WAP, WAP, WAP!

No that's not an indication you missed a radial tire recall notice. It's the cry by consumers for more products employing Wireless Application Protocol. WAP allows wireless access to the internet. So what will that do for you? For starters, you can buy a Coke from a vending machine in Finland, (Billing World Jul/Aug 2000, p.32) using your wireless phone. Although we have the technology for employing a browser in a wireless phone here in the U.S., ëcausal' billing is in such disarray, (OTE 7/99: Wireless Pay-Per-Call?) you would be lucky to get anything on your bill other than overcharges by an incumbent telco or the product of cramming or slamming. Principal players developing browser code for handset manufacturers are Nokia, Phone.com, and Ericsson. As popular as WAP has become, developers are already clamoring for change. For more, you are commended to:

• "Warning To WAP: Reinvent Or Waste Away" www.wirelessweek.com 7/10/00, p.10
• "Phone.Com Goes Beyond WAP" www.wirelessweek.com, 7/31/00, p.5
• "Alternatives To WAP" www.informationweek.com, 7/24/00, p.118
• "Next On The WAP Wish List: Transaction Security", www.billingworld.com, Jul/Aug 2000, p.64

An alternative has been developed by TeleVend, an Israeli company: "Rather than requiring proprietary handsets and WAP server gateways foisted on business-to-consumer vendors and their customers, TeleVend technology puts the intelligence only on the server, allowing consumers to use any phone to buy sodas at vending machines, transfer money to ATMs, or pay parking meters without having any coins in their pockets."( www.infoworld.com 8/24/00, p.29) This is made possible because the vending machine industry, unlike some PC manufacturers, have agreed upon a single specification - DEX. The Digital EXchange specification, managed by the Automatic Merchandisers Association, defines how information is given out by the vending machince controller. The vending industry is replacing 200,000 soda machines annually, and almost all of the new machines are equipped with the DEX specification. Why? Even though the incumbent LECs may not be cooperating on casual billing, the DEX specification is already increasing sales by allowing individual machines to report their status directly to drivers - making sure supplies go first to where they are most needed. IDT isn't waiting for CLEC cooperation or the FTC 900 Rule to be completed to launch a new pay-per-call service. I'm sure they don't classify it as such, but the fact is that you pay each time you call. (www.dmnews.com 7/31/00, p.63) The company is selling pagers - principally to teenagers who will not have any monthly phone bill. The charge of $.35 per call/page will likely appear on the phone bill of their friends' parents. The fee will be announced to the caller before the page is sent. When I asked Eileen Harrington of the FTC how this application differed from the ë500' number pay-per-call proposal - which included a free time option and pricing announcement - she had no comment because the sponsors have not asked the FTC for an opinion. In the case of ë500' billing, the FTC issued a letter of opinion that the service could not legally be offered in the way proposed by the sponsors (www.ftc.gov/bcp/adcon/900rule/brecher.htm),. Ms. Harrington did advise me that progress is being made on the 900 Rule (see marked up version at www.ftc.gov/bcp/adcon/900rule/markup.pdf and final revisions to the rule (see end of Federal Register notice www.ftc.gov/os/1998/9810/63FR58523.pdf)should be in place before year end.