While Jonathan Plaskow, business development manager in Logica's wireless Internet business unit, would not reveal the names of the Australian companies using or considering WAM (Wireless Application Model) here or overseas, he did imply that a couple of major local carriers and at least one Australian bank was on the list. In this context, it's notable that Telstra recently revealed it is likely to partner with banks or other financial institutions for future m-commerce projects, and according to Plaskow, Spanish telcos and banks are already working together in this way.
Logica foresees the emergence of a "value network" as opposed to the traditional idea of a "value chain" because different players can contribute different strengths.
For example, telcos are already set up to handle micropayments whereas banks have a superior understanding of risk management and have stronger brands than telcos when it comes to financial transactions.
WAM provides a structured approach to analysing new services to predict "which ones are the quick wins [and] which ones are the future," Plaskow said. The tool, which has been implemented as an Excel workbook, provides estimates of key measures such as average revenue per user, aiding the decision to introduce a particular service.
Over the next three years, Logica expects the expansion of m-commerce services to include a range of transactions such as buying cinema tickets (a SMS message will take the place of a paper ticket) and paying public transport fares and parking fees. By 2004, it will be "a full blown consumer platform" that can be widely used instead of cash or credit cards, predicted Plaskow.
He expects Australian mobile phone users with prepaid accounts will soon gain the ability to transfer funds to each other, a service that's already happening in Europe using SMS-based transactions. Carriers gain revenue either from the normal SMS charge or by levying a subscription on those who what to use the scheme.
