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6 Building brands with text messaging

10 Enterprise office automation

13 Mobile operating systems

14 Location-based services

18 Living the mobile lifestyle

22 Mobile tech saves lives

24 Wireless LANs are coming

28 Bell funds innovative R&D

29 New devices are coming

30 Big brands leverage wireles

34 Wireless for the fun of it

38 Enabling field reps

41 GSM vs. CDMA

42 Better customer relat

44 Enterprise implementat

48 Cutting-edge Sympatico

To navigate this CD ROM click the article you want to read(you can return to this page by pressing home on your keyboard)

Message from the President


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6 Marketing to the one

Text messaging is Spam-free, inexpensive and effective

10 Automating the enterpriseTraditional business processes meet efficient mobile technology

13 Start with the operating system

Practical advice on selecting a handheld computer

14 Knowing where to begin

Location-based services track shipments and coffee shops

18 Living the mobile lifestyle

Youth love cellphones. Heres why

22 Saving seconds, saving lives

New systems are helping emergency workers get there faster

24 Fast networks, no wires

Mobile public networks are hot, hot, hot

28 Investing in innovation

Start-ups and universities get seed money from Bell

29 Device diversity

More devices are hitting the shelves everyday. Heres a few

2

14

W O R KL I F EW I R E L E S S

W O R KL I F EW I R E L E S S

18

coninued on next page

contents


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4 BUSINESS ON THE GO

PUBLISHERS

Laura M. Lapierre

Greg MacDonald

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFPeter Wolchak

ASSOCIATE EDITORChristine Sadek

COPY EDITORLisa Manfield

ART DIRECTORShelley Walker

ELECTRONIC PRODUCTIONPeter Pasivirta

PHOTOGRAPHYSteve Uhraney (Toronto)Ron Sangha (Vancouver)

Richard Desmarais (Ottawa)

ILLUSTRATIONS

Min Jae Hong (New York)Jack Slattery (Texas)

Gavin Orpen (Vancouver)Greg White (Vancouver)

Bell Mobility Inc.5099 Creekbank Road, 6EMississauga, Ontario L4W 5N2

905.282.2000Fax: 905.282.3513

2003 Business on the Gois published by Bell Mobility IAll rights reserved. Points of vi

expressed do not necessarilyrepresent those of Bell Mobility.

30 Brands, no boundaries

Major brand names are moving

into wireless

34 Wireless for the fun of it

Hey, its not all about work.

Think games, messaging and dating

38 Far and awayThe value of keeping field reps out

in the field

41 The CDMA/GSM split

A field guide to two competing

mobile standards

42 The customer experience

Bell innovates: interactive voice response plus

simplified billing

44 From here to there

A nine-step guide to implementing an

enterprise wireless solution

48 The Sympatico

story

Sure, its about net access.

And TV, music and games

contents

3813

30


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BUSINESS ON THE GO 5

m e s s a g e f r o m t h e p r e s i d e n t

w

The mobile

opportunity

When I began my career the business world was a

very different place. The Internet essentially

didn't exist, no one had e-mail and technology

was a mysterious back-room entity you sometimes

heard about.In fact, only 18 years ago mobile phones cost

up to $5,000, talk time set you back more than $1

per minute and the phones were the size of stereo

components.

Today it's a completely different picture.

Technologyespecially mobile technology

surrounds us. We live and work aided by high-

speed networks and multi-function devices.

Cellphones, for example, are small and inexpen-

sive. Forty per cent of Canadians own a cellphone

and that number is rising. That is a huge cultural

and business shift in a relatively short period of

time, and I draw two conclusions from that revolu-

tion: one, the revolution is not over; and two,

these changes represent huge opportunities, for

the individual and for the companies that embrace

change.

D a t a i s t h e m e s s a g e

When most people think of mobile technology it is

still voice that pops to mind. That makes sense:

cellular voice applications continue to be a huge

success story. But voice has paved the way for the

next revolution: mobile data, the ability to access

information and applications that until recently

were locked within office building walls.

We're just starting to see mobile data func-

tionality take off. Ontario's Hamilton Police, forexample, today have 115 patrol cars linked to the

databases and systems at police headquarters.

Ruggedized notebooks equipped with Sierra

Wireless AirCards connect to Bell Mobility's 1X

network, giving officers access to mug shot data-

bases, e-mail, policies and procedures, and soon to

scanned historical records.

This system helps officers spend more time on

the streets of their communities, making those

communities safer.

Or look at TD Bank, which is rolling out mobile

point of sales terminals. This means the next time

you order a pizza you'll be able to conduct a credit

or debit transaction from your own front porch.

You will soon see these portable sales terminals

popping up everywhere.

Mobile data, particularly e-mail, will soon be

as commonplace among consumers as cellular

voice is today.

S e i z e t h e o p p o r t u n i t yAnd that means there are huge opportunities up

for grabs.

Remember, those who got in on the early days

of cellular voice were the ones who delivered

competitive advantages to their companies.

Wireless data represents a major new opportu-

nity for people who understand how mobile

works, where it fits and how it can drive competi-

tive advantage and differentiation for their

companies.

M i c h a e l A . N e u m a n

P r e s i d e n t ,B e l l M o b i l i t y


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w6 BUSINESS ON THE GO

THE POWEROF CHOICETe x t m e s s a g i n g i s p e r m i s s i o n -

b a s e d , d i r e c t t o t h e c o n s u m e r

a n d f r i e n d l y a s h e c k . A n d

b r a n d s a r e n o t i c i n g

When Canadian pop music fans sent text messages to vote for

their favourite performers on CTVs Canadian Idol, they were

making wireless messaging history. Unlike followers of the

American Idol series, who could only vote by text if they

subscribed to a specific wireless service provider, Canadian Idol

viewers were able to vote from any text-messaging-capable

handset from any carrier.And vote they did.

The numbers show Canadians are eagerly adapting to this

worldwide phenomenon, says Peter Barnes, President and CEO

of the Ottawa-based Canadian Wireless Telecommunications

Association (CWTA). Its a fast, instant and affordable way to

communicate with friends.

The voting service, powered by Airborne Entertainment, a

wireless entertainment company based in Montreal, involved

nine wireless carriers across Canada and was the first such inter-

operable entertainment-based campaign in North America. The

system used common short codesdigital short cuts managed by

the CWTA that every major wireless service provider can process.

The codes are a series of five or six digits that customers dial intotheir wireless devices to vote, sign up for contests, register for

games or receive promotional information. Coordinated by the

CWTA, the common short code initiative has enabled the

Canadian wireless industry to offer customers ubiquitous text

messaging experiences, and has given companies options for

large-scale mobile marketing. In the case of Canadian Idol,

viewers were invited to enter common short codes (such as

IDOL01) into their handsets in order to vote for their hero of

choice. They could also use other codes to sign up for regular text

updates and play trivia games.

This initiative for the wireless industry is a big leap

B y L i s a M a n f i e l d

PHOTO:RON

SANGHA

b u s i n e s s o n t h e g o


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forward, says Nancie Wight, Executive Producer and V

President of Programming at Airborne Entertainment. Wev

up the infrastructure (for Canadian Idol) so that when the w

less votes come through, Airborne collects those votes, ident

the carriers and does all the reporting back to CTV. Theres b

tremendous leadership on Bells part to put this project togeth

Millions of North Americans are now interacting with inn

tive brands, entering contests, messaging to colleagues

enhancing their workflow processes using non-voice wire

messaging applications. According to the CWTA, growth contin

in all sectors of the wireless communications industry, with m

than 15 million Canadians using wireless products and serviand sending more than 800,000 wireless messages each day.

Underlying all those messages is the SMS (Short Mes

Service) protocol.

The vo i ce o f t he peop l e

Reality TV shows like Canadian Idol are doing a lot to drive

growth. Canadian Idol is great because people see it on TV

find out how to use text messaging, says Giulia Arena, AssocDirector of Messaging at Bell Mobility. Were in the proces

trying to create awareness about text messaging. There are pe

who use it and love it, and theres a whole other piece of

market that still doesnt even know it exists.

Wight agrees theres a long to way to go in the educa

process. In Canada were a bit behind. Europe is far m

advanced both in interpersonal messaging and (wirel

marketing. There youll see, for example, on a Coke can: S

code to this number and win! If you tried that here, pe

wouldnt know what you were talking about. The great th


E - M A I L O N T H E M O V E

While most visible in the consumer sphere, non-voice

wireless messaging is also being used in many business

applicationsto improve workflow processes, enhance

work team communications and supplement customer

service practices.

Virginia Aulin can attest to that business need. As

Vice-President of Public Affairs and Government

Relations for TimberWest Forest, she travels frequently

and requires the ability to stay in constant communica-

tion with colleagues. Thats why, in January, she adopteda BlackBerry wireless handheld. My CEO and I were at

lengthy meetings in D.C. and noticed everyone had

BlackBerrys and that they were so much more conven-

ient than checking e-mail on laptops, she says. So he

phoned our director of IT and told him he wanted every-

one on the executive management team to have a

BlackBerry by the time we got back to Vancouver. Since

then, we use our BlackBerrys religiously.

Aulin primarily uses her handheld for its e-mail func-

tionality, and says the company has definitely seen a

return on its investment as a result. As a team we are bet-ter connected and can use our time more effectively. It

means theres no wasted time in airports or when Im wait-

ing for a meetingI use that time to respond to e-mails.

T H E B U S I N E S S C A S E

Businesses are using text messaging for:

E-mail: SMS messages can alert workers when new e-

mail arrives and communicate basic information such as

the Sender and Subject fields.

Vehicle/fleet tracking: Coupled with Global

Positioning Systems technology, text messaging can relay

location information to customers or a tracking facility.

Group messaging: Messages can be broadcast

simultaneously to a group.

Customer service: Customers can be sent basic

information, such as account status or balances, or sim-

ple answers to questions.

Dispatch systems: Addresses and phone numbers

can fit within the SMS text limit, making the technology

useful for delivery or courier firms.


GIULIA

ARENA,

BELL

MOBILITY

VIRGINIA

AULIN,

TIMBERWEST

DARREN

STONE,

VERRUS

NANCIE

WIGHT,

AIRBORNE

PETER

BARNES

CWTA

PETER

BARNES,

CWTA

30,000

Monthly(thousands)

Mobile Originated Text Messages

25,000

20,000

15,000

10,000

5,000

30,000Jan 02 Mar 02 May 02 Jan 02

Monthly Daily

Sept 02 Nov 02 Jan 03 Mar 03 May 03

1,0

900

700

800

600

500

400

300

200

100

Source:


9/46

about Canadian Idol and this common short code initiative is theres

now a way to open those doors.

Arena says companies could still market their brands by going

with basic short codes, if for example they wanted to target only one

service providers customers. However, she expects most new

marketing initiatives will take advantage of the more flexible inter-

operable common codes.Say a third party wants to work with all the carriersit would

go to the CWTA to get one common short code, Arena says. Most

brands want to work with everyone because that is where the market

is, so the CWTA process helps them and really helps us all build the

text messaging market.

N o S p a m h e r e

Short code marketing is based on a by-request model, in that cell

owners have to sign-up for individual campaigns. This avoids the en-

masse Spam associated with e-mail marketing. Another advantage of

mobile short codes is the call to action is immediate: people carry

cellphones so when they see a campaign they like they can sign up

immediately. In the older Web-based advertising model, interestedconsumers had to remember a URL and remember to try it out when

they got back to their computers. And often, they didnt do either.

Text messaging has made huge inroads into the entertainment

and sports areas because, according to Arena, both are interactive

and produce short bits of information in real time. Text messaging

is limited in its character set so it works well with those applica-

tions, she says. Voting is something very actionable and in the

moment. With sports, generally theres a real-time aspect and you

want to know whats happening via quick pieces of information.

For three years, Vancouver-based wireless solutions firm Verrus

has developed wireless solutions for professional sports venues.

Through agreements with the Seattle Mariners and the Carolina

Hurricanes, the veteran wireless company began building a market

for wireless entertainment and commerce, and survived the techdownturn on the strength of its compelling applications. Basically,

if youre at the game you can predict what is going to happen using

the WAP browser on your phone, says Darren Stone, Vice-President

of R&D at Verrus. Its a text-based interface that also lets you

answer trivia questions. So its great for the sports fan who just

wants to get more into the action.

Airborne has also gotten in on the game, and delivers real-time

sports alerts for Verizon in the U.S. If youre a sports fan you can

sign up and have text messages come to your phone every time

theres a goal, Wight says. That business just hasnt slowed down;

every quarter its growing.

Verrus has recently taken its sports initiative one step further

and has rolled-out a wireless in-seat ordering service, giving sportsfans the ability to order a hamburger and beer to their seat with a

cellphone, Stone says.

It basically turns the whole park into club seating.

But the companys first foray into mobile commerce was in

another area altogether: parking lots. Verrus developed a wireless

pay parking system which is now available in lots throughout

Vancouver, Seattle, Calgary and Whistler, B.C. Rather than fumbling

for change to pay for parking, customers dial a toll-free number from

their wireless phones, indicate the lot number and the amount of

time they wish to park, and have the charges billed to their credit


card. It takes a minute to sign up the first time, Stone says. E

subsequent time its about a 20-second phone call. The really

thing is Verrus sends you a text message when your parking is abou

expire. You respond saying youd like to extend it, and you dont h

to go back to your car.

Mobile commerce driven by wireless capabilities is what Ston

most excited about. Thats where we think theres really exci

stuff going on. The adoption has been fantastic; weve seen a 15cent growth rate per month consistently over the last couple of y

in terms of mobile transactions. If you use it once, youre alm

certain to use it again and again; thats what our numbers tell us.

We have a user base of many thousands of people in B.C.

Washington, with hundreds more registering for the first time e

week, Stone continues. We also do surveys to find out who

market is and weve found that in a typical North American city, c

to 90 per cent of people who park their cars in an urban centre h

cellphones on them. That might actually be a larger per centag

people than those who have correct change.


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t

MakingtimeO f f i c e a u t o m a t i o n s y s t e m s d r i v e

p r o d u c t i v i t y f o r m o b i l e r e p s

The scene: a doctors waiting room, daytime. A crowd of people sit in

uncomfortable chairs, reading months-old magazines, waiting for their

appointments. Within the crowd are two men, wearing suits. Theyre

pharmaceutical reps.

One of them is concentrating on a compact BlackBerry. He has just

checked his e-mail and learned that the anti-cholesterol drug his

company has been developing was approved by Health Canada this

morning. He can begin his sales pitch to the doctor as soon as she

finishes her current appointment.

The other rep is sitting idle. His handheld needs to be plugged

directly into a computer to pick up e-mail, so its sitting in his briefcase.

As his work day ticks away, hes looking at his fingers, wondering if he

should trim his nails.

Who would you rather have working for your company?

Typically, employees such as pharmaceutical reps spend the day

going from doctor to hospital to doctor, says Kiran Lam, Associate

Director of Wireless Business Applications at Bell Mobility. And at each

stop they make, they could be waiting 45 minutes or an hour just to see

their client. Companies which send employees out into the field have

always accepted that some productive time would be lost. They had no

choice. Reps had to wait in waiting rooms, had to drive from client toclient and had to travel back to the office to file orders. Those hours

were like anchors tied directly to the companys profits.

But that time no longer needs to be downtime, Lam says.

D a t a a n y w h e r e

The new factor is higher-speed mobile networks. Bell Mobility and other

wireless service providers selected a technology called 1X, while others

opted for the General Packet Radio Service standard.

1X allows cruising speeds of up to 86 kilobits per second, which is

comparable to dial-up. That allows you to do about 90 per cent of what

you can do in the office out in the field, Lam says.

B y A n d y P e d e r s e n

ILLUSTRATION:MIN

JAEHONG

/THREEIN

A

BOX


11/46



12/46


And while the network is fast and

wireless it is also robust enough to be

used by the police force in Hamilton,

Ont. More than 100 of their cruisers

are now equipped with ruggedized

laptops and Sierra Wireless AirCards,

which link the computers to the 1X

network.

The goal is to keep officers where theyre most needed: on

the street.

With the new system, the savings are not so much indollars as they are savings in officers time, explains Deputy

Chief Tom Marlor. The real efficiency is keeping the officer on

his or her beat, to be available for priority calls.

Marlors force patrols an area that spans more than 400

square miles, which means officers often find themselves more

than a half-hours drive from the station. To file a report or

access database information, officers could easily spend an

hour just commuting to and from the station.

Before our new implementation, when an officer wanted

information from a file he or she had to go to the station, give

a record number to someone in the records office who would

go to a file cabinet, pull the record, photocopy it, give it to the

officer, and then refile the paper, Marlor explains. On top ofthat there would sometimes be mis-files. So you have all these

staff hours wasted. But the new system, which gives officers

direct access from the car, eliminates all that.

U p a n d r u n n i n g

Its a system that holds potential for almost any business or

organization that sends people into the field. And implemen-

tation can be a very simple process.

When Suncor Energy Products decided to outfit its station

inspectors with BlackBerrys so they could submit reports to

head office in real time, designing and launching the system

took only weeks. Suncor operates almost 300 gas stations across

Ontario under its retail brand name, Sunoco, and Territory

Managers tour each station, working with an inspection list

that can run to more than 300 questions for the larger sites.

Because Bell Mobilitys network covers almost every one

of our stations we didnt have to worry about store-and-

forward processes and how to make the application work off-

line, says Geoff Le Quelenec, a Web and wireless developer for

Sunoco. Bell Mobility was able to say You have signal almost

everywhere and that was it.

The main goal for Suncor, Le Quelenec says, was timeli-

ness. We wanted the speed of a wireless solution.

And with the new system, instead of getting inspection

results in weeks, information is available in real time. When the

Territory Managers complete the inspection screen on the

BlackBerry, a one-tap operation transmits the results wirelessly

to Suncor Energy Products head office. The data is immediately

available to the system and an improved report-generating

process posts the results on the companys intranet portal.

Sunoco and the Hamilton Police are very pleased with

their 1X implementation, but Lam says the network is only

being used at a fraction of its potential. The more people

learn about it, the more demand there will be.

The really explosive growth, he predicts, will come next

year when the majority of cellphones issued by Bell Mobilityand other wireless service providers will be Java-enabled.

Adding the programming language means phones wont actu-

ally be phones so much as personal digital assistants, allowing

their owners to browse the Web or check and send e-mail.

What does this mean for businesses? First, instead of

checking e-mail on a $2,000 laptop computer, many could use

a much less expensive cellphone. Going further, as cellphones

and handheld computers become more advanced, businesses

will ask themselves if they really need to rent office space for

an employee just because he or she needs computer access.

This all has a very strong ROI model, Lam says.

Businesses will have less need for office space. Their orders

will be processed in real time. And since their field workers will

be able to communicate in real time, theyll be able to handle a

lot more jobs in a day.

Were in for exciting times ahead. This storys just going

to keep on getting better.

1X allows cruising speeds of up to 86 kilobits per second, which is

comparable to dial-up. That allows you to do about 90 per cent of

what you can do in the office out in the field.

Kiran Lam,

Associate Director of Wireless Business Applications,Bell Mobility


The product iv i ty p lay at Suncor

T h e c o m p a n y

Suncor Energy operates a refining and marketing busi-

ness in Ontario with distribution under the Sunoco brand.

T h e n e e d

A wireless site-inspection system to track quality-control.

T h e s o l u t i o n

A PDA-based inspection solution powered by Bell

Mobility's 1X network.

T h e r e s u l t s

Suncor executives get performance results in minutes,

not weeks. Gas station operators can now act on

inspection assessments immediately. Managers achieve

improved results more quickly.


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PHOTOC

REDITL

But the key to selecting the ideal device for you actu-

ally starts with the hidden

realm of operating

systems. Understanding

the strengths of each

OS will help determine

the best device for the

job at hand.

Three operating systems

currently hold sway over the

market: Microsofts Pocket PC,

the Palm OS, and Research In

Motions BlackBerry software.

Heres a snapshot look at each.

Th e v e t e r a n

The Palm OS is the leading mobile

data platform, with about 70 per

cent market penetration. Palm

has the largest installed base of

users today, and supports liter-

ally tens of thousands of appli-

cations, according to Kiran

Lam, Associate Director of

Wireless Business Applications

at Bell Mobility. He notes this

has made Palms OS the jack-

of-all-trades of wireless

data. If you dream it there will be an applica-

tion for it available for the Palm.

Lam points out current Palm users are likely

to stick with Palm when shopping for a wireless-

enabled device, particularly if they have a lot ofinformation loaded into their existing device.

The Palm 7135 is selling like gangbusters

right now, he observes. Theres a huge pent-

up demand.

T h e r i s i n g s t a r

Microsofts Pocket PC OS, now renamed

Windows Mobile 2003, is number two in

terms of installed base but its market share

is growing rapidly, Lam says. Information

technology professionals are turning to Pocket

PC as they look to add mobile data devices to existing

Microsoft-based corporate networks.

They like the consistency between Pocket PC and the Microsoft plat-forms, Lam explains, adding Pocket PC devices are optimized for Microsoft

Exchange and include a pocket Internet browser and stripped down versions

of Word and Excel. With a Pocket PC you actually open your files using a

native application, so its a more elegant fit.

T h e e - m a i l s p e c i a l i s t

While Palm and Pocket PC support multiple applications, Research In

Motions key strength is that its OS is purpose-built to do one thing, and do

it well. That one thing is e-mail. As an e-mail appliance, its probably the

best on the market today, Lam says, citing long battery life,

ruggedness and an excellent keyboard design among RIMs

advantages.

RIMs OS scores big for security,

too. IT professionals love RIM for e-

mail because it uses triple-DES

encryption, Lam points out. Its

probably the safest way available to

transmit e-mail wirelessly.

T h e f u t u r e

One of the biggest developments for

hand-held-type devices could take

place outside the big-three OS ring.

Looking ahead, Java-enabled phones

will open new marketsparticularly

in those segments that have not yet

adopted wireless data services. The

nature of the platform means its

going to be more entry-level: the

interface is not a full keyboard and

the display is much smaller, Bell

Mobilitys Lam explains.

But Java-enabled phones will be

affordable and will have an all-in-one

form factor. And you should see some

of the games you can download on

Java nowthey are incredible, and

they wouldve been only a dream

three years ago.

Hand-held computers are cool.

They play music, display photos

and many double as cellphones.

And, of course, they also keep

track of appointments, store

business contacts and keep

you on top of e-mail.

Looking

at mobiledata?

Look atthe OSfirst

B y T r e v o r M a r s h a l l



14/46


t

LOCATION

LOCATIONLOCATIONN e w l o c a t i o n - b a s e d s e r v i c e s w i l l

t e l l y o u w h e r e y o u a r e , w h e r e t o

g o , a n d h o w t o g e t t h e r e

These things happen to the best of us.

Visiting another city you find yourself

short on cash. You wander around lost for

what seems like hours, searching for a

bank machine, only to find out later

there was one right around the corner.

This is a common problem and one of

the more popular business cases for wire-

less location-based services (LBS). With

this type of service, wireless customerscan send a find me request through a

Web-enabled phone. The request matches

up with a third-party database and users

can look up a list of ATMs, restaurants,

gas stations or whatever.

Its not an entirely new idea. Think of

all the times you called 411 or looked up

a restaurant in the Yellow Pages.

LBS is in fact the evolution of these

services, according to Adrian Vella,

Associate Director of Location-Based

Services Evolution and Applications at

Bell Mobility.

Bell Mobilitys MyFinder, a mobileconsumer LBS offering, is the first service

of its kind in Canada. We wanted to take

a service that consumers currently use

and were familiar with and make it even

better, Vella says.

Say I want to meet with some

friends for dinner tonight. I can run a

search around a specific intersection and

then get directions there from my office.

So I use MyFinder to find me and provide

directions from where I am to where I

want to go. I can then also send this

information to my friends as a text

message.

There are different phases to this

technology, Vella adds. The first phase,

available now in Ontario, Qubec and

Western Canada, is based on cell site

technology. This uses the carriers

existing cellular network sites, foundthroughout the service areas, to locate a

customers phone. Delivering this does

not require phone upgrades, Vella says,

so anyone with a digital, Web-enabled

device is all set. Bell Mobility charges a

small fee per Find Me request.

The services that we launch will

always be opt-in, where the customers

will first have to give consent to be

located, he added.

Now that youve been located, says

Andrew Seybold, a principal analyst

with the Andrew Seybold Group and

the Los Gatos, Calif.-based founder ofOutlook4Mobility, a trend analysis group

of companies focused on the wireless

market, youve solved the biggest

issue...since it already knows where you

are, it can match your location with a

database and get the answer youre

looking for.

The second phase of this technology

will incorporate GPS (global positioning

system) technology which will ramp up

B y G a i l B a l f o u r

ILLUSTRATION:JIM

SLATTERY/THEWILEYGROUP



15/46


16/46


the accuracy of the mobile location process.

With cell-site (technology), you are typically going to

find things within a five-minute drive from where you are. What

that means in downtown Toronto is anywhere between a quarter

of a kilometre and about a kilometre. When you start

getting into rural areas,

however, the search area

that we use increases

because our cell sites aremore spaced out. In

some cases, it might find

things up to 10km (away

from where you are).

But with GPS, you will be

able to pinpoint loca-

tions within about 10

metres, he says. That

will enable services such

as roadside assistance to

locate stranded motorists easily using the GPS in their phones.

According to e-commerce consulting firm The Kelsey

Group, based in Princeton, N.J., the worldwide LBS market will

exceed US$11 billion in revenue by 2005, by which time about

one billion Internet-enabled handsets will be in use. And,

according to IDC Canada, about 60 per cent of Canadian compa-

nies are currently using at least one wireless solution. Vella

says LBS technology for wireless holds wide appeal for both

businesses and consumers.

For example, dispatch companies can now use this tech-

nology to locate unitstrucks, couriers, whateverwhich are

out and about. LBS allows them to much more efficiently

dispatch calls.

T h e p r i v a c y p l a y

So what about privacy? Many people, according to Seybold,

immediately wonder if this type of technology is Big Brother at

work. But all of this is going to be permission based...andpeople are going to use it in varying degrees.

Vella agrees. Privacy is of utmost importanceits always

at the forefront. And weve really focused on designing the

services to give our customers full control of when you can be

found, whether you want to or dont want to be found, and

who can locate you. So its all in the hands of the user.

The opt-in nature of MyFinder was one of the things that

appealed to Christina Castellani. What you have to do is you

have to say find me. And it can only find you if you tell it to

do thatyou are making that decision. It doesnt constantly

track your position 24 hours a day.

Castellani, who works as a student trainer specialising in

health and safety with the London, Ont.-based Student Teaching

Project, says she often travels to Toronto and other cities because

of her job. I find if I have that service, I can quickly find the

closest bank, the closest nightclubthings like that. And its

just an interesting thing to have, in this day and age.

Also, I dont own a car. And when I am using (the service)

I can get walking directions, which usually cut down a lot onthe time of getting somewhere. It actually gives you directions

through buildings and stuffI found that really cool.

It is a very helpful feature to have when you are lost, she

adds, because it can

often tell you which

intersection is closest.

I find I feel safer and

more confident when

travelling than I did

before.

According to Vella

of Bell Mobility, the

services offered, which

includes some content

from Global Dining and

Yellow Pages, are just

the tip of the ice-

berg. The focus this

year will be on monitoring applications and ensuring they offer

the right content. We are always adding value, but not bom-

barding the application with so much content that it becomes

too complicated.

Say I want to go out to dinner tonight. I can run aMyFinder search around a specific intersection andthen get directions there from my office. So I use the

search to find me and plot directions from where Iam to where I want to go.

Adrian Vella, Associate Director of Location-Based Services Evolutionand Applications at Bell Mobility

T h e L B S m a r k e t

The worldwide LBS market will exceed US$11 billion

by 2005 Also by 2005, about one billion Internet-enabledhandsets will be in use

Source: The Kelsey Group

O n t h e c o n s u m e r s i d e

Strategy Analytics estimates consumer location applica-tions will generate more than US$8 billion in global serv-ice revenues in 2008, with Asia Pacific remaining thedominant region.

Tower

Centre ofCell site

Uncertaintyradius

GPSSatellites

MobilePhone

EVOLU

TIONPhase 1

Phase 2



17/46



i

ITS ALIFESTYLETHING

T h e p e r s o n a l r e l a t i o n s h i p

b e t w e e n y o u t h a n d t h e i r p h o n e s

If youre past 30, or maybe even a bit younger, its possible the

excitement surrounding mobility leaves you a little confused.

Typing text messages on a super-tiny keyboard seems hardly

worth the effort, and you have a problem grasping the value of

being accessible 24/7. You never had to do that before.

Camera phones? Polyphonic ringtones? Phones that let you

listen to MP3s and play games? Puh-leeeeease! Dont people have

enough to do with their time?Yet younger people are heavily into all of these, and its about

more than just the phone. Kids are different and they take to cell-

phones in a different way.

My parents are very technologically inept, says Nicole

Fawcette, a 20-year-old University of Toronto student who considers

herself a heavy mobile phone user. Its just a lifestyle thing.

That lifestyle thing is currently translating into some hard

numbers. According to John Hillis, Director of Youth Marketing for

Bell Mobility, about 43 per cent of the general population carries

cellphones, but for youth its closer to 55 per cent. Cellphones are

simply a way of life, he says.

So what is it that differentiates the 13- to 29-year-old set, and

explains their general interest in technology, specifically mobile

phones?

The number one reason most often cited is that kids are

more technologically savvy. Young people have grown up

B y M a r a G u l e n s

PHOTO:STEVEUHRANEY


18/46



19/46


communicating with all kinds of

technology, Hillis says. In fact,

more and more kids are growing

up landline-lessmany wont

even consider anything but

cellphones.

This is a group that is so

cellular, says Max Valiquette,

President of Youthography, a full-service youth marketing consul-tancy. It is a form of technology that integrates so easily into

their lives and provides them with a lot of benefits that adults

dont typically seek.

Number one is the fact young people dont tend to divide

their world into buckets. Where adults split their lives into work

and home, and primarily (although this is changing) identify

their phones as business tools, kids see cellphones as communica-

tion tools, and even as lifestyles tools.

Business we shut down, but relationships we dont shut

down, Valiquette says.

This partly explains why Fawcette leaves her phone, which is

also her alarm clock, on 24 hours a day. A potential middle-of-

the-night caller is not a problem: she can turn the ringer off or,

using caller ID, she can send the person straight to voice mail.

L i v i n g m o b i l e

Kids work and home lives roll together, and thats how they use

their cellphones. Mobile phones offer a lifestyle that is full of all

those great energized words that define youth. Freedom.

Independence. Control.

Its your own, you customize it the way you want to, you

dont worry about anyone else deleting your messages, you dont

worry about not being able to reach somebody. Its very, very, very

much a kid thing, Valiquette says.

Reade Barber, Senior Associate Director of Services

Development for Bell Mobility, points out that youth also have

more time on their hands. Indeed, Fawcette admits she uses her

phones Web access to check movie listings and e-mail when she iswaiting for the bus and really bored.

What a difference from my over-the-hill viewpoint as a

working mother of three. That wireless-Web-enabled, enchant

ringtone, complete-with-calendar (and task-list) mobile phon

my handbag is truly a gem. And yet, Im hard-pressed to find

time to play with itnot to mention learn the functions.

Which brings us to the next point. Young people have a

ingness to adopt and a willingness to experiment, Barber s

Not only do they have the time, but they also put effort

learning new technologies.

Understanding who young people are goes a long way towexplaining what they love about their cellphones. [Youth] a

tremendously empowered generation who are used to ta

control of their lives, Valiquette says.

They are used to experiencing empowerment with technol

media and entertainment, and the cellphone lets them do it

Kids download what, when and how they want to, and every

brings new options, whether it be streaming video, location-b

services, or multimedia messaging.

Cellphones give kids that unique mix of connectedness, i

pendence, freedom and control they find so important. Y

parents dont control this, you do, Valiquette says.

Ironically, 17-year-old Montrealer Michelle Roseman says

cellphone makes her feel more independent, because it helps

stay in touch with her parents, who are then less worried. Ar

kids supposed to feel more independent when theyre out of rea

But caller ID and voice mail allow Roseman to decide wh

talk to and when, and her parents give her more distance know

they can stay in touch.

W h a t s m i n e

No surprise then that personalization, which is also controlle

the individual, has become a big market hit. Bell Mobility of

users more than 1,400 downloadable ringtones. Some kids th

on modifying their phones faceplates; others like to change

screen image.

Images and ringtones, Hillis

says, continue to skyrocket.

Since youth also want to beentertained, they are one of the

key drivers of entertainment serv-

This is a group that is so cellular. It is a form of technology that

integrates into their lives and provides them with a lot of benefits.

Max Valiquette,

President, Youthography

Young people have a willingness to adopt

and a willingness to experiment.

Reade Barber,

Senior Associate Director of Services Development for Bell Mobility


20/46


ices, Barber says. A slew of services geared specifically towards

youth include Java games, games playable from a phones

Internet browser, and sites that allow kids to create their own

images and upload them from the home PC to the phone.

According to Hillis, revenue from those younger than 24 is 20

per cent higher than from people older than 24. Also, as the

current 55 per cent penetration is expected to grow to 60 per cent

by the end of the yearwhich translates to about 300,000 new

entrantsnow is the time to win new customers, Hillis says.What happens later? Does this extremely tech-savvy generation

age like the one before it, or retain its youthfulness? And the gener-

ation following close on its heelsis it possible to be any savvier?

Valiquette says boomers have put a new value on youth,

dramatically changing things from the way they were 20 years

ago. Adults value youth more now than they ever have before,

he says. And because parents like being young, youth culture

has more influence.

And yet, as we get older what we tend to do is to start to

make divisions in our lives, particularly as a stress management

tool. Young people dont do that, he says.

Which means that as these kids become working adults and

parents, and are forced to split work and home, they may haveto rethink where technology fits into their lives.

I dont want to be afraid of using new things, says

Fawcette, looking forward 30 years. I think that growing up

with TV and CD players and computers and things like that will

help me be a little more receptive to emerging technologies.

Youth are more tech focused. I dont think theyll ever lose

that, says Barber.

And yet, Fawcette already notes a generational difference in

the way she and those younger than her react to innovation. At

20 she has already caught herself questioning new technologies.

The first time I saw a camera in a phone I thoughtwho needs

that? The next generation will be even more tech savvy.

One change, Hillis says, is right now people see their phone

as their phone, but as we see more integrated devices and richercontent people will see their phone for more than simply voice

calls. It will do more, and be a bigger part of their lives.

Which is so appealing to youth. Anything that makes your

life easier without having to drag around a lot of stuff is a good

thing, Fawcette says. This applies both to the wireless qualities

she and her peers valuestyle, pricing, functionality as well

as futuristic developments on the horizon.

I think it will become more interactive. Its not just for

voice anymore, she says. Its almost like taking around a mini

computer.


21/46


C

LIVES

WILL BE SAVEDM o b i l e t e c h n o l o g y i si n c r e a s i n g t h e e f f e c t i v e n e s s

o f e m e r g e n c y p e r s o n n e l

Crushing painyoure having a heart attack. Clutching your chest

with one hand, you manage to get the cellphone out of your pocket

with your other. But as you punch in 911 and hit Send you fumblethe phone, dropping it out of reach. If you made the call on a

landline, the connection alone would have carried enough infor-

mation for an emergency response team to find you. But because

you used a wireless phone, you are out of luck. The emergency

operators have no location data on you.

Or, at least, they dont yet.

Wireless service providers across Canada, the U.S. and else-

where have been working for some time on adding location infor-

mation to mobile systems through an initiative called enhanced

911, or E911. The ultimate goal is to pinpoint, with as much accu-

racy as possible, a users location when a 911 call is made on a

mobile phone. This is a complex issue, however, and involves wire-

less service providers working with telcos, emergency networksand governments to standardize protocols and technologies.

Three basic pieces have to be in place before a workable solu-

tion is possible, says Andrew Seybold, a principal analyst with the

Seybold Group and the founder of Outlook4Mobility, a Los Gatos,

Calif.-based trend analysis group focused on the wireless market.

The device has to be capable, the network has to be capable and

the PSAP (public service answering pointor 911 network) has to

have the right equipment. Currently, on various networks, either

the networks not ready or the PSAPs are not ready.

In Canada, the situation differs somewhat, says Warren

Chaisatien, Senior Analyst for Telecommunications Research with

IDC Canada. For one thing, the American Federal Communications

Commission (FCC) has mandated that the wireless carriers employ

a certain type of service delivery across the board. Thats a much

more active role than that of the Canadian Radio-television and

B y G a i l B a l f o u r

ILLUSTRATION:SHELLEYWALKER/PHOTO:STEVEUHRANE

Y

Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) had previously take

Canada, although the CRTC recently became more involved

fact, in August 2003 the CRTC released a directive that wireservice providers must provide E911 services wherever netw

access services are available. Previously, unless it accepted

status and all of the obligations of a competitive local excha

carrier, a wireless carrier had no regulatory obligation to tran

emergency calls. But while the CRTC has mandated E911

place, there are still no set rules about the technology infrast

ture or timelines like there are in the U.S., Chaisatien says.

wireless service providers here are all working on this i

together...and because (the service delivery type) has not b

mandated, the ball is in their court.

Javan Erfanian, Senior Associate Director of Wire

Technology Planning at Bell Mobility, agrees its important

the carriers work together. The public safety community wprefer a Canadian solutionwe would like to have all the pa

involved as opposed to having a fragmented solution.

G e t t i n g t h e r eThere are two phases to the E911 initiative. Phase 1, current

process, involves wireless carriers providing the PSAP with

callback number of the wireless phone from which a 911 call

made. With that number, the PSAP can get general informa

about that persons location, based on the cell site from w

the call originated. Providing a general area from which the

was made helps with more accurate routing to the correct po

ambulance or fire stations, Erfanian says.

Phase 1 will always be the default service of E911. Pha

will provide more accurate location information to

pinpoint the caller, if needed for emergency response.

leading Phase 2 technology involves the use of GPS (global p

WARREN

CHAISATIEN,

IDC CANADA

WARREN

CHAISATIEN,

IDC CANADA

JAVAN

ERFANIAN,

BELL MOBILITY

JAVAN

ERFANIAN,

BELL MOBILITY

ANDREW

SEYBOLD,

SEYBOLD GROUP

DAN

PUKLICZ,

BELL MOBILITY



22/46


tioning system) in the handset,

assisted by the network.

As Phase 1 is being rolled out in

Canada, the network among the

parties is underway to evaluate,

coordinate and trial E911 Phase 2.

Cooperation and coordination of

the parties is essential to ensure

development of a reliable and effi-

cient end-to-end Phase 2 solution,

with the goal of enhancing safety

response to 911 callers, Erfanian

says.

C a l l i n g a l l c a r s

Another public safety initiative

taking place in the wireless world

comes from the radio division of Bell

Mobility. This is different from other

dispatch radio networks in several

ways. First, it uses digitaltrunking technology, which

means radio channels are not

assigned permanently to users but

are shared and assigned as needed.

Second, the technology deployed by

Bell is designed around the specific

and demanding needs of police.

Radio in the past used to

have you assigned to a specific

frequency of 154.100 Mhz, for

example, and you had to stay

there all the time. And if you

wanted to talk to somebody, thatwould be the only channel you

could use, says Dan Puklicz,

Program Director of Marketing for Bell Mobilitys Radio divi-

sion. The problem with that was, because you were the only one

on that channel, 90 per cent of the time it was unused. So it was

not very effective or efficient use of the radio spectrum, unless

others were assigned the same channel, in which case you would

lose privacy.

Trunking takes several channels and puts them under the

management of a controller. When a user pushes the button to

transmit, the controller distributes the request to an available

channel and only to those meant to hear the call. Of course,

the efficiency of the spectrum goes up significantly, while

keeping the incidence of blocked calls down, Puklicz says.Bell Radios new network, called FleetNet, will operate Ontario

wide and serve public safety needs. If a police officer pushes the

button to talk on his radio, he needs to be granted a channel to

communicate within half a second, Puklicz says. Users must have a

public safety designation and be involved in the protection of life

FleetNet is not available to the general public. Federal, provincial

and municipal customers, such as the Department of Corrections,

the Ontario Provincial Police, Ontarios Ministries of Health and Long

Term Care, Natural Resources, Transportation, as well as Guelph

police and fire are some of the customers of this service.

Voice applications arent the only wireless technology that

police and other public safety users are deploying, he says. For

example, Ontarios provincial police is just one customer imple-

menting mobile data terminals to retrieve datato look up infor-

mation on vehicles and drivers with the swipe of a drivers licence.

Matt Hodgson, Business Manager at Hamilton, Ont.-based

Echelon Response & Training, says his companywhich deals

with emergency chemical spillsalso relies heavily on wireless

technology for emergency response situations.

Rather than us getting dispatched and not knowing whats

going on, the (incoming) call is routed directly to the person who

is going to show up. They talk directly to us, we get the details,then we have a better idea of what we are facing when we get

there. Among the technologies he currently uses for his job are

wireless phones, radios, fax machines and pagers, which are all

connected to a 24-hour network.

Most of the time, Hodgson says, GPS technology wouldnt be

needed for his work, but he is looking forward to deploying Tablet

PCs. You can actually draw diagrams on them. We would like to

have our server from the office be able to access it from the field.

If we cant explain something over the phone, we would then be

able to draw it and send it to the office.


23/46


i

Wireless LANscoming to a train o

coffee shop near youWith a growing market for wireless LANs

homes and corporations, mobile servi

providers are working out when and whe

public hotspots make business sen

Ill admit my bias up front: Ive installed a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) at home and it has pro

to be one of the best technology decisions Ive made. My wired network served me well in my home o

but going wireless allowed me to do all the same work but from just about anywhere in the house.

Put like that it doesnt seem like a big deal, but in practice it makes a world of difference. For exam

I dont have air conditioning, so with a WLAN I can grab my laptop and abandon the office in favou

cooler areas. And whatever their own reasons, many others agree with me because WLANs are poppin

in homes and businesses across Canada. Its no wonder when one considers that WLAN technology wo

the hardware is relatively inexpensive, the network is easy to set up and manage, and the airtime is fre

But the same qualities that make a private system so attractive make it difficult to develop a profit

business case for public WLAN access points, called hotspots. One recent count put the number of puhotspots in Canada at 300 to 400, but there are many unanswered questions: Who will use them?

often? And what are people willing to pay for access? Technical questions abound too, covering everyt

from average and peak traffic levels to session management and security.

B e l l A c c e s s Z o n e p i l o t

To begin to answer these and other questions, Bell Canada is conducting a pilot project called

AccessZone. Running since December 2002, this deployment now includes more than 20 stationary hot

locations plus mobile hotspots on VIA Rail passenger trains operating between Montreal and Toronto. Acce

B y T r e v o r M a r s h a

PHOTOS:STEVEUHRANEY



24/46

>>


25/46



free during the trial: the only requirement

is a device, a laptop or PDA, with 802.11b

wireless networking capability.

Almis Ledas, Bell Mobilitys Vice-

President of Corporate Development, says

AccessZone is primarily a technical trial.

Users are experimenting just because its out there: were seeing

a lot of that, he explains. We have experimenters, and we have

some people who are trying to remain connected or productive in

some manner, who are taking advantage of [hotspots].

As comfort levels grow, Ledas expects people will change their

routines in order to take advantage of hotspot availability. We can

imagine some of these, but the real impact will be those modifica-

tions we cant imagine today, he says. A similar process took place

in the real estate industry a number of years ago as cellphones

were introduced. Real estate companies ended up shutting down

their regional offices because they discovered the only reason

agents came into those office was to pick up phone messages.

Th e a i r c o n d i t i o n i n g s c e n a r i o

From a business perspective, one of the big questions that needs

an answer is how much will people be willing to pay to use a

public hotspot? Brian Sharwood, Principal with the SeaBoard

Group, predicts installing hotspots will simply become a common

cost of doing business. When people install hotspots themselves,they realize its not a significant additional cost. Most businesses

have Internet access as a fixed cost anyway, and the base station

cost is a one-time outlay, he says. Itll be a cost of business.

Sharwood points to a coffee-shop scenario. It will cost (the

owner) about $150 (for the hotspot). How many extra

coffeesdoes he or she need to sell? For $150, the attitude is, I

couldve bought some extra plates or glasses, or a hotspot

the hotspot is going to last five yearslonger than the gla

are going to last.

Jean Barrette, General Manager of Bells Wireless Acceler

Fund, has a similar take on hotspot evolution. The Accelerator F

led the VIA Rail trial and coordinated the various project partne

There is a significant probability that with unlicensed s

trum, and with free hotspots popping up left and right, and

no differentiation between a hotspot you have to pay for and

you dont have to pay for, that we will see an air conditionscenario playing out, Barette says.

There is a clear demand on both the home and SOHO mar

but the public hotspot market is in its infancy. One outcome

be shown with an analogy. Initially no restaurants had air co

tioning. Then one person put it in his restaurant, and may h

bumped up his prices a little bit because of this new featu

Barrette explains. But at some point every restaurant had

conditioning and it just became a cost of doing business: the

now no real revenue attached to it. So if you do not different

clearly the AC scenario may very well play out.

In Canadians Cut Their Wires, a SeaBoard Group white p

published in mid-2003, the telecom consultancy notes unlice

WLAN deployment has been a consumer-led revolution in w

the first steps have been taken, not by large enterprises, buresidential users. While companies have been grappling

issues like security, firewalls and performance, people have b

plugging in base stations and cutting cables.

Still, there are compelling reasons for Bell to deploy hotsp

I think there will be a wave of benefit that were not currebanking on, which is the seamless merging of wireless netwo

The beauty of the VIA trial is that it demonstrates the synchronous

interoperability of different networks. And if you can do it on a train, you ca

do it in fixed locations, so it may be possible to supplement a 1X network

with 802.11 hotspots to make the network appear even faster and more

robust than it already is.

Almis Ledas

Bell Mobility, Vice-President of Corporate Development

>> >


26/46


such as Bell Mobilitys PCS and 1X data networks, with

hotspots, Ledas says. When we have interoperable networks,

the notion of a separate hotspot will go away: it will just look

like more and better coverage that will improve the public

wireless service.

I n t e g r a t i n g o n t h e t r a i nIts this integration that makes the VIA Rail trial exciting from a

technical perspective. A hotspot mounted inside a business-class

passenger car connects to 1X and satellite antennae on the cars

roof. These antennae in turn connect the car to satellite and

high-speed terrestrial data networks. Bells Wireless Accelerator

Fund brought together the various stakeholders, including VIA

Rail, PointShot Wireless (which supplied the WLAN equipment),

Bell Mobility, Bell ExpressVu and Bell Canada.

The VIA trial was launched in July 2003 and allows VIA 1

passengers on trains between Toronto and Montreal can use

the mobile hotspot just as they would a wireless LAN in their

office or home. The system switches between 1X and satellite

as required, to maintain a strong data link, while an on-boardcache ensures e-mail messages sent from the train are not lost

if the train loses its link, and are sent when coverage is

reestablished. VIA is also looking at how its employees can use

the onboard hotspot to improve how they perform their duties.

One possibility is issuing tickets on the train using wireless

Point of Sale terminals.

At SeaBoard, Sharwood says the market advantage for VIA

is clear. If you put an employee on an 8:00 a.m. train to

Montreal for an afternoon meeting, wouldnt you prefer if he

was fully connected while on the way there? The alternative,

he says, is putting him on a 9:30 flight from Toronto, where

he has to leave at 8:00 anyway, and he basically does nothing

except go through security and sit on a plane.

Ledas says,The beauty of the VIA trial is it demonstrates theseamless interoperability of different networks. And if you can do

it on a train, you can do it in fixed locations, so it may be possible

to supplement a 1X network with 802.11 hotspots to make the

network appear even faster and more robust than it already is.

Its pretty cool, Barrette adds. We have satellite from

Bell ExpressVu, we have our 1X network, we have Bell

Canadas wireline data network in the back end and we have

the Bell AccessZone marketing approach, all working very

well to provide a seamless experience. As far as Im concerned,

this is a Bell play: Who else in Canada can do this? I dont

think anyone else can. In fact, Id ask who else in North

America can do this?

O N E L A R G E L AT T W I T HC H O C O L A T E S H A V I N G SA N D H O T S P O T S

Hotspots are still relatively new

in Canada and all stakeholders

are experimenting with what

works and what doesnt. And

while the model is being worked

out, consider these coffee-shop

scenarios:

A business manager cooling

her jets in an airport coffee shop will attach great value to

being able to check e-mail and access corporate files as she

waits for her boarding call, and since her company is like-

ly picking up the tab, paying for access is not an issue.

Put that same manager in the line-up at the coffee

shop near her office and the value goes down: grabbing a

coffee is all about getting away from her desk and work for

a few minutes.

If that downtown coffee shop is near a university cam-

pus, students may patronize it over other area bean-

roasters because the shop has a hotspot. They may not be

willing to pay for access, but having a hotspot means sell-

ing more coffee to the campus crowd.

Why are people putting hotspots in coffee shops? I

think because they can, says Bell Mobilitys Almis Ledas.

The cost of putting these in is so low that once theyve

been put in coffee shops they might stay there.


27/46


PHOTO

(TOP):STEVEUHRANEY

B y P o o n a m K h a n n a

So goes the thinking at Bell.

Bell funds the Wireless Accelerator program

and the Bell University Laboratories (BUL)

program, which help drive research and develop-

ment in Canada by matching companies and

universities doing interesting R&D to internal

departments at Bell.

W i r e l e s s a c c e l e r a t o r f u n dThe Wireless Accelerator Fund develops new prod-

ucts and services that will be sold to Bells wireless

subscribers or that will be used within Bell to

drive productivity, save capital or costs. To do

this, the Accelerator works with companies in

Canada to transform innovation into reality.The premise of the Accelerator Fund is that

there are companies out there with great ideas that n

a strong partner such as Bell for an idea to beco

reality, says Jean Barrette, General Manager of

Wireless Accelerator program in Montreal. Were lik

super integratorintegrating a group of systems to w

together, which is no trivial task.

The program provides funding, technical supp

access to networks and expertise for companies do

research in the wireless arena, and as a side benefit the work also links the part

with the Bell name. This was one of the most valuable aspects of the program

Shawn Griffin, President and CEO of PointShot Wireless in Ottawa. His comp

created a wireless connectivity solution that delivers connectivity to VIA 1 pas

gers leveraging Bell ExpressVu satellites and Bell Mobilitys 1X data network.

The funding was important, but working with Bell opened doors, Griffin s

If Bell is your customer, it gives you a voice inside Bell. Thats a huge advanta

Its the single, most important thing about the Wireless Acceleratorto hav

champion inside Bell, he says.

Having Bell as a customer was also an advantage when selling to others

says. Its a powerful asset for a small company.

Over at March Networks, Michael Foster is preparing the companys mo

digital video recorder (DVR) for production, and he says the product would nowhere it is without the Wireless Accelerator program.

G R E A T M I N D S T H I N K A L I K E S O G O E S

T H E O L D A D AG E . B U T S O M E T I M E S A

B E T T E R A P P R O A C H I S T O B R I N G

TO G E T H E R D I V E R S E M I N D S TO T H I N K

A B O U T N E W P R O B L E M S A N D I D E A S .

DnewtheDriving

JEAN

BARRETTE,

BELL

MICHAEL

FOSTER,

MARCH NETWORKS

SHAWN

GRIFFIN,

POINTSHOT WIRELESS

VINO

VINODRAI,

BELL

VINO

VINODRAI,

BELL

Bell funds start-upsand university R&D



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E P O C A R E D R I V I N G M E D I C A L D ATAT O D O C T O R S I N R E A L T I M E

Dr. Sharon Straus of Torontos Mt. Sinai Hospital wanted

to find a way for doctors to gain access to newly emerg-

ing clinical evidence. A study done 10 years ago found

that in order to keep up with recent literature, doctors

would need to read 17 articles a day, 365 days a year

which is hardly a realistic goal.

So instead, she wanted doctors to call up the infor-

mation as needed at the patients bedside. She had heard

that Bell University Laboratories (BUL), a Bell program

that funds R&D in universities, was looking for projectsin healthcare. The result was collaboration between two

disciplines that dont normally interactBUL introduced

knowledge management researchers to those working in

medicine. The result was EPOCare, an interface for hand-

held devices which draws on information from existing

medical Web sites.

BUL has been incredibly supportive of our project

in particular it has allowed us to create collaborations

with colleagues from various disciplines, Straus says.

The new DVR will allow images from moving vehicles to be

sent and viewed in real time, according to Foster, the Product

Manager of Mobile Solutions. Police forces and bus companies

in the U.S. have shown an interest in the product, Foster says.

Along with funds, the Accelerator brought with it technical

expertise and relationships with suppliers that helped the

product progress through its development phase.

U n i v e r s i t i e s

Universities are also benefiting from Bells R&D initiatives

through funding to long-term and short-term research. Bell

University Laboratories assesses research proposals, looking

for projects that could also benefit Bell. It also sometimes

initiates the projects, says Vino Vinodrai, Director of Industry

Relations and Research at BUL. When theres a problem Bell

wants solved it approaches researchers to put together a

proposal beneficial to both sides.

Through a BUL program at the University of Ottawa,

researchers are looking into security for wireless devices. RSA

certificates require keys with 1,000 bit key lengths. Elliptic

Curve Cryptography (ECC) and Hyper ECC can provide certifi-cates that are as secure but have much smaller key lengths

100 or 70 bit, according to Tet Yeap, an Associate Professor at

the university. The key lengths can be smaller, because instead

of manipulating numbers, the certificates manipulate complex

algorithms, which means less memory, less battery and less

powerful processors are needed.

At the University of Toronto, BUL is collaborating on a

vocal village, a conferencing program that allows Voice over IP

conferences to be spatialized, so that even in a discussion

among several people it will sound to each listener as if voices

are coming from different directions. This makes it easier to

identify whos speaking, says Mark Chignell, a professor of

mechanical and industrial engineering at U of T.

O f f t h e s h e l fThere are more specialized mobile devices

for businesses than ever before

B y K . K . C a m p b e

Canadian businesses are finding a lot to like in the mobility offeremodern communication devices. Getting a call no longer ties you tocord coming out of your desk phone. Cell owners can talk and wAnd mobile data devices and services help lower costs, increase ductivity and improve customer satisfaction for your business.

I n s y n c

Nothing ever has to be out-of-date again. Devices can update e-calendars and other critical pieces of info with no effort. Even thcradle updates can be old news. Bell Mobilitys InfoXpress serkeeps e-mail updated in Palms and Pocket PCs.

M a k i n g s a l e s

It sure is nice to let the chef have a night off and order a pizza. But why ber when you have to run to the bank machine for cash to pay the del

guy? Restaurants, pizza places and even taxis are starting to have affordmobile Point of Sale terminals.

The MIST Freedom II is an example of a handheld, wireless, pof-sale terminal. It performs secure credit and debit card transactfrom almost any location, increasing the number of business opponities and overall convenience for merchants and their customers.

To u g h p l a c e s . To u g h d e v i c e s

When you start making phones and devices for the workplace, have to be built differently. Tougher. Durable. Ruggedized. Theremany designs out there.

Intermecs 700 Color handheld is for use in harsh environments. Itwithstand 1.5 metre drops to concrete and is sealed against rain and dThe ergonomic case design is sculpted and balanced for user comfolong-term use; radio and scanner options are integrated, not add-which means they are tested to the same ruggedness standards and dcompromise the environmental or functional characteristics of the un

G l o b a l f i n d i n g s

Anyone who has been lost after making a wrong turn in a wilderness instinctively knows the value of Global Positioning Systems (GBecause business has a very bottom-line use for this tech and can afit at current cost there are many working implementations out there

The AirLink Pinpoint CDMA is a rugged wireless modem wiGPS receiver that provides a cost-effective platform for mobile apcations. It can be configured to report its position by time and/or tance. The GPS time is available for precise time-stamping of im

tant events. The serial port provides network connectivity for a lapPOS terminal, PDA or mobile data terminal. The unit is suited to amlance, specialized transport, field service, construction equipment transit arrival systems.

S m i l e . C l i c k . D i a l

The jury is still out but camera phones may be the wireless phokiller application. They take e-mail and throw in a digital camera, sodont have to wait to load digital pictures onto your PC at home. Wthe quality wont match a single-purpose digital camera, snaps casent instantly by phone. Recipients can receive on a PC or their photo-enabled handset.


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a

Known name,new frontiersBig brands already have customers, conte

and solid reputations. Now theyre lookin

to wireless for the next ste

AOL Canada, Sony, MSN.ca, Sega. You know the names and youve probably used their services. And

these and other big-name brands are lining up mobile partnerships aimed at dropping more dollars

their bottom lines.

The goal for these brands is to grab market share in the increasingly competitive content busin

which includes news, entertainment, sports and messaging services.

The battle for these dollars is heating up for a number of reasons. To boost their own bottom l

mobile operators such as Bell Mobility will continue to pursue relationships with financially stable com

nies capable of delivering attractive and profitable content. In turn, those companies want relations

with wireless service providers capable of delivering customers as they become more numerous and a

technology becomes more accessible. Outside the mobile venue, other carriers and partners will

likely heat up the chase for the same dollars as, for example, satellite broadcasters and cable-

casters try to outgun each other. Meanwhile, as customers become increasingly savvy

about the range and costs of the various choices available, they will attach their

loyalty to a short list of providers, as they already have with services such as

banking and investing. And as providers and partners continue figuring out the

rules of the game they face increasing pressure to cut costs while boosting profits

to increase return on investment.

The importance of these partnerships has increased as the concept of value

chains has evolved, according to Ken Truffen, Director of Business

Development, Wireless Data at Bell Mobility. With the dot-com bubble

breaking, a lot of services that used to be offered free of charge are no longer

offered for free by the partners. So there is now a value chain so that thecontent provider earns revenue.

The value chaina set of specialized business activities focused on the

relationship between customers and an organizationadds value to the rela-

tionship, in this case a partner of a mobile service provider such as Bell Mobility.

Traditionally, value chain activities included customer service, research and

development, design, production, marketing and distribution, the strategy

through which the organization delivers its products or services to customers.

In the new model, companies like Bell Mobility become part of the distribution compo-

nent after thorough laboratory testing, double-checking the content or services adaptability

to all telephones, helping with de-bugging where necessary and other preparatory activities.

B y A l E m


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D e e p e r r e l a t i o n s h i ps

At AOL Canada, boosting ROI has resulted in a series of present

and future strategies, according to Arturo Duran, Vice-President

of Interactive Marketing. The company provides AOL Instant

Messenger and ICQ Instant Messenger on the Bell Mobility

network on a revenue-sharing basis in both the WAP (WirelessApplication Protocol) and SMS (Short Message Service) formats.

That enables AOL to provide added convenience to customers

and leverage its existing customer databases for a new revenue

stream that would not be available in the absence of the wireless

channel, Duran says.

We have all these people already using the instant messengers.

AOL also provides news and sports alerts to customers, again

increasing usage of its network and bringing potentially greater

revenues.

AOL Canada does not currently provide games through mobile

telephones but is reviewing that as an option. Were talking

about messages now. Were not talking about content. Content

has not yet arrived 100 per cent to the phones, Duran says.

Future plans, however, do include advertising and ev

marketing targeted at members who have given permission

AOL to send time-sensitive alerts such as discount shop

specials or even rock concerts. In a hypothetical scenario, a B

Springsteen fan will receive an early alert of The Boss Vanco

date. Using AOLs First Look promotional program which provpreferred booking services, the fan could book a ticket thro

TicketMaster by entering codes on the cellphone.

In this scenario AOL would receive revenue from both ad

tising and the ticket sale. Duran says these strategies are sti

the testing and design stage since the company has to bu

database of customers willing to receive specific types of alert

E x p a n d i n g t o m o b i l e

At MSN.ca, improving ROI means not having to reinvent the wh

explains Mark Relph, Manager of .net and Development, Enterp

Mobility at Microsoft Canada. A lot of organizations view mob

as this separate application that needs to be treated as if

fenced off, when in reality it certainly isnt, he argues.

ROI to me in the mobile sense is the ability of an applica

or an initiative thats already underway to expand into moscenarios without having to make it a separate project.

That means keeping to a minimum the re-writing of in

structure, back-end systems and other components when mo

from the Web portal format to the mobile format. If you hav

re-write and re-create the wheel with something youve don

one formthe PC and the full-blown browserand you cant

that and quickly translate it to the smaller screen-size mo

device, then I think youre heading off on the wrong foot.

MSN.ca this means that the mobile portal, including services

as the Hotmail e-mail system, use essentially the same infrast

ture and back-end systems as the Web portal version.

Were actually getting our ROI by being able to re-purp

into all these different form factors.At Tira Wireless, boosting ROI follows a model similar to

more traditional activities associated with a book publis


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explains Director of Marketing Wayne Seifried. Tira feeds games

over the Bell Mobility network as well as other service providers

in Canada, the United States, Europe and Asia.

Seifried styles the contractual relationship between Tira and

providers as resembling the relationship between book publisher

(Tira) and book chain (in this case Bell Mobility). Just as a chainwill discuss upcoming releases with a specific publisher, Tira and

Bell Mobility review upcoming game releases that are expected to

appeal to customers.

For its games, Tira divides the revenue it receives from Bell

Mobility with the software developer, likened to the book author,

and brand-owner, as many of its games are linked to specific names.

Using the author-publisher metaphor to underscore the ROI

process, Seifried says it often starts with the raw manuscript, in

this case the game. Tira then works out publishing considerations

such as improving the graphics. Increasing the ROI here sometimes

can even mean finding the right brand in the first place, Seifried

explains, recalling the inception of an NHL-themed game. The

person who created the content is a software developer (who) came

to us, he says. Tira then negotiated the brandingthe use of theNHL name in order to increase audience interest.

In this case, the mobile service provider pays Tira on a pay-

per-use (or pay-per-download) basis.

Returning to the publisher-author scenario, Seifried says

payment is split between the software developer (the author),

and the brand owner. So as a publisher, we actually write two

cheques: one to the developer and another one to the brand

owner, he explains. The publisher pays all of the contributors

that created the application.

While it hasnt turned into an epic battle for market share yet,

this kind of deal making could grow to resemble the more familiar

deal making that goes on between networks and television

program producers. The wireless service providers want the mostaudience-grabbing material available while the program producers

want the best possible relationships with the service providers.

C a l c u l a t i ng R O I

Return on investment, ROI, is

often considered a better

profitability evaluation tool

than net income or incomebefore taxes since it takes

into account the specific

level of investment associat-

ed with generating specific

income.

Traditionally, it meant income or profit divided by invest-

ment required to obtain that income or profit, and referred

to goods manufactured, sold and paid for in straightforward

transactions.

As Bell Mobility continues building partnerships, the

ROI principle of profit divided by investment required

remains essentially similar but profit sources now includestrategic contractual arrangements instead of simple tradi-

tional payment for services or goods supplied. It means dif-

ferent things to different people, explains Ken Truffen,

Director, Business Development, Wireless Data at Bell

Mobility. With Java in our phones, with Sony, THQ (and

other) major brands, you can download games. The return

on investment there would be different than somebody

offering an SMS (Short Message Service) application. Its a

case of revenue sharing between carrier and games

provider, for example.

The specifics around text messaging may not work inthe same way. Every carrier is different and every carrier

pays their partners differently. Theres really no standard, at

least not yet.

The way Bell Mobility does a deal would be very dif-

ferent than Telus or Verizon or Rogers. In many cases we

do a revenue share with partners. In many cases we pay

them a monthly fee, he says.

At AOL Canada, ROI includes a new source of profits

created by leveraging existing customer lists, according to

Arturo Duran, Vice-President of Interactive Marketing. It

means a new revenue stream that we had no way to mon-

etize before because now we have a partner, he says,

referring to the agreement for dividing revenues for mes-

saging services with Bell Mobility.

Thats (part of) ROI for AOL.

In some cases Bell Mobility partners such as banks will

see part of their ROI as increased customer loyalty and

service, so they may not charge fees. We wouldnt neces-

sarily pay them for that service. Its a service that benefits

the bank, Truffen explains.


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v

THE POWER OFDISTRACTIOND a t i n g , g a m i n g , t a l k i n g ,

m e s s a g i n g a n d m o r e d a t i n g .

C e l l p h o n e s d e l i v e r

Venkatesa Virahsammy is typical of your switched-on

cellphone user: young, intelligent and with a certain

degree of ambition, his phone isnt some fashion

accessory or just a tool for keeping in touch with

friends and family.

It is a part of his life, connecting him at all times to

important information, organizing his daily schedule

and providing an escape from mindless routine.

Everything I do, I do on my cellphone, says the

19-year old commerce student at Montreals ChamplainCollege. And when you add it up, everything on

Virahsammys phone demonstrates the opportunity for

North Americas mobile service provide

botg print vers

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