The software scans Web pages for the most prominent menus and places those at the top of the tiny screens, diverting less useful menus farther down the page. It discards graphics altogether, delivering a bare-bones version of the desired site. In this view, the wireless Web will capture consumer interest only if it delivers services that take advantage of its unique characteristics primarily, the fact that people carry their gadgets everywhere. Speaking at a recent wireless trade show in Las Vegas, Jerry Yang, co-founder of Yahoo, the giant Internet portal that has lately spread its brand to the screens of mobile devices, said the early offerings have been too difficult to use. The services that we offer today are a little bit cumbersome and not easy to understand, Yang said.
Most people try it a little bit and then don t use it anymore.
What makes wireless unique, he and others have come to argue, is portability. People may never surf the Internet on their phones, wandering through cyberspace by typing in Web addresses, but they will use the computer system to gain discrete pieces of useful information when they need it. For example, business travelers landing in a strange city may use services that tell them about nearby restaurants, then direct them there services that are already available on most Internet-enabled phones. Salespeople will connect to office databases to get updates on inventory on the fly. Traders will demand immediate alerts when their stocks reach particular prices, and they will want that information whether or not they are at their desks or far from telephone wires.