E-Mail in Your Kitchen

Simple Is Good

"Consumers like the concept of dedicated and multiple-use appliances because of their simplicity," says Jeff Hulton, senior vice president of business development at HighPoint Systems, which integrates bar-code scanners and database technology for home grocery shopping applications. "People don't like the PC for this type of [business-to-consumer electronic commerce] transaction," he says.

For example, online grocers enroll consumers quickly, but lose more than half in the first 90 days because PCs take too long and are too complicated to use for direct ordering, Hulton says. Compare nine minutes on an Internet appliance to an average online PC session of more than 47 minutes and there's no contest, he says.

It's clear that handheld computing devices are the most prevalent Internet appliances to make it into the enterprise to date, with millions of units sold and millions more to be sold this year and next. Smart cellular phones aren't far behind, and other Internet appliances are on the way. But linking such disparate devices with their limited memory capacities and computing power presents a variety of challenges.

For one thing, device formats are all over the map, from Palm devices and Microsoft CE handheld personal digital assistants, smart phones, pagers, and set-top boxes to household appliances and consumer electronics. Different devices use different protocols and operating systems, and the smallest household appliance microprocessor with infinitesimal memory and power will need to be joined to strapping desktop workstations.

In addition, network traffic bottlenecks and bandwidth questions will increase dramatically when anywhere from a few to thousands of these contraptions are linked. "The challenge is how to accommodate PDAs, Web phones, Web pads, and set-top boxes in compelling ways for the consumer and in an open architecture," Hulton says.

Searching for Bandwidth

Limited-network bandwidth presents a formidable challenge to retailers now, and broadband cable modems will soon deliver fast Internet connectivity to more homes. That change will increase consumers' expectations of around-the-clock uptime for access to sites run by businesses and services.

The retail systems division of ICL, a global information technology services provider owned by Fujitsu, has already seen some problems with software and network crashes at eBay, ETrade Group, and Charles Schwab, says Clay Calhoun, North American director of interactive retailing. Like other services providers, ICL is beefing up its resources to meet the growing demand.

When Scotty's Home Market expanded its online grocery-ordering capabilities recently to enable bar-code scanning, the shop hired HighPoint Systems to run the site.

Scotty's application lets a consumer point a Symbol Technologies SPT 1500 handheld unit at the universal product code on a product or in a custom catalog, press a button, and send the item to the "Scottyscan" screen. When the list is finished, the user places the Scottyscan in a cradle, which links to a PC and synchronizes with Scotty's Web site to transmit the order. Symbol and 3Com developed the SPT 1500, which combines bar-code scanning technology with Palm Computing standard applications.

"As you finish a carton of orange juice, you can scan the bar code as you throw it away," says Scott DeGraeve, president of Scotty's Home Market. "As you consume things, the Scottyscan unit is doing continual replenishment."