9:00 am

9:15 am

10:00 am

10:30 am

'Instant messaging is the tip of the iceberg for using the Internet as a communications hub. In terms of maturity, we're probably 5 percent of the way into the real impact that instant messaging is going to have.'

-- John Patrick, Vice President
Internet Technology - IBM

This session will look at one of the most exciting applications of messaging to the wireless space. How can IM help drive usage and reduce churn? What are the advertising opportunities created by these applications? What related applications can these services spawn?

12:00 noon

12:30 pm

1:15 pm

"Texting [SMS messaging] is now achieving mass market status in many markets of the world. Today the visual message is as powerful as voice."

-- Rob Conway, CEO - GSM Association

While WAP-based services have been slow to take off, SMS and narrow-band data applications have experienced tremendous growth in Europe and Japan. It is estimated that approximately 25,000 unique content services will be made available to mobile users in the major European markets over the next two years, accounting for 10-15% of all mobile revenue. What lessons can be learned from the success of SMS in Europe? What billing mechanisms can be used to support these new applications? What partnering approaches make the most sense for carriers, content providers and customers? What are the effective business models for these new services? These questions will be addressed and the latest developments from Europe, Asia and the U.S. will be highlighted during this session.

2:45 pm

3:15 pm

SMS-based mobile-to-mobile messaging and value added services have been a runaway success in Europe. The widespread adoption of SMS services in Europe has led some carriers there to derive significant percentages of their revenue from the delivery of SMS services. Here in the United States, wireless carrier networks were, until recently, only capable of handling one-way, or ‘push’ SMS services. Though carriers have been able to monetize this technology to a certain extent, primarily through the delivery of wireless alerts, enabling carrier interoperability to allow 2-way inter-carrier SMS would open up new revenue streams for carriers to an even greater extent. The lack of a unified standard for the delivery of SMS messages across multiple carrier networks in the U.S. is an obstacle, but there are ways to achieve interoperability. This presentation will discuss current technologies that provide for carrier interoperability with consideration given to the time and costs involved in each.

4:00 pm

4:45 pm