Essential Guide to Wireless Communications Applications, The

M-Business Plans

A fashionable e-commerce business will not necessarily translate well to the wireless Web, because a cell phone is more suited to some types of purchases than others. The immediacy makes it useful for time-critical transactions, but the small display makes people reluctant to browse extensively; an auction or last-minute bargain site is likely to be more successful than one selling books or computer hardware.

This has not stopped companies in the latter category from venturing into m-commerce. The costs of doing so are very low for established e-tailers, and so almost all have some plans for a WAP site. There is less unanimity about what exactly these new sites are for. With analysts in agreement that wireless is the next Big ...