[London, ENGLAND] The London-based wireless Internet laboratory
of AnywhereYouGo.com
said Wednesday that as many as a third of today’s wireless
Internet applications have been found to contain serious errors.
However, despite their negative findings, the researchers
tell people they should not believe the “anti-hype.” Wireless
Internet is here to stay. It justs needs more development.
Operational in London since June, AnywhereYouGo.com opened
another facility in Dallas, Texas, on Wednesday. It has
already handled projects for major technology companies
including Swedish telecoms operator, Telia, for which it
tested the new Speedy Tomato portal.
With the market for WAP phones beginning to take off in
the United States, the European experience of developing
and testing software for them may prove to be instructive.
Currently, Europe is still six to nine months ahead of the
U.S. in the wireless Internet, the researchers estimate.
James Pearce, director of AnywhereYouGo.com’s London lab
said developers are beginning to realize that WAP application
testing is not a challenge to take lightly.
“In Europe, where we’ve been testing for several months, our
studies have shown that up to a third of current wireless
applications have serious errors,” said Pearce.
“The different phones, gateways and underlying technologies
create interoperability issues that developers and IT managers
have not traditionally encountered when testing Web applications.
As a result, the testing phase of an application’s development
requires that much more time, budget, and planning,” Pearce
added.
Backed by US $4 million funding from Brience and internet.com
Venture Partners III, AnywhereYouGo.com aims to be the leading
independent resource to have an exclusive focus on wireless
application development and deployment.
Researchers say that between 70 and 80 percent of new mobile
phones in the U.S. are expected to be WAP-enabled by the end
of 2000. The new testing facility in Dallas will add
significantly to AnywhereYouGo.com’s operations which include
a presence in San Francisco, CA.
“Based on our experience in Europe and requests from U.S. and
European companies for deployment assurance here in the U.S.,
we have opened our Americas lab to leverage our experience
providing testing to content sites, network operators and
gateway manufacturers,” said Lee Wright, chief executive,
AnywhereYouGo.com.
AnywhereYouGo.com not only ensures that wireless applications
are compliant with industry standards but also tests them
with the various wireless devices that are available. It is
already becoming clear that testing for wireless applications
is even more important — and demanding — than it is for
the wired Web.