GETTING BACK ON THE WIRELESS TRACK
by Nicki Hayes, September 18, 2001
The mad race to get a share of our brave new wireless world seems to be grinding to a halt. Nicki Hayes,
WDN's European correspondent, investigates possible causes and potential solutions and champions the
cause of one network operator that seems to be trying to do something about it.
After an impressive send-off, it seems that the race to adopt the wireless internet in Europe got off to a false
start and that the market, having surveyed the carnage, has collectively decided to pull into the pit stop and
wait. But what is it that is driving them to such stalling tactics? Well, let's just look at a snapshot of recent
wireless news: Regulatory pressure against European mobile operators has been increased. Vodafone
claims that 3G will not have the bandwidth expected around cell boundaries. Sonera and Enitel have
withdrawn from their 3G license in Norway. Wireless application startups are going out of business by the
day. Even mobile handset vendors have seen a downturn with the Western European PDA market slowing
down to just 7% growth in the second quarter of 2001.
Now, let's look at a snapshot of analyst reports. Here we seem to have a group of influencers desperate to
find something more positive to say than they have recently been doing, perhaps in a bid to get the race
back on track:
Forrester interviewed a sample of businesses representative of the Global 3,500 and identified that 88 per
cent had plans to implement mobile data. However, only 20 per cent had moved "beyond piloting".
Yankee claims that the 3G business model is "just as solid as it was 12 to 18 months ago". It also asserts
that GPRS will have "widespread adoption" by the end of 2002 and that 3G will be in "common use"
by the end of 2004.
Gartner looks to i-mode for lessons and concludes that the potential uptake of mobile data looks good,
providing that the value proposition is attractive and that there is "fast interaction to compelling
content". Ovum adds to this positive picture claiming that global wireless enterprise spending will be
worth more than $28.7 bn with 39.4 million connected workers by 2006. It also suggests that operators
should start charging for content - a call that is echoed elsewhere.
So, despite the present pit stop, the future looks good. But, given that we seem to be operating in a space
where first to market is increasingly being viewed as first to slaughter, it's worth asking "What are the key
obstacles to overcome in order to get back on track?"
Forrester's assessment makes a lot of sense. They put the wireless wait down to a combination of three
factors and assert that adoption of wireless data will climb as these three factors are overcome. The factors
they identify are:
1. Delays in deployment of GPRS.
2. The current economic slowdown driving down and refocusing budgets firmly on ROI.
3. A lack of focus among operators on business applications and other "softer" issues such as training,
application management and integration with existing solutions.
Well, while there's little the market can do to speed up the solution to the first two issues, there is plenty
that can be done to address the third. Eircell, Ireland's leading mobile phone operator and a Vodafone
subsidiary, is one operator that seems to be pulling out the stops. Last week it launched an extranet as part
of its partner program, a program that is focusing exclusively on wireless business applications.
"The purpose of the extranet is to provide mobile application providers, system integrators, consultants and
development companies with real access to real time information about Eircell's network, trends in the
wireless industry, case studies and industry reports. It will also provide technical information, including a
"Doctor Data" facility that lets users ask Eircell experts technical questions," advised Roisin Kehoe, Eircell
partnership manager.
The Eircell Partner Program, set up this July, is surely an example of best practice. Its purpose is to
"increase wireless traffic revenues by creating more wireless applications for Eircell's corporate clients."
Its focus is firmly on business applications and on raising awareness among the corporate world of the
benefits of wireless technology and it provides partners with wide ranging support, from initial product
specifications, to interoperability and quality testing, through to product launches, as Roisin explains:
"The three things that will drive wireless revenues and the adoption of wireless data are speed, the
availability of easy to use corporate applications and an increased awareness of the benefits such
applications deliver. Eircell has a high-speed data network already. For the last four months we've been
able to offer access at 43.2 kb/second, so the same speed as a landline. Our partnership program aims to
advance the availability of simple, easy to use corporate applications, by, for example, assisting partners
with interoperability tests with GSM, HSCSD and GRPS networks as well as the various operating systems
and access devices currently on the market. The program also aims to raise awareness of the benefits
wireless technology can deliver to the corporate sector," she continued.
It is with this in mind that Eircell has been focusing on partnering with organizations offering applications
to the mobile workforce - so CRM, field service and workflow management application providers.
"Once corporate's learn that, for instance, by giving field sales engineers access to your workflow via their
mobile devices you can save a lot of time - in Eircell's own case around seven hours a week per engineer
- then the adoption of mobile data services will begin to grow," Roisin advised.
Although Eircell claims that GPRS is ready to go in Ireland, once GPRS enabled handsets are available, the
operator is keen to push the cost-effectiveness of its high speed circuit switched network, claiming that less
customers are saying that they are going to wait for GPRS. But, regardless of what such operator's research
- or PR machines- claim, GPRS will deliver benefits above and beyond HSCSD to users. Always-on
access for one, and, eventually one hopes, a wider range of handsets that will enable users to benefit from
GPRS access in ways that HSCSD handsets will be unable to (as, after-all, mass production of HSCSD
handsets are not on the product map for many manufacturers). Add to this the associated awareness raising
activities that are sure to accompany the roll-out of GPRS and the picture is already beginning to look
rosier.
Whatever their official stance on the GPRS/ HSCSD situation Eircell deserves congratulations on its
current partnership program and on the GPRS program it plans to launch next month. Let's hope the rest of
the industry learns a lesson about the power of partnering and takes similar steps to get the wireless race out
of the pit stop and back on the track.
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About the author:
Nicki Hayes is a freelance writer and corporate communications consultant specialising in business to business internet issues. She has contributed editorial to a number of publications including Unstrung.com, Guardian Online, Financial Times, Banking & Financial Training, eAI Journal and Secure Computing. Nicki is also the European correspondent for The Wireless Developer Network. Nicki is based in Dublin, Ireland and also has a base in Cambridge, UK. Through her consultancy, Hayes-Singh Associates, she has access to a number of technical writers and PR consultants throughout Ireland and the UK.
About the WirelessDevNet (www.wirelessdevnet.com):
The Wireless Developer Network is an on-line community for information technology
professionals interested in mobile computing and communications. Our mission is to assist
developers, strategists, and managers in bridging the gap between today's desktop and
enterprise applications and tomorrow's mobile users communicating via wireless networks.
We are interested in supporting the deployment of these evolving technologies through
high-quality technical information, news, industry coverage, and commentary. This
information is provided within a true on-line community that supports developer/vendor
dialogue through message boards and user-submitted tips, articles, links, and software
downloads.
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