Is the World Finally Ready for Online Stock Trading?

During the dot-com bubble, businesses raced to develop Web sites that could be accessed via mobile phones, the idea being that life without the ability to trade stocks from the back of a taxi wasn’t worth living. We all know how that turned out. But despite the earlier failures, Web software for cellphones is now a hot topic.

Or you could just use your BlackBerry

E*Trade is one of the businesses hoping that the mobile Web is about to take off in a big way. The online bank and brokerage firm this month launched software that allows people who use Research In Motion’s BlackBerry device to—you guessed it—trade stocks from their phones. E*Trade won’t disclose how many people use the service but did say that both the number of visitors and the number of trades has doubled from 12 months ago, when E*Trade had more primitive mobile-trading software, according to Greg Framke, the company’s chief information officer.

Framke says the software that E*Trade developed for the BlackBerry made sense because the stereotypical BlackBerry owner—a young, affluent, always-connected professional— is the online bank’s target demographic.

Framke believes that despite the hype back in 2000, people weren’t ready then to visit Web sites—let alone trade stocks—from mobile phones. At the time, people were just getting comfortable buying things from Web sites accessed through their personal computers. The mobile Web was slow, expensive and ugly in comparison.

Now, phones have bigger screens and sometimes come with service contracts that include unlimited Internet access. The cost of developing the software is also substantially cheaper and less complicated than it was back in 2000, making it a lower-risk bet for businesses. “Two or three years ago, this wouldn’t have worked,” says Framke.

There’s ample evidence that the mobile Web is gaining traction: In the U.S., 16% of cellphone owners routinely access the Internet from phones, according to Nielsen, while 57% use some kind of nonvoice service, such as sending text messages. The ability to access the Internet is a key selling point for many new phones. For example, Apple recently launched an online store dedicated to distributing software for its iPhone and bases its ad campaign for the phone around the idea that people want Internet access wherever they are.

Businesses are paying attention: Forrester Research reports that the number of inquiries it received from businesses and service providers wanting to talk about the mobile Web jumped 40% last year.

-Ben Worthen

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