Business Uses Hard to Find at Demo Conference

PASADENA, CALIFORNIA (09/11/2000) - No one denies or even bothers to challenge the notion that mobile computing will continue to expand apace -- especially if they were among the attendees at last week's Demo Mobile 2000 conference here. For example, Frank Spindler, vice president of marketing at Intel Corp., said 80 percent of the semiconductor maker's workforce already have or will soon be getting laptops as their sole computing device.

Whether for size, portability or communications reasons, the mobile platform is alive and well within the corporate environment. Indeed, Spindler spent some time trying to convince audience members during a conference session that chips made specifically for mobile uses are a clear focus of Intel's strategy. Faster chips that use less power, along with convenient wireless networks, are in the works -- at least in PowerPoint presentations.

So it was a little odd, then, to see a variety of new products on display that appeared to completely eschew the business user.

For example, year-old startup EncrypTix Inc. in El Segundo, Calif., showed off an application that it said provides a secure method for users of Palm Inc.'s handheld devices to order and retrieve things such as movie tickets and coupons. In a brief demonstration of the technology, EncryptTix highlighted a topic heard frequently at the conference: security.

EncrypTix -- which this past spring received US$36 million in private financing led by Vulcan Ventures, the investment company of Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul G. Allen -- showed the front-end Palm device communicating with a PC-based order-taking and -linking system. Company officials said the level of security supported by the EncrypTix technology is robust enough to handle purchases of airline tickets and the like. In some cases, the ability to redeem an order and take receipt of its value electronically can turn your Palm device into a virtual checkbook.

Then there was a voice technology demonstration by Brussels-based Lernout & Hauspie NV. The product -- a tablet-style portable device designed for home users -- that has features that support a so-called multimodal interface. Equipped with a touch screen, microphone and speakers, the device looks like it should be glued to the side of your refrigerator.

A voice -- sounding English with a heavy Chinese accent -- reminds you when to take your medicine, alerts you to a canceled airplane flight and tells you that your son's soccer practice was rained out. The screen has the same look as one of those paper menus that line the trays at fast-food restaurants. And that's appropriate -- the target market is consumers.

The conference was rife with venture capitalists, and a big subject of discussion among the attendees was the search for the Holy Grail of the mass killer application -- something that will push wireless and mobile technology to the forefront of the computing world. One of the products that grabbed the most attention was Modo, a rather hip pager-size device that serves up content from Village Voice Media using Dallas-based PageNet's wireless network.

Modo was born in the heart of Silicon Valley at Stanford University. With $20 million in financing, San Francisco-based developer Scout Electromedia Inc. produces electronic city guides that are carried on the device and targeted at users between the ages of 21 and 34. Initially, Modo is being launched in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. It comes in three colors.

For young consumers who want to know what band's playing at what club, or what restaurant is near the movie theater they're heading for, Modo has the info. The device uses a rotating wheel to make on-screen selections, and you can just imagine it attached to a long chain hanging from a pair of baggy pants. The best part is the gamble selection -- not gambling for money, mind you. Select "gamble," and Modo will serve up a random restaurant, movie or activity. Can't decide what kind of food tonight? Dial up Modo, gamble and see what you get.

There's not even a service or usage fee. But business uses aren't very apparent, and "free" seems to be the only variety of killer app on the Internet these days. And where's the money in that?

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