GeePS.com announced this week that it has begun beta testing a wireless Web shopping service in both New York City and San Francisco. If this sounds like whizzy technology in search of a customer, don't tell that to GeePS.com CEO Andy Goren.

"Local retailers and merchants are not benefiting from the global platform of the Web as it is now," says Goren. "Wireless is going to make the locale-based Net finally happen." The GeePS.com service combines online and real-world retail to develop one of the first simultaneous (as in virtual and physical) shopping experiences.

"A person can be a block from a mall, check their cell phone or PDA, and get personalized information about a sale at The Gap, jeans, or Chinese Food," explains Goren. "Then they can walk into a store that they already know has exactly what they want and purchase it with just a click, or, if it's not in stock, order it with GeePS.com." Consumer members of GeePS.com will even be able to register in their credit card numbers so they can check out before they even walk in.

The main idea behind GeePS.com is that local merchants too easily get lost in the shuffle of online competition when it comes to selling their wares on the Net. GeePS will give them a proximity-based advantage by allowing them not only to send a notice of "Hey, you can buy batteries right here," to a business traveler unfamiliar with the area, but also coupons and online-only bargains.

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Participating merchants will also be able to put up an online promotion for a limited period of time. For example, during a trade show in downtown San Francisco, Mr. Pizza Man could offer $1 lunches to the first 100 customers to walk through the door and show their cell phones. Also, GeePS.com allows merchants to broadcast within a one-mile radius, so the further you walk down the street, the more promotions you'll encounter from different merchants.

The concept of a neighborhood intranet that's not restricted by wires or by area may sound great, but a lot of work remains before it can approach anything close to mainstream appeal, says Dataquest analyst Tole Hart. "You have to find a way to factor in things like price comparison and other normal buying concerns, how to get enough wireless gadgets into enough hands, and which reliable location-based technology like Global Positioning Satellites (GPS) works the best," says Hart. If GeePS.com, or another player, figures all this out, Hart says the technology could be a success -- in a few years.

"But we estimate that about 70 million wireless devices will be on the market by 2004," says Hart, "and about 15% of those will be used to do eCommerce." Hart adds that the number of eCommerce devices could be even higher if a company succeeds in pushing the idea forward at a faster rate. GeePS points to estimates by another market research firm, the Yankee Group, which estimates that as much as 1 billion wireless devices will be out by as early as 2003, and that 60% of those could be used for eCommerce.

GeePS.com is currently being beta tested on the 3Com Palm Vii PDA and the NeoPoint Sprint PCS service cell phone (both of which are enabled with WAP, or wireless application protocol, which takes advantage of GPS).

GeePS.com, a private company, based in Cranbury, New Jersey, has received $1 million in initial investments from Visionet Systems, an IT consulting firm with clients such as Toys R Us and Liz Claiborne. They are currently in negotiations for their second round of funding. Goren says that after the 60-day beta test, the full service will be launched nationally between the end of Q3 and the beginning of next year.

"Right now there are 100,000 WAP users," says Goren. "By the end of the year there will be 8 million so that's when we'll be doing the bulk of our advertising."