(August 2000)

SYDNEY: Australia has already fallen behind in the development race of Wireless Internet initiatives compared to other countries, according to research by Sydney based online intelligence company, APT Strategies.

Speaking at the International M-Commerce Summit in Beijing China recently, Marc Phillips, Managing Director of APT Strategies noted that Australia currently has less than 10,000 wireless (WAP) subscribers.

"Australia lags behind as telecommunications operators in other countries have focused their attention on Short Messaging Services (SMS) which is contributing up to 10 per cent of gross revenues for several Scandinavian country telcos, whereas Australian telcos do not understand what their mobile phone users want from wireless services".

APT Strategies recommends that Australian telecommunications companies review the demands of their market segment as initial handsets are limited to WAP v1.1 compliance and are waiting for handsets that support WAP v1.2 which has "push" functionality.

Australian telecommunications companies are well placed to capitalise on the increased use in SMS revenue yet have failed to understand the M-Generation requirements for wireless Internet usage.

APT Strategies recommends that Australian telecommunications companies should also have a short term focus on the Personal Digital Assistants - such as Palm Pilots - as they offer a practical user experience that can be implemented immediately.

According to Ashley Bloch, MD of Freedom Technologies, which hold the Australian licence for the AvantGo software that is bundled with Palm Pilots, "there are currently 100,000 Palm operating systems in Australia and 13,000 AvantGo users - more than the number of WAP phone subscriptions".

With more than 8,000 palm pilots currently being sold in Australia per month, the battle between the phone as a dominant device and the palm pilot is currently raging and AvantGo may well be shaping up to be the David that slew the telecommunications Goliath.

Further streaming information is available at:
http://www.virtueoz.com/business/wirelesswed/index.html

About APT Strategies Pty. Ltd.

APT Strategies is one of Australia's first online research firms established in 1994. Since 1994, over 200 Internet research and electronic commerce studies have been conducted for leading Australian and international companies as well as pioneering online research of over 100,000 online consumers. APT Strategies' consulting division delivers innovative yet practical ecommerce solutions, from concept through through implementation and measurement.