Financial institutions should continue to develop wireless application protocol (WAP), but also keep an eye on the Japanese service i-Mode, says a new report from Meridien Research.
According to the report, almost 75% of the world's users of wireless Internet services are in Japan, with i-Mode counting over 20 million subscribers in the country.
Some 40% of the customers of DLJ Direct, a Japanese discount stockbroker, have used i-Mode to access their accounts, and about 15% of daily stock trades are conducted through this channel, reports Meridien.
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, which offers i-Mode through its mobile subsidiary DoCoMo, plans to start promoting the service in Europe this year.
The Japanese wireless alternative is accessed through a button on a cell phone. It's an always on packet-based data service that uses cHTML, a compact version of the standard language of the Internet. Available anytime, anywhere, i-Mode boasts an abundance of features and is simple to use, says Meridien, making it an attractive package for consumers.