HOW do we get to wireless time? Anybody who is a good marketer                                                                                        
of Internet time, such as AOL, can also become a good marketer                                                                                        
of wireless time, such as NTT DoCoMo. Join the two together as                                                                                        
is the case in Japan, and good Internet marketing managers                                                                                            
become good wireless marketing managers, too.                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                                      
Today, 25 million Japanese customers of wireless service from                                                                                         
DoCoMo pay for content from AOL Japan.                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                                      
Which strategies are crucial to the success of marketing                                                                                              
wireless time? Here is a short list from my book, Conquering                                                                                          
the Wireless World.                                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                                      
Product marketing: Marketers introduce miniature information                                                                                          
appliances with unique interactive content for wireless                                                                                               
customers. Check out the daily manga cartoons on DoCoMo.                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                      
Promotion marketing: Marketing managers provide customers with                                                                                        
value-added intangible product attributes that are included as                                                                                        
part of their smart handheld devices. See Nokia's                                                                                                     
rainbow-coloured wireless phones.                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                                      
Price marketing: Marketers offer both commodity and higher                                                                                            
value-added prices as marketing managers divide wireless                                                                                              
customers into those who do virtually everything online and                                                                                           
those who prefer personal services from telecom, content and                                                                                          
financial service providers. Compare prices for 2G and 2.5 GPRS                                                                                       
services in Europe's GSM community versus DoCoMo's loss-leader                                                                                        
pricing of 3G service in Japan.                                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                                      
Price marketing is by far the most important marketing strategy                                                                                       
for establishing wireless time. The "right" price creates                                                                                             
firstmover advantage, builds market share, and insures market                                                                                         
dominance.                                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                      
For example, European and Japanese wireless marketers must                                                                                            
teach US customers, who prefer free Internet content, to adjust                                                                                       
to paying for content, and to join the rest of the world in                                                                                           
paying for virtual transactions online through mobile phones,                                                                                         
m-commerce, and the wireless Internet.                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                                      
Segmentation: Marketers divide groups of people across national                                                                                       
frontiers into those who have the income, are the correct age,                                                                                        
live in the right neighbourhoods, and belong to modernising                                                                                           
ethnic groups as candidates for the purchase of miniature                                                                                             
information appliances, 3G telecom services, and interactive                                                                                          
Internet content. Check out teenagers and SMS; young adults or                                                                                        
Gen-Y, transaction capability, and wireless time; and older                                                                                           
adults or Gen-X, voice and data communicatians, and Internet                                                                                          
time.                                                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                                      
Targeting: Marketing managers assemble smaller groups of people                                                                                       
who are bound together by their professions, such as                                                                                                  
entertainers, or by their skills, such as athletes, and by                                                                                            
their personal tastes, habits, and values, such as info-tech                                                                                          
geeks. See NFL football, FIFA soccer, NBA basketball, WWF                                                                                             
wrestlers, and other sports personalities who cannot wait for                                                                                         
3G; their coaches who are happy with 2G and 2.5G; and the                                                                                             
owners of the teams and franchises who remain tied to wired                                                                                           
time.                                                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                                      
Positioning: Marketers match possible online Internet products                                                                                        
with probable customers; the former offers the latter enhanced                                                                                        
customer relationships to try out m-commerce, the mobile                                                                                              
Internet, and wireless time. Compare the first- place success                                                                                         
of Nokia versus the second-place position of Motorola, and the                                                                                        
failure of Ericsson.  Also study the contest for US market                                                                                            
share among Vodafone AirTouch, DoCoMo-AT&T wireless, and                                                                                              
Deutsche Telekom-VoiceStream Wireless.                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                                      
Although marketing professionals speak of segmentation,                                                                                               
targeting, and positioning as one continuous effort, targeting                                                                                        
specific likeminded groups is by far the most important of the                                                                                        
three in delivering value to present and potential customers of                                                                                       
wireless commerce.                                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                                      
Currently, no US-owned firms are first movers in the race to                                                                                          
dominate wireless time. Instead, they must depend on                                                                                                  
partnerships and alliances with European- and Japanese-owned                                                                                          
firms to learn how to price wireless products properly for the                                                                                        
appropriate target market groups in the United States and                                                                                             
elsewhere in the world.                                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                                      
How do wireless marketers make money from wireless time, or                                                                                           
what will venture capitalists at the Mobile Wednesday meetings                                                                                        
in Chicago invest in today, tomorrow, and in the second- half                                                                                         
of 2001?                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                      
1. Design new interactive content for the wireless Internet                                                                                           
that is different from the content for the wired Internet.                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                      
2. Form wireless alliances among telecom and content providers.                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                                      
3. Turn iMode and WAP phones into dualprotocol, miniature                                                                                             
information appliances for 3G digital service.                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                                      
4. Sell cell phones to the following age segments: M-generation                                                                                       
kids; teenagers; Gen-Y (twenty-somethings); Gen-X (thirty-                                                                                            
somethings); and boomers (forty-somethings).                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                                      
5. Market anytime, anywhere voice and data communications, and                                                                                        
transaction capabilities to the following values and lifestyles                                                                                       
target groups: "Supli" teenage Japanese young women, unmarried                                                                                        
American info geeks, married European business executives,                                                                                            
Chinese bureaucrats, and others.                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                                      
6. Build brand communities as productbased experiences for                                                                                            
DoCoMo and WAP users.                                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                                      
What are the best wireless marketing deals discussed in                                                                                               
Conquering the Wireless World?                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                                      
* WEB-BASED phones, whose screen or "home deck" shows books,                                                                                          
CDs, airplane tickets, and other items to purchase, from                                                                                              
Finland's Nokia.  * W-CDMA or CDMA 2000 from America's                                                                                                
Qualcomm.  * DISTRIBUTION alliances for connections and content                                                                                       
from Japan's NTT DoCoMo-AOL Japan.  * ELECTRONIC wallets from                                                                                         
Finland and Sweden's Merita-Nordbanken.  * ONLINE stock trading                                                                                       
from Charles Schwab and other non-bank financial institutions.                                                                                        
* INTERNET banks from global and local banks in East Asia,                                                                                            
Europe and the United States.  * WIRELESS Ethernet network from                                                                                       
America's Aerzone and Wayport for the Red Carpet Clubs of                                                                                             
United Airlines, the lobbies of five-star hotels, and intranets                                                                                       
for business offices, university campuses, and Starbucks coffee                                                                                       
shops.                                                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                                      
Today, these wireless deals create value for marketers, beat                                                                                          
out competitors, grow sales rapidly, build market share, make                                                                                         
money for business firms, and help investors conquer the                                                                                              
wireless world.                                                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                                      
Wireless marketers must spend a great deal of time creating and                                                                                       
delivering value for mobile phones, m-commerce, and the                                                                                               
wireless Internet.  The devil is in the details on how and when                                                                                       
interactive content, distribution, and platforms morph into                                                                                           
interactive wireless sports, m-entertainment, mobile banking,                                                                                         
and other possible money-making wireless marketing deals.                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                                      
Events do come along to disrupt the best-laid plans of                                                                                                
marketers, technologists, and venture capitalists, such as                                                                                            
loss-leader pricing, Ethernet networks, and market share                                                                                              
dominance.                                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                      
Thus wireless marketers must develop improved targeting                                                                                               
strategies to keep Nokia, DoCoMo-AOL, and Vodafone AirTouch                                                                                           
ahead, and second-best wireless marketing strategies to help                                                                                          
Motorola, AT&T Wireless, and Deutsche Telekom-VoiceStream                                                                                             
Wireless stay in the competitive race.                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                                      
This is the challenge facing wireless telecom and content                                                                                             
providers as they prepare for fewer, but stronger competitors                                                                                         
this year, next year, and through 2003.                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                                      
Remember: No wireless success today means disappearance from                                                                                          
the wireless market tomorrow.