WDN: Why should a developer consider your wireless web option, WebWirelessNow, over WAP?

We believe the user interface of WAP does not allow for broad consumer adoption at this time. Regardless of how you do or do not like the WAP, WML, and HDML protocols, the fact of the matter is that there are still less than 1 million WAP-enabled phones on the market, compared to over 300 million digital phones with SMS capability. It will take several years before this ratio flips. Even then, user feedback is telling us that most people will not use the WAP capability of their phones. In contrast, WebWirelessNow was developed with users in mind. It provides fast, inexpensive access to personalized information and can be used by any digital wireless phone.

While some work is still required to integrate WebWirelessNow with a developer's site, there are no new protocols or tools for developers to learn. Is the site static HTML? Fine. ASP? Java Servlets? PERL or C CGI? Great. Our system works with whatever you have. This makes implementation faster, cheaper, and less risky for web sites.

Finally, WebWirelessNow is not simply an SMS delivery platform. Our system provides IVR and caller location capabilities. This capability means that consumers don't have to toggle through various menus to find information that is pertinent to them, which also means that you don't risk losing customers to the "50% rule." (You lose 50% of your customers for every time they have to push a button.)

WDN: What do you foresee is the future of the cell phone in regards to the internet, if WAP, as you believe, doesn't catch on with consumers?

Consumers will use wireless technology to be informed of events or circumstances that effect their daily lives. Whether that's a change in the [stock] market or responding to important email, wireless phones will be used to stay connected.

As wireless intelligent networks are built and third-party databases are connected, the wireless device will become a thin client used to command and control information, conduct transactions, and [keep us] informed of events that impact our business and our lives. There is no question that the vast information of the internet will continue to converge with the wireless world, but consumers will choose a means of least resistance and use the phone to receive timely information, make simple transactions, and be informed by location-relevant content.

WDN: So what sets WebWirelessNow apart from "voice portal" technologies? That is, why bother with WWN, or a similar technology, when you can "voice surf" through any kind of phone?

What sets us apart from the voice portals is the unique attributes of the wireless network being able to know the location you are calling from and provide an experience that is targeted to your location. Why would I call a voice portal and ask them for real-time traffic, weather or the location of members of my engineering team when with one push of a button I can get that information customized to my location?

By the way, we are also interested in partnering with these portals to provide the network infrastructure for their content.

WDN: What about other wireless devices, such as PDAs and two-way pagers? Is XYPOINT expanding WebWirelessNow to these devices?

XYPOINT is technology-neutral and we will offer the WebWirelessNow service to PDAs, and numeric- and alpha-numeric pagers in the near future. When launching WebWirelessNow we had to decide which market made the most sense for us to put our resources against. There are over 50 million digital cell phones in the U.S. so we have placed our initial effort toward these devices.

WDN: What are some of the technologies XYPOINT implemented for WebWirelessNow?

The WebWirelessNow system has three fundamental interface points: internet, SMS, and voice. The internet access is standard HTTP and SMTP. The SMS messaging also uses HTTP and SMTP as well as SS7 signaling. Our voice processing system uses ISDN signaling for call management. We have also integrated text-to-speech and speech recognition capabilities into our system.

WDN: What are the interesting technical challenges XYPOINT encountered while developing the WebWirelessNow application?

Over the last four years of developing applications that interact with the wireless carrier networks, we have become accustomed to seeing significant variances in the way they are implemented. SMS is no different. Each carrier provides SMTP and/or HTTP access to their SMS centers, but these interfaces differ greatly between carriers. Our system had to adapt to these differences while providing a ubiquitous service to the end-user. We used templating and abstraction to minimize the impact on our system. We then researched and developed specific "adapters" for each of the carrier interface variants.

We are currently developing an improved solution which utilizes our direct SS7 connections (from our Wireless E9-1-1 business) to provide enhanced message delivery and formatting.

WDN: If a developer is interested in using WebWirelessNow, what are some of the technical things he should be aware of beforehand?

First and foremost, developers must recognize that wireless phones are not simply portable web browsers. The size of the screen and 12-button keypad are inherent limitations that must be considered. Information must be highly focussed and keypresses minimized.

WDN: With that in mind, what kinds of applications are best suited for WebWirelessNow?

The screen size of a digital cell phone varies among brands, but in all cases it's not more than a few lines. What this means for site developers is that they must take time to pick information on their site which is most likely to be useful for a person away from their desktop computer. The best applications work with information that changes frequently and is somewhat specific to the user -- stock quotes, traffic reports, etc..

WDN: What are some of the future developments XYPOINT has in store for WebWirelessNow?

Location, location, location. XYPOINT already provides wireless location services to wireless carriers and is adding location capabilities to WebWirelessNow this summer. This capability will simplify the user experience tremendously and allows site developers to better meet their users' needs.

For example, right now a person who travels between Los Angeles and New York has to sign up for weather reports from each city. With our enhanced location services added to WebWirelessNow, that person could sign up for a general weather report that would change based on their current location.

Additionally, look for us to release applications later this summer that blend a voice user interface into the WebWirelessNow service to enhance and deepen the consumer experience. We consider the VUI to be technology beyond WAP.

WDN: So will it be possible for future versions of WebWirelessNow to allow for at least some kind of delayed-time, rudimentary way to "surf" for information on the internet?

Our next enhancements will give users the ability to conduct transactions but your question presumes that the capability to surf the web on your phone is the right direction to take consumers. But I guarantee the enhancements won't be rudimentary. The next release of WebWirelessNow will have some cool new capabilities that will allow you buy anything you see or hear on the radio or TV by just pushing talk on your cell phone.