Stepping up to the wireless plate isn't easy for most gambling site operators. There are a few barriers to reaching large quantities of mobile consumers in one fell swoop, namely the lack of any consistent standard
among carriers and mobile phone manufacturers around the world.
That's where Bwirelezz, a mobile communications company run by a team of executives from the likes of Amazon.com, Compaq and Ericsson, steps in with its Bwirelezz Mobile Application Platform (BMAP). The platform is designed to enable business and system integrators to set up a mobile commerce environment quickly and efficiently.
What makes mobile betting services so desirable, according to CEO Tim Selman, is that betting and gambling provide consumers with "instant gratification." It's something that can be done to entertain consumers while caught in a traffic jam, waiting at the bus stop or any other time they want to a few minutes of quick entertainment.
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Wireless Communications and Online Gaming
Datamonitor analysts predict that mobile content revenue will exceed $31.7 billion in 2005, blasting past the $2.4 billion expected this year. By 2005, $11 billion of that revenue is likely to be generated by wireless games. Further, researchers at Ovum predict that by 2005 m-commerce (mobile commerce) should top $211 billion and three-quarters of all Europeans will be using WAP phones. Meanwhile, the researchers at Yankee Group see wireless devices overtaking the home computer as mobile
phone penetration already greatly exceeds PC penetration on a worldwide basis and is quickly catching up in the United States. The Yankee Group projects there will be more than one billion wireless devices worldwide by 2003. Further, they estimate that more than $50 billion of commerce transactions in the U.S. will be done via the wireless Internet.
"We spend a lot of time looking at research looking into--now that it is possible to do a lot more with your mobile phone than just saying 'hello'--where will we see an uptake of applications and mobile business applications first or mobile commerce applications first," explains BWirelezz CEO Tim Selman. "It actually turns out that all the research that has been going on for the last 10 or 15 years indicates that there are two segments that will lead this drive. The first one being betting and gambling, the second one being stockbroking and banking." |
Selman explained, "You have an online casino and sportsbook and would like to allow your members to play at any time, any where. Currently, your members have to be behind their PCs to play the game. A lot of people will not have access to their PC all the time and would also like to bet while in traffic, between meetings, in the park, whatever. Our Mobile Application Platform allows you to do that quickly and cost effectively."
Getting this accomplished is the important step. Selman says BMAP "creates a secure mobile front-end to the existing casino and sportsbook engine." Taking this step is definitely a pricey investment; it can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000 depending upon the complexity of the job, he said.
Plus, BMAP helps operators extend their reach to all possible wireless devices quickly and reliably, so they don't have to worry about whether they've chosen the best mobile service or the phone service that the
largest portion of their customers already use. BMAP includes a front-end for wireless devices and an interface to the database of the consumer business. And, the mobile services aren't limited to sports betting products. Some casino games can also be played on mobile devices thanks to BMAP. According to Selman, one third of Bwirelezz's customers offer casino games through BMAP while another third of its customers offer sports betting opportunities.
A number of gaming operators have already taken advantage of the Bwirelezz mobile platform.
More information on the company is available at the company's website, www.bwirelezz.com.