18.11 Applications are Key to Wireless Internet Growth

Just like the Internet strategy became indispensable for companies in the early 1990s, wireless strategy is becoming more important for businesses of all types, from small home-office operations to large Fortune 100 companies. Declining prices for wireless access and services, changing socioeconomics supporting transformation to an information-based society, Internet penetration offering users real-time information, handheld devices becoming mainstream, increasing use of mobile phones, higher transmission rates and bandwidths, introduction of new bandwidth-intensive mobile data applications, and convergence of fixed and wireless communications platforms — all contribute to amplified wireless Internet adoption.

Following the build-out of the mobile Internet infrastructure, new mobile applications will drive unprecedented growth. However, content providers have already discovered that the mobile Web is not the same as the desktop Web, and unfortunately the wheel will have to be reinvented in the wireless Internet services implementation. To give an example of how different the conventional desktop Internet is from the wireless Internet, it is worth analyzing the most-important premise that both services are built on. One of the great things about the conventional desktop Internet is that it disregards location, making the same data accessible no matter where the customer is logging on. Wireless Internet, on the other hand, will become heavily reliant on location, offering services and data based on the customer's location.

As in the case of the conventional Internet, before the users will be able to fully understand the value of the wireless Internet, applications will have to be built that offer improved or new ways of accomplishing day-to-day tasks, offer entertainment, and make work and business processes more efficient. End-user surveys show that among the most-useful wireless Internet applications are e-mail; location-based directions and mapping; location-based Yellow Page services; content delivery, including stocks, news, sports, and weather; instant messaging; and receiving discounts and promotions based on location. Location, of course, plays a very important role.

A new concept of the wireless Internet Services has started to evolve in the last few years. Qualcomm saw enormous opportunity in wireless Internet services, and debuted the new wireless development platform, Qualcomm's Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW). BREW is an open, end-to-end solution that provides tools services for applications developers, device manufacturers, and network operators to lower time-to-market barriers and efficiently develop, deploy, buy, sell, manage, and maintain wireless data applications.

Developers use BREW to build wireless applications quickly, spending minimal resources. Operators use the BREW solution to deploy, manage, maintain, and support applications; to provide applications discovery services; and to bill users. BREW reduces costs and risk to network operators and enhances their operational efficiency by lowering infrastructure and integration costs, reducing time-to-market with an end-to-end solution, and increasing operational efficiencies for operators. In early 2002, Verizon Wireless launched the BREW application services, and immediately saw a 9-percent increase in average data revenue per user.

For mobile phone consumers, the built-in "Mobile Shop" offered with the new BREW-enabled phones allows users to easily find, add, and remove applications with just a few clicks. Applications written for BREW offer excellent graphics, speed and action, and real-time interactivity. Already, mobile users can play a game of golf, file an expense report, access Zagat's Restaurant Guide, find a destination map, and get directions, while sitting on the train, in the cab, walking to the office, strolling in the park, or sitting at the beach. BREW offers a categorized search, making it easier for end users to find any application they need.

As was proved by i-mode in Japan, platforms such as BREW are key to bringing wireless data to the masses in the same fashion that Yahoo!, AOL (the first Internet Service Provider to offer consumer services in the United States), CompuServe, and other Internet service providers were instrumental in delivering the Internet to the masses. Carriers see that as well: Verizon Wireless is already offering the 1G black-and-white and color Internet-enabled phones to consumers, and is the first carrier in North America to offer downloadable applications to consumers nationwide. Applications consumers can download over the air on a phone are available nationally, and Verizon believes that these services will help it reach its goal to morph the wireless phone into a valuable resource for consumers who want up-to-the minute information to help them manage their life.