August 9, 1999

Wireless Finances

Financial industry takes the lead in offering wireless services to customers

By Gregory Dalton

Related links from our sister publications:

TechWeb Wireless Online Banking Heats Up Data Communications Making the Case for Fixed Wireless Technology InternetWeek Visa, Wells Fargo Pose E-Payment Alternatives

ffering products and services via a wireless Internet connection is slowly catching on. Dreyfus Brokerage Services Inc. last week began offering wireless stock trading to customers using devices such as 3Com's Palm personal organizers.

Fidelity Investments and Discover Brokerage Direct already offer wireless trading, but Dreyfus, which is using software from

w-Trade Technologies, is the first to charge the same price as conventional Web trades, indicating the company sees the wireless service as a way to gain a competitive edge in a crowded market.

"This is really the first time there isn't going to be a monthly fee attached to the service," says Tower Group analyst Ed Kountz. He expects E-Trade Group Inc. and Charles Schwab & Co. to add wireless access later this year, but he forecasts that only 10,000 of the several million people trading online will go wireless by year's end. Users connect to Dreyfus via a cellular carrier using standard wireless modems.

Widespread use of wireless Internet connections will come only when companies offer more financial services, Kountz says. That's starting to happen. Billserv.com Inc., a service bureau that presents bills for companies on the Web, said last week that consumers can use 3Com's Palm VII organizer to view their bills using a wireless connection to the Internet.

And w-Trade last week unveiled w-Bank, a wireless banking system that lets customers transfer funds between accounts, pay bills, and view account information using a wireless Internet connection. But w-Trade hasn't signed up any banks yet. Bank of America last month said it will provide wireless access to its customers next year using software from 724 Solutions Inc.

MCI WorldCom, Microsoft, and Sprint have recently made high-profile investments in wireless technologies. Karin Herrmann, w-Trade's chief operating officer, says those deals and the availability of Internet-ready hardware such as the Palm VII is giving wireless technology more credibility among IT managers, adding, "The wireless landscape is changing."

Back to This Week's Issue

Send Us Your Feedback

Top of the Page

---