Bridging the E-Commerce/V-Commerce
Thousands of businesses have learned to employ the Internet to profit through e-commerce, but any kind of trade conducted online is limited to those with Internet access. A new technology called "V-commerce," or "voice-enabled e-commerce," seeks to overcome this by enabling e-commerce transactions over telephonic devises. With today's abundance of cellular phones, telephonic commerce has great value as well. To get the best of both worlds, Two companies, Nuance (www.nuance.com) and Sierra Atlantic (www.sierraatlantic.com), have jointly developed a program that delivers out-of-the-box connectivity between traditional e-commerce applications and revolutionary V-Commerce. The new program enables customers to identify themselves, place orders and check the status of orders all by voice. Sanjay Bulchandani, director of e-Business Innovation at Sierra Atlantic, says the technology will make "e-business as intuitive as picking up the telephone."
Nextel Builds a Little Bridge of Its Own
On June 21, Nextel Communications, Inc. launched Nextel Online Two-Way, a new service that enables users to use their cellular phones to receive, create and send email. With Online Two-Way Messaging, your Nextel "plus" Web phone doubles as an Inbox. Users can send and receive emails from any email system at any time of the day or night via the Nextel online "Message Center." Emails of up to 500 characters can be sent to up to 20 recipients, and a message can be sent to confirm delivery. Other features of Two-Way Messaging include the ability to save email addresses as well as pre-programmed email responses in your cell phone and to have programmed words corresponding
with the phone's keypad to simplify email creation. Online at the Nextel Message Center, you can save messages as well as track the status of sent messages. The service, which turns your cell phone into your singular instrument of communication, is available at a flat rate.
A Tool for Getting the Best out of Your Site
Never underestimate the importance of optimizing your website. If you're in the market for a little help in this territory, you might want to check out www.swissarmyapp.com. Swiss Army App was created upon the theory that there are three essential steps to operating a successful website: website analysis, marketing and promotion and result tracking. The user-friendly software is designed to analyze your website and make sure that everything is ok and working. It will then aid in marketing by organizing the mailing of newsletters as well as keeping your site's information current on search engines. Finally, it records and organizes statistics on how many people visit your site, how they respond to it and how much your profiting.
Compaq Bundles Ilium Products with Pocket PC Software
Ilium SoftwareTM announced Wednesday that Compaq Computer Corporation has selected two Ilium solutions--its eWalletTM secure electronic wallet program and its ListProTM list and note manager--for bundling with the new iPAQ Pocket PCs. Versions of eWallet and ListPro will be included for both the iPAQ Pocket PC and the desktop so users can enter and review their critical information wherever and whenever it's most convenient. Both eWallet and ListPro provide complete desktop synchronization using Microsoft ActiveSync. eWallet enables users to store and retrieve their important personal information such as credit card numbers, passwords and PINs in a highly
secure and fully customizable electronic wallet form. With eWallet for Pocket PCs, Ilium Software has taken the application that Pen Computing Magazine called "The killer handheld application" and created a version for the Pocket PC that takes full advantage of the new hardware and operating system. ListPro is an award-winning, full featured list manager that gives users an easy way to make, use and re-use all their important lists. Benefits include hierarchical (multilevel) lists, user-defined columns, and multiple column types, as well as infrared transfer of individual lists between Pocket PC devices. The Pocket PC version allows for one-handed navigation using the built-in buttons on the device.
'Killer Tactics'
Anyone who has tried to profit in the e-commerce business knows that with such high levels of competition, it is very easy to lose more money than you make. Mark Joyner believes that he's discovered a solution in a "methodical system" designed to help entrepreneurs succeed in online businesses at a minimum cost to themselves. Joyner's program is called "1001 Killer Internet Marketing Tactics." It comes in the form of Windows-compatible software that is sent directly over the Internet. Those
interested may simply visit www.killertactics.com, place an order, and an unlock code will be sent 30 minutes later. Joyner is so sure that those who follow his program will be successful that he promises a full refund to those who are not satisfied ten years after purchase.