chip that will "talk" to other Bluetooth-enabled products, eliminating the need for cables or infrared beams to connect portable computers, cellular phones, printers, fax machines, etc. It will be possible to connect enabled devices  on a one-to-one or one-to-many basis.

Since the chip supports both voice and data communications, applications will range from something as simple as replacing the cable between a mobile computer and cellular phone, to more complex  connections involving multiple computers, and extending into hands-free voice communications for wireless phones in vehicles."
Andrew Seybold
 http://www.gsmdata.com/artblue.htm
 
 

ZDNET's list of online articles about Bluetooth
- you should pick a couple and read them
http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/specials/1999/04/bluetooth/
 
 

"The heart of the Bluetooth brand identity is  the name, which refers to the Danish king Harald Blåtand (Bluetooth) who unified  Denmark and Norway"

"In the beginning of the Bluetooth wireless technology era, it was aimed at unifying the telecom and computing industries. Since then, the  Bluetooth wireless technology has grown to influence pretty much all areas where cable replacement is needed. It is   estimated that by 2005 the Bluetooth  wireless technology will be a built-in feature in more than 670 million products"  http://www.bluetooth.com/bluetoothguide/faq/8.asp

Industry association web pages (including press relases and statements of intent) are helpful sources of information about an industry sector as a whole.
WTGR

GMCF comments that "Judging by the development of the Japanese and European mobile industries, it will be the entertainment and leisure
sector that will drive the uptake of mobile commerce"

"Another key to the widespread uptake of mobile commerce will be the rapid creation of portals, providing specialised, personalised content...The mobile operators should be encouraging the growth in the number of portals, preserving their interest through joint ventures, cross-marketing agreements and shareholdings.  For the mobile commerce industry
this represents the ‘business to business’ challenge of helping existing brands raise their visibility in the mobile space.”
 http://global.mobilecommerce.com/PressReleases/PressRelease_010800.htm
 

Macaluso writes "All new mobile phones sold in the UK will be Internet-enabled by mid-2001, according to  a report from Forrester Research.
 www.forrester.com/Home/0,3257,1,FF.html
as the price of wireless application protocol (WAP)  technology continues to fall, consumers will snap up the phones in a "two-year period of hypergrowth." "Customer uptake will increase rapidly, creating a market of 41 million mobile Internet users in the UK by 2005," 

m-commerce
in
China

Romeo's story is based on a report by the Yankee Group.
In this report, Romeo notes that "One of the major potential roadblocks to the growth of
 e-commerce in China is a dearth of PCs in the country. Wireless communication companies, however, stand ready tostep in to provide e-commerce services if there are not enough PCs."

Who is "getting in on this action"?, the Yankee Group notes that " MeetChina.com, China's official cross-border Internet trade portal, recently signed an agreement with Motorola, Inc. and China Wireless Information Network to broadcast B2B purchase inquiries to a potential audience of over two million people using Motorola wireless communication devices in China."
 

m-commerce
in
China
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

m-commerce
in
China
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

m-commerce
in
China

The article is on Digitrend's site and written by Mark Evans, Managing Director, Deloitte & Touche's Technology & Communications Group

"Will China Look West for Wireless?"
 http://www.digitrends.net/marketing/13642_14696.html 
 
Who is building it

"almost all of the country's subscribers use the global system for mobile communications (GSM) format promoted by European countries. "

China Unicom however has expressed interest in Qualcomm's current code division multiple access (CDMA) technology 

"Qualcomm ... found that it wasn't exactly a welcome guest in China. After launching a trial of its code division multiple access (CDMA) cell-phone technology in  cities like Shanghai and Beijing, last June Qualcomm found itself out on its ear when China's number-two state telecom carrier, China Unicom, decided to scrap deployment plans. Then, in  October [2000], the China Unicom reversed itself and announced that it will build networks using Qualcomm's CDMA"

Size of the market

"China's 1.3 billion population has long been irresistible to Western companies. While analysts
    note the very low penetration rate - 4.5 percent - of mobile wireless users in China, the raw numbers are impressive. "Yes, penetration is very low," says George Koo, Deloitte & Touche's director of Pacific Rim Services."But in terms of gross numbers, it's quite high at 60 million subscribers, and it's growing at 30 percent a year."
 

"Those markets have 80 to 90 percent prepaid subscribers,  which shows the effect prepaid services can have in an economy in which people don't have a lot of  disposable income. This is important since China is a cash economy. It allows operators to tap into a huge market of people they weren't getting before." 

"Billing systems are very weak in China,... You can only get an itemized bill for something after you pay for it" says Harr Brickson

Technology

"Of course, with an expanding market, China will have to move ahead with next generation technology. Third generation, or 3G, technology accommodates more users than the current GSM standard. It also offers users greater access to the kind of bandwidth-intensive applications Chinese new adopters are looking for, like wireless access protocol (WAP). Indeed, even as China remains undecided about which technology format to adopt, the country is already rolling out WAP. Even taking into account the often-stated problems with WAP, such as limited screen size and slow download speeds, AsiaInfo's Chief Strategy Officer Michael Zhao notes that, "The idea of using WAP is very popular right now. In big cities, you see billboards advertising WAP-based cell phones everywhere."

Chinese Players

"basically two players, China Mobile Communications Corp., with the largest geographic coverage and more than 90 percent of subscribers, and China Unicom. To spur competition, China's Ministry of Information Industry has allowed Unicom some pricing flexibility."

Foreign Players

Qualcomm - building networks for China Unicom
Lucent Technologies - signed a technology partnership with China Unicom to develop next generation networking solutions in areas that include wireless.

A long, but very thorough article on mobile developments in Japan. This article covers all the latest [Nov 2000] developments being considered.

points from the article  by Daniel Scuka 

• NTT DoCoMo's combo wireless network-and-ISP service that can be accessed by PHS phones and laptop wireless cards.
• As of August [2000], there were some 17 million Internet-enabled cellphone subscribers in Japan, and that number was growing by more than 550,000 per week. 
• cellphone handset development is booming, and the big Japanese manufacturers (NEC, Sanyo, Kyocera, Sony, Panasonic) together with Nokia and Ericsson are now producing models with color screens, IR connectivity, and 300-hour-plus battery lifetimes that weigh in at about 70 grams,
• 3G cellphones that can show moving pictures !!