Wireless interconnectivity technology is available today to give total, global wireless access. One such device establishes a local area network instantly, enabling your laptop to use your phone to access your email, which it can then deliver to your handheld device." Wireless Application Protocol can connect your PC or PDA to wider Local Area Networks. And satellites, can connect fixed networks, both local and global. In other words, it's the Internet all over again, with global, 24 hour, instant access, only wireless and also mobile.

Everyone who was dazzled by the emergence and explosive growth of the Internet, should get ready to be dazzled again. M for mobile.. the unwired Internet... is poised to follow the comet path of the wired Internet and transform our lives once again.

A new strategic study from Frost & Sullivan, World Mobile Commerce Markets, pegs the fledgling m-commerce market at revenues of $2.98 billion in 1999, expected to rise to $64.41 billion plus by 2005. People want to be able to get information when and how they want it, personalized to their specifications, and particularly on all their various moible devices as they move throughout various offices, airports, taxis and meetings.

We are seeing a big bump in investment in wireless services as improved and less expensive devices, particularly those delivering wireless email, continue to penetrate the market. Global wireless technology market leaders such as Nokia and Ericsson are investing to secure their position in this hot market. Microsoft is accelerating its investments in wireless. Ecommerce players such as Amazon.com and computer makers like Dell are wrapping their strategies around wireless, as well. In essence, all the existing dot com players must soon develop and implement a wireless strategy or risk getting left behind.

Just what the best strategies in this new market will be are still a matter of speculation. Frost & Sullivan analyst Claire Pagniez told mformobile.com's M Comment:

"The earlier operators are positioned to get customers the easier it will be for them to acquire customers. The key here is being in the right place at the right time," says Pagniez. The thrust of the idea is that, if the company knows precisely where the user is, they can sell a range of nearby services and products effectively, over the mobile device. " An example of this might be a service in which the network knows when a consumer is near McDonalds, sends a coupon directly to the handset and then accepts the coupon as payment for a hamburger", added Pagniez. Although that example is far from earth shattering, a lot of creativity will doubtless go into discovering services which are meaningful and relevant for each individual. Instant research on pricing for someone bidding at a rare book auction might be an example. Alternate travel arrangements instantly available for someone running through an airport, having just missed a plane, might be another.

Future of Mobile

Although it is impossible to imagine the precise details of the future wireless world, as its trajectory may be deflected by any number of unforeseen events, it is possible to make educated guesses based on extensive information and research being gathered by various players in the market.

According to Pekka Ala-Pietil«, president of Nokia, the Helsinki-based company which is the world's largest maker of cellular phones and a leading developer of protocols and standards for wireless Internet access, "The next steps in standardization will clearly be in the XML direction." Telecommunications solutions must allow subscribers to communicate over an ever-expanding variety of physical and network interfaces (landline, cell phone, pager, browser, Palm Pilot, etc)." XTML might be thought of as a bar code for content, allowing various devices to read it.

As web pages are rapidly converted to the XTML format, the new wireless world will become a reality here and now. Consider, for a moment, all the wireless interconnectivity technology which is available today and might be rapidly deployed to give total, global wireless access:

"Bluetooth is a radio-based specification that lets a variety of devices establish a local area network instantly, within a range of about ten meters and with no line-of-sight requirements, enabling your laptop to use your phone to access your email, which it could then deliver to your handheld device." WAP or Wireless Application Protocol would connect your PC or PDA to wider Local Area Networks. And satellites, which require direct line of sight, would connect fixed networks, both local and global. In other words, it's the Internet all over again, with global, 24 hour, instant access, only wireless and also mobile.

We are, in fact, on the brink of another revolution. Yesterday we marveled that we could carry our own satellite in a briefcase to broadcast Net content from the middle of a desert or a rainforest. No need to be out of touch. Very soon, we will only need to slip a device in our pocket to be in touch and networked, anytime and anyplace in the world.