Wireless + Internet = AnywhereYouGo.com

More people will access the Inter-net via a mobile phone than a PC by the year 2003. The development of wireless applications (WAP) and devices will be a $13.2 billion industry. Mobile commerce transactions, where purchases are made using WAP-enabled phones and personal data assistants (PDAs) like the Palm VII or the Handspring Visor, will drive the mobile e-commerce market, which is forecasted to be a $200 billion market by 2005.

Although these numbers are impressive, the industry faces major hurdles in making these forecasts a reality. Developers must create software applications for multiple platforms and devices, some of which are still in the planning stages. IT managers have to deploy solutions for a field that largely didn’t exist two years ago. Manufacturers of handsets and gateways ate scrambling to build and sustain developer programs as they build new sales channels.

Enter AnywhereYouGo.com, the world’s largest independent community of wireless application developers, With offices in Dallas and London. AnywhereYouGo.com accelerates the development and deployment of wireless applications and connects device manufacturers and infrastructure providers with developers and IT decision-makers around the world. The AnywhereYouGo.com web site provides developer tools and resources, industry1 and product news, exclusive training and tutorials, reports, directories and databases, and discussion groups covering all aspects of wireless application development and implementation.

“The wireless application market brings together two worlds that never worked together-the wireless communications industry and the big Internet companies,” says Lee Wright, AnywhereYouGo.com President and CEO. “We started AnywhereYouGo.com because there were no great resources out there to help in this integration-and yet we knew the need was there and the growth would be dramatic.”

AnywhereYouGo.com was launched in February 2000 and has grown exponentially. Site traffic has been doubling monthly, and more than 7.000 developers and IT managers from more than 75 countries worldwide subscribe to the site’s daily and weekly newsletter. Subscribers range from employees at global firms (Nokia, Ericsson. Oracle. Sun. Andersen Consulting) to new WAP startups. AnywhereYouGo.com receives dozens of e-mails from developers around the globe each day with comments and recommendations on the site’s resources.

This spring. Any-whereYouGo .com launched The Wireless Internet lab in London-the world’s first independent wireless application testing lab. UK Director James Pearce explained, “From our own experience and from the feedback we’ve received from developers, we know that one of the major obstacles slowing wireless development is the lack of testing.” The Butler Group, one of Europe’s leading IT analyst firms, labeled The Lab “…a very bold venture, but one that is much needed in the mobile commerce arena.”

AnywhereYouGo.com is experiencing the success that many Internet start-ups take years to achieve, including a large community of dedicated users, a growing employee base, a move to larger offices, and a worldwide expansion.

In addition to opening The Lab in London, the company has just moved its Dallas office to a 17,000-square-foot facility next to Yahoo! Broadcast in Deep Ellum. and plans to open offices in Stockholm and Tokyo later this year.