Panelists discuss future in cell phone technology

Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2003 | 11:14 a.m.

In the not-too-distant future, you'll be able to walk up to a vending machine, whip out your cellular telephone, dial a number, punch in an access code and receive a soft drink, charged to your monthly wireless tab.

Although experts in the wireless industry attending a Las Vegas convention Tuesday were unclear about how long it would take for that technology to become widespread in the United States, they point out that some forms of it already are being used in Europe, where "mobile commerce" is being used to pay for parking cars.

Panelists discussed the growth potential of using cell phones and other devices to pay for services in a panel at the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association convention.

In a Tuesday panel on mobile commerce, panelists were divided over whether cellular telephone network support companies would become the credit-card companies of the future with wireless transactions eventually replacing credit cards and cash transactions. Panelist James Healy, vice president of business alliances for T-Mobile USA, Bellevue, Wash., said many laughed when Jeff Bezos, founder and chief executive of Amazon.com, said he was going to sell books over the Internet, but that enterprise has grown to become one of the top online retail sites in the world.

Panelist Edo Ganot, executive vice president of strategic alliance and marketing for Trivnet Ltd. of Israel, who offered an international perspective on mobile commerce, said entrepreneurs already have identified potential applications for commerce -- including gambling.

Ganot identified other commerce in computer games, event ticketing, dating services, so-called adult industries and wireless service transactions. Some companies already enable cellular telephone users, for example, to pay for their service through special accounts and access codes.