Chris Barry - V2 Innovations - Raleigh 03 June, 2008, 14:31 0 likes

I wouldn't count WAP out yet. As mobile phones continue to progress towards the iPhone model I think it will become a hybrid of web based access and rich transaction capability utilizing the fastest transaction options available while still providing a web like experience in the online banking space - advertising will probably ensure WAP prevails.

A Finextra member 04 June, 2008, 07:46 0 likes

Chris - who is paying for all this WAP? You infer that advertisers will ensure the success of WAP. Even the staunchest of American advertising guru's are coming to the realisation that Push advertising doesn't work, and only poor middle teens will accept push even if you give them free minutes in exchange for receiving the advertising. It leads me to believe that consumers will avoid WAP if they can avoid the advertisers by doing so, unless you have a truly compelling reason (and I do). So in a way you are right, but not by the route you expect. WAP may be used to provide a more entertaining experience, but the seller/sender will pay and it may take quite a while for it to catch on with consumers.

Three were kind enough to give me free phone with 3g TV & WAP for a year and even watching the TV news on the loo didn't compel me to pay for it in the end. I am an avid consumer of information and quickly learned that text was they way to get the most information into my brain fast and packaged TV bites or even website videos just waste too much of my time 

I think banks are in for a big disWAPpointment, but by all means - spend away and prove me wrong.

There will of course be niche markets for high net worth client services, but general acceptance and use of WAP may be a decade away, unless you can make it both safer and freer. I'm not concerned with 5% of 5% of the population. It makes as little sense developing products for it as it did for the Mac back in the 80's and 90's. As for ipods, they're just another fad brand and have minimal market penetration just like the Mac had, until it became a PC. The only possible advantage WAP might have is that so few people use it that hackers mightn't even bother looking at it, just like the Mac until it became popular enough, then again those high net worth standouts might be worth a hack...

I am certainly not going to pay for WAP, especially just to bank. Given the assumption that transactions and payments won't require WAP what is going to compel the consumers to pay for it? What can I do on my midget screen with WAP that is so compelling and can't be done without it?

Some of us are forgetting the lessons of the PC and are lost in the fantasy that a dumber smaller computer(mobiles) is a whole new ball game on the net even though the same problems remain(smart cards - mini-mini dumb computers suffered the same fate). I have no doubt WAP has a place, but the last place it'll succeed in will be the transaction space.

Most consumers like minimal effort at low cost accompanied by instant gratification.

In my world mobilisation is about empowerment - easier, safer, cheaper, not more complicated, risky and expensive.

A Finextra member 05 June, 2008, 13:40 0 likes

GOOGLE IN COURT OVER PUSHING ADS TO MOBILES

Ads that trick consumers into signing up for subscriptions by promising "free" ringtones have sparked a wave of enforcement actions in the last year and resulted in large fines for companies like AzoogleAds and AT&T. Now such ads have landed search giant Google in federal court in California, where it's facing a lawsuit for allegedly showing users pay-per-click ads that tricked searchers into signing up for paid subscription services. 

The lawsuit, filed by New Jersey resident Jenna Goddard, alleges that Google accepts deceptive ads for ringtones in violation of its stated policy of only allowing ads for mobile content if the landing page "clearly and accurately displays price, subscription, and cancellation information."

Goddard contends that Google "intentionally misleads its users" by failing to enforce that policy. "Google has systematically declined to live up to its contractual obligations ... opting instead to line its own pockets through an 'anything goes' approach to the advertising and sale of mobile content," the lawsuit charges.