When and if wireless Internet access ever surpasses wired connectivity,
"you don't want to just be bolting on wireless,"
says Peter O'Kelly, senior analyst with market research firm
Patricia Seybold Group.
This
means you shouldn't be taking an existing e-commerce site
and converting it via transcoding, a Web-to-wireless translation
process. It's just too labor-intensive to rely on indefinitely.
Each time your Web content changes, you've got to convert
that HTML into the markup language used by wireless Internet devices,
and today's devices use several markup languages.
M-commerce platforms that let you develop content specifically
for wireless devices - not just retag Web site content - have
just begun to ship. They include Total-e-Mobile from Bluestone
Software in Philadelphia; SiteMorfer from NetMorf in Boston; and
Mobileum from Mobileum in Pleasanton, Calif. These platforms sit
between the wireless net and back-end corporate systems.
Take the Mobileum platform, which features five components. The
first is developer tools, one for mapping out a wireless application
and the other for generating style sheets. Second are presentation
services, for translating XML input into languages and styles
of wireless devices. Third are core application services, including
security, registration and gateway interfaces. Next are optional
enhanced wireless service modules. They provide features such
as cookie management, which lets device users specify personalization
and security; and application session management, which saves
users from having to start transactions over from scratch if they
lose their wireless connections, says Mitch Bishop, vice president
of marketing at Mobileum. Last are application integration services,
for connectivity at the back and front ends with wired-world applications.
With the help of such a platform, wireless becomes just another
integrated channel for reaching customers. A user who initiates
a stock trade from his Palm during his commute will see that transaction
reflected when he logs on later that day from his home PC or checks
his account status over the phone.
M-commerce infrastructure platforms also scale better than transcoding-based
products, and that scalability will be much needed if market projections
of billions of users materialize. Mobileum built its m-commerce
software infrastructure on top of BEA Systems' WebLogic application
server for scalability. For robustness, it uses dynamic load-balancing,
clustering and failover capabilities, Bishop says.
To aid developers, Bluestone's Total-e-Mobile comes with
loads of templates, a set of four reference applications, and
a Wireless Application Protocol gateway and emulators so developers
can test applications, says Tony Wasserman, vice president of
Bluestone's West Coast Labs.
Swisscom, the principal provider of telecommunications services
in Switzerland, is building an m-commerce portal for consumers
using Bluestone's framework. The portal will let customers
find and personalize services for their mobile devices, says Christoph
Maier, technical project manager with Swisscom. Eight Bluestone
developers are working on-site, readying the m-commerce portal
for its mid-2001 launch, he says.
Contact Signature Series Editor Beth Schultz at bschultz@nww.com.
