PageMart Repositions Alpha As Web Device
By Joseph Palenchar -- TWICE, 10/25/1999
PageMart is repositioning word pagers as computer accessories with the launch of WebLink Wireless service, which delivers Internet e-mail and customizable Web-based information service to word pagers bearing the e-pager brand name.
The service was launched October 15 through major retailers such as Best Buy, Fry's Electronics, The Good Guys, OfficeMax, RadioShack, Target and The Wiz. E-tailer Gigabuys.com is also selling the pagers and service.
As part of the repositioning, PageMart will not offer operator-dispatch service with e-pager service, nor will the carrier assign a phone number to an e-pager unless asked.
"This will be pure Internet-based messaging," said national retail VP Dave Swift. "We're moving away from the alpha pager as a telephone device and building the product positioning around an Internet address.''
PageMart's announcement is significant because, although other major carriers provide e-mail addresses for one-, 1.5- and 1.75-way word pagers, they have not aggressively promoted the feature through high-volume retailers to consumers, nor have they stopped offering operator-dispatch service for those pagers.
In contrast, paging carriers more aggressively market Internet e-mail addresses as a feature of two-way pagers equipped with a keyboard for composing and originating messages, but those pagers are generally unavailable at high-volume retail locations and are targeted to business users.
Like PageMart, however, these carriers are beginning to promote customizable push-content services to consumer users of word pagers.
In its new program, PageMart's intent is to encourage numeric-pager subscribers to step up to word paging and provide a more valuable service that will discourage subscribers from churning, Swift said. PageMart also expects to boost average revenue per subscriber because, as consumers learn how valuable the service can be, many will increase their usage.
Swift compared PageMart's undertaking to the repositioning of baking soda as a refrigerator deodorant when its use as a baking ingredient de-creased with the decline of baking from scratch. "They took a feature that people weren't aware of and created a new category," he said.
WebLink service will also reduce PageMart's costs, Swift said. For example, carriers pay for the use of a pager's phone number every time a message originates from a phone line. PageMart will also reduce costs by requiring subscribers to activate their pager via the Web rather than by calling a customer service representative.
To stimulate service adoption, PageMart priced its opening-tier WebLink service at $9.95 per month, including a mix of 125 e-mail and content-service messages and e-mail notifications. That is less than traditional opening-tier word-paging service, which costs $13.45 per month for 100 messages, and only a dollar more than PageMart's opening-price numeric service, which provides 400 numeric messages at $8.95 per month.
Likewise, PageMart priced its opening-price Motorola-made e-pager at $59 to $69, the same price range as its numeric models. N-PCS 1.5-way e-pagers made by Motorola and Glen-ayre are priced at $99 to $169.
Although word paging is increasing its share of new subscribers through re-gional and national chains, word pagers still account for only about 5% of pager sales through these channels, Swift noted.
Through consumer surveys and focus groups, he said, PageMart found that numeric-pager owners "don't see much advantage to going to alpha because, with wireless phones and low phone prices, it's not a big deal to call back [after receiving a numeric page]."
On the other hand, 85% of the numeric users surveyed were enthusiastic about a wireless Web service.
As part of WebLink service, PageMart is offering a Yahoo mailbox with a filter-forward capability to forward select e-mail to an e-pager or forward only header information to the pager.
Subscribers could, for example, give out their Yahoo address to some acquaintances and their pager's e-mail address to others, Swift said. AOL, CompuServe and most ISPs do not have a filter-forward capability.
The service also offers a fax-alert service through CallWave.com, which provides subscribers with a fax phone number. When someone sends a fax to that number, CallWave will send the fax to the subscriber's Yahoo mailbox or another mailbox of choice. The subscriber will then be notified by pager of the fax and the name of its sender.
WebLink's customizable push-information service, provided by MSN Mobile, is part of the package but is also available separately at $8.95 per month to PageMart's traditional word-paging subscribers, Swift said.
The new service can be customized to a greater extent than some competing customizable services, which provide more limited information options, because content is delivered to a group of subscribers at a time rather than to individual subscribers.
Underscoring the service's customization level, Swift pointed out that MSN Mobile can search news stories by a user-selectable keyword, then forward the stories directly to the pager or to the user's Yahoo mailbox.
Until now, PageMart limited its push-information services to non-customizable broadcast service.
PageMart is also working with select Web sites to deliver information directly to subscribers. Auction sites, for example, could alert subscribers by e-mail that their bid was accepted.
Although PageMart plans to launch full two-way paging service nationwide late this year, a keyboard-equipped two-way e-pager won't be available until sometime in 2000, said Swift, and only if priced for the consumer market. Two-way pagers currently run as high as $389, he noted.
To promote WebLink, PageMart is offering co-op and collateral materials to retailers and is considering Internet advertising.
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