Wireless Internet For Your Cell Phone

Surf The Web Wirelessly Using WAP-Enabled Devices

by Jon Norwood - October 31st, 2006

Wireless application protocol, or WAP, enables wireless devices such as phones or personal digital assistants to access the Internet. WAP has been the international standard for several years, and though its launch in the US has been slow going, Europe embraced the technology with speed and ease. I-mode is the only protocol currently competing with WAP, and it is almost exclusively used in Japan.

Phones and other devices use browsers that operate in a similar manner to computer browsers that everyone is familiar with. Although the information received from a web site through a WAP browser may be the same as from the same site found on a computer, the protocol used is different. A web site must be converted to WML, or Wireless Markup Language, before a WAP browser can present it. Larger commercial sites have a HTML and WML site built, but there is now software that can dynamically convert HTML to WML, so this need is quickly being met.

WAP brought to the table the flexibility that users have grown accustomed to through the Internet. In the past it was necessary to have specific, and usually proprietary, software applications to provide email, news, music, or stock information. Now all of theses services can be easily provided using WAP software and devices.

WAP Problems

During the early days of WAP, the technology was marketed as Wireless Internet, and this is what users expected when they purchased a WAP device. The reality however was much different. In the beginning, WAP products didn't access the Internet at all, only requesting data from proxies developed by providers to serve up WAP information. This meant that if a site was custom designed to serve WAP, customers couldn't access it. The user experience was very limited for obvious reasons.

With every company releasing its own phones and devices, the market had no acceptable hardware standard to build too. This meant that no two phones would operate in the same way, display a site in the same manner, or even download files correctly. Interoperability became the market's need, and after 7 years or so became the norm.

With hardware standards in place, the next issue to be tackled was the user interface. Phones were getting smaller and smaller, which was great for calls but made surfing the Internet problematic at best. Motorola still leads the market in innovating the user experience, and providing a small phone that a customer can access files on. This issue is working itself out across the marketplace still today.

WAP Strengths

Ubiquitous formats and networks make developing devices and software much easier, and WAP certainly brings this to the table. Although there are a few competing protocols, WAP is clearly the dominant one in the world today. As of 2006 9 billion web pages have been viewed via WAP, and this number is increasing rapidly.

WAP has also led to knew technologies such as Multimedia Messaging Service, or MMS, which allows users to send pictures and other media via wireless devices. This has become a strong selling point and companies are quickly moving to dominate the picture phone market.

The WAP Future

WAP is converging with web access even now, and with the emergence of WAP 2.0 many experts believe the line will not only be blurred but removed entirely. This will be made possible by the removal of the WAP gateway, and a stand proxy being used to transfer data. This new system would allow faster and more complex information requests, as well as a smoother user experience

WAP 2.0 will be what customers expected in the late 1990's when WAP first appeared. The emergence of a large number of 3G Internet phones continues to improve the end-user experience for accessing web pages and email on cell phones.

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