Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Cell Phones: Not Just for Talking Anymore

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 07 Apr 2003 15:19:54 -0400

APRIL 14, 2003

TECHNOLOGY & YOU

Cell Phones: Not Just for Talking Anymore
More carriers now let you download software and information services

Until recently, about all you could do with a wireless
phone was make a call. Even as the capabilities of
handsets grew, you were stuck with whatever
functions your wireless carrier put into the phone.
You couldn't add applications, and customization
was mostly limited to a choice of ring tones.

That's changing fast. In addition to color displays, faster processors,
and more
memory, the latest handsets let you download software programs and
information services to your phone. The market currently consists mainly
of ring
tones, screen savers, and games. Other services, however, are becoming
more
widely available, including mapping and directions, traffic information,
e-mail
access, sports news, and restaurant and movie guides. A company called
Digital Orchid (www.digitalorchid.com/nascartogo) offers a novel service
with
real-time information about NASCAR, including a constantly updated
leaderboard during races. Such programs and services are sold outright
or as a
subscription and can be charged either to the phone bill or a credit
card.
Corporations also are showing interest in creating custom phone
applications
for their mobile workers, such as one that lets field workers for a
mining
company remotely monitor seepage from settling points.

In addition to the ability to customize, these new services work much
better
than the unsuccessful initial attempt to provide information to handsets
using
miniature Web browsers. The response to queries is generally much
faster, and
the programs take advantage of the phones' advanced features, such as
using
color screens to display maps.

Writing programs for phones is much more complicated than for PCs or for

Palm or Pocket PC handhelds. Designing software customized for the
dozens
of handset types isn't practical. And carriers, worried about
tech-support
problems and applications that could cause trouble on their networks,
are fussy
about what they will allow.

Sun Microsystems (SUNW ) and Qualcomm (QCOM ) have developed rival
systems that address both problems. Sun's Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME)
provides a common programming environment for many different handsets
while preventing downloaded applications from doing anything bad to the
built-in phone software or the network. Leading U.S. carriers delivering
J2ME
programs include Sprint PCS (PCS ), Nextel (NXTL ), AT&T Wireless
(AWE ), and Cingular. Qualcomm's BREW, named in self-conscious imitation

of Java, offers similar capabilities, but with a twist. Qualcomm runs
BREW as a
turnkey service for carriers, including Verizon Wireless and Alltel (AYZ
).
Customers buy downloads or subscriptions from BREW, and Qualcomm
passes the billing information to the carriers -- with Qualcomm keeping
a bit of
the payment for its trouble.

I found Verizon's BREW-based Get It Now service the slickest offering. I

tried it with the Motorola T720 and LG 4400 handsets. You go to the Get
It
Now menu, choose your apps or subscriptions, and check out. Games
typically can be purchased outright for $4.99. Information services are
sold by
subscription. Vindigo's local directions, dining-and-entertainment
information
service costs $2.99 a month, while Dow Jones's WSJ.COM news service
costs $3.99 monthly. The cost, plus the airtime used downloading data,
automatically appear on your monthly bill.

Nextel's J2ME service, which I tried on a Motorola i95cl handset, is
clunkier.
Although most applications are downloaded over the air to your phone,
you
have to select them on Nextel's Web site, and your purchases are billed
separately to a credit card. Nextel offers a number of free programs,
but you
must check carefully to see which programs work with which handsets.

BREW may appeal to carriers, but the Java approach should be more
attractive to enterprises that want to get their own applications onto
handsets
carried by mobile workers. That's because most corporations already have

Java development expertise in-house and because they see little need to
pay
Qualcomm to distribute their custom BREW applications. In most cases,
however, companies will still have to work with carriers to get the
applications
into phones.

Small displays and the difficulty of data entry will always limit how
much
phones can do. Even given the limits, the humble handset can become a
game
platform and information appliance once you can get the right software
into it.

By Stephen H. Wildstrom

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/03_15/b3828037.htm

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