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Web-only Exclusives November 30, 2000 From Our Correspondent: Hirohito and the War A conversation with biographer Herbert Bix From Our Correspondent: A Rough Road Ahead Bad news for the Philippines - and some others From Our Correspondent: Making Enemies Indonesia needs friends. So why is it picking fights? |
SEPTEMBER 10, 1999 VOL. 25 NO. 36
Portals of Tomorrow
The Internet's supersites can't stop changing
By JIM ERICKSON
We can all admit without shame that, although we may frequently visit some of the Internet's numerous "portals," we are not exactly sure what a portal is. The Webopedia defines a portal as a website that "offers a broad array of resources and services, such as e-mail, forums, search engines, and on-line shopping malls." Yahoo!, Netscape Netcenter, and AltaVista are portals. They are gateways to cyberspace, one-stop supersites where people can at least attempt to manage the unmanageable information of the ever-expanding Internet.
Does that clear things up? Of course it doesn't, because defining a portal in terms of specific functions is slippery business. As they duel for viewers and advertising revenue, the sites continually add features such as instant messaging and online calendars. New "personal information portals" are lately offering free storage of information that would normally reside in the hard drive of your desktop PC, allowing users to access personal address books and documents from almost anywhere and download the data to a handheld computer.
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Adding mobile services "is a very good enhancement to the portal business," says Patricia Yee, business manager for The Microsoft Network (MSN) in Hong Kong. The city ranks among the highest in the world in cellphone penetration. No wonder that others, including local cellphone provider SmarTone, are working on wireless Internet services.
Due to the limitations in handset screen sizes and data-storage capacity, mobile Web-browsing will be primarily text-based and lacking in glitzy graphics. Microsoft has developed a Web browser called Mobile Explorer that, installed on handheld devices, can convert standard-format Internet content for miniature displays. Services expected to be available are access to Hotmail e-mail accounts, stock price alerts, classified ads, and news headlines from sources such as the South China Morning Post, Sing Tao Daily and Next Magazine. Later, Microsoft plans to add e-commerce functions such as the ability to purchase movie tickets, personal schedulers, and a city guide that can direct you to, for example, the Thai restaurant nearest to your physical location.
Microsoft's addition of mobile access is part of a larger effort to launch a new English/Chinese portal for Hong Kong in late October. The debut will mark another stage in the portal race - but not the last leg. In the works are a new breed of supersites that take advantage of faster, "broadband" Internet access now becoming available in some cities around the world, including Hong Kong and Singapore. Yahoo! recently unveiled a new site that will feature the multimedia content, such as webcast concerts and digital music sales, that fast access enables. In Hong Kong, Cable & Wireless HKT is building a Web-based multimedia site. The only thing certain about Internet portals is that the way they are defined today will be out of date tomorrow.
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