Dear IT people, Let's we know this..... What is WAP? It is easy to get confused about all the fancy new IT-stuff. You might have understood that WAP has something to do with getting Internet on your mobile phone. This article explains WAP and holds up some possibilites and some limitations. The Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is an open, global specification which gives mobile users with wireless devices the opportunity to easily access and interact with information and services. The protocol is developed by WAP Forum http://www.wapforum.org/, an organization of some of the most powerful Internet and telecom companies. History Phone.com, Ericsson, Nokia and many others began developing standards independently of each other, but soon they realized that it would make more sense to focus development around a common standard. They all wanted to establish a common format for Internet transfers to mobile telephones, without having to customize the Internet pages for the particular display on every different mobile telephone or personal organizer. With WAP Forum they were able to find such a protocol. Why prefer WAP to surfing the net on your computer? You won�t get access to the WAP services before you buy a WAP phone. They are not too expensive, and the telecom experts predict that WAP phones will be better, faster and cheaper in the next few months. This is a technology that develops fast, and the newest WAP phones are much better compared to yesterday's phones which you can buy in your local telecom shop for a nice price. Estimates Forrester is one of the leading independent research firms which analyses the future of technological change and its impact on businesses, consumers, and society. This research institute has conducted a research on WAP, and presume that by 2004, one-third of all Europeans -- more than 219 million consumers -- will regularly use their mobile phones to access Internet services. According to a recent report from Forrester, ninety percent of the e-commerce executives interviewed plan to launch Internet sites designed for mobile phones with tiny displays and thin connections. Forrester-analysts stress the fact that the only thing which can slow down this development is restricted user access. In other words, smart cell phones will become the dominant means of accessing the Internet in some years, when Web-capable phones will make up 79 percent of the unit volume of Internet appliances, according to a report by Semico Research. USA A survey by New York-based Cap Gemini America and Corechange Inc of Boston is predicting that Internet access via mobile phones will rise from 3 percent to a massive 78 percent of the US Internet population within 12 months. The research is based on a survey of 1,000 Internet users in the U.S. If the survey is correct then there will be about 72 million WAP phones sold in North America within the year, compared to a projected 45 million PCs. Internet is still the best when it comes to exchange of information. But if your only interest is to be kept updated on the stock market or the latest sport reviews, WAP is the fastest and easiest way to be online. The e-commerce business' WAP is even better than shopping on the Internet. You don't need a big screen to order the last Smashing Pumpkins CD. All you need to make the order is a WAP-phone, click a few times, wherever you are - whenever you choose. Limitations As long as the mobile phones are tiny, practical and easy to carry in your pocket, the WAP screen has to be small. You can`t read through the same amount of information as on your computer. And, the screen quality is not as good. You can send pictures with WAP, but if they are too complicated they will merely appear as blurs. Telecom-developers are constantly working on a better and faster way of sending information to your mobile phone. The GSM network implemented in most of Europe today, is a slow way of sending information. New network technologies are called HSCD (high speed circuit switch data) and GPRS (General Packet Radio Service). They will give you a faster connection. In a few years most of the European countries will build a new broadband network, called UMTS. It is much harder to write an e-mail on your phone than on your PC. When people start to use their mobile phone to read and write e-mails, the need for a better keyboard will force the producers to develop a better system The WAP phones you get today have little memory capacity. The developement of new WAP services will probably press the hardware producers to come up with better memory systems for mobile terminals in the near future Usage In what way is it better to surf the net using your mobile phone? If you have a mobile phone you will probably have noticed that your phone is a more "private" device than your computer. Your phone is always within reach, you can get hold of all your friends using it and you have a lot of personal information in store. People that have had to leave their homes in a hurry, often tell the press that the items they grabbed on their way out were the wallet and the mobile phone. The latter has almost become a part of their personalities, and people like to express their identities through the design and the price of their phones. Leading phone producers will tell you that they use great amounts of time and money to find out what segment of mobile users prefer what kind of phones when it comes to size, colour and functionality. As opposed to your PC, the WAP phone will always be within range. It invites you to order something wherever you are, and you can search for information in the middle of a discussion around the caf� table. You can check your e-mail on the run, and you can be in touch with the Intranet in your office anytime. Who will be using WAP? Who are the owners of WAP phones? In a few months, everybody will buy a WAP phone when their old phone collapse. Nowadays, it is the coolest guys and the business people who buy them. Young people will buy a WAP phone to keep in touch with their friends. You can pop your mail by your phone, and you can chat with strangers if you like that. Teenagers will love keeping themselves updated on the fashion and culture arena by WAP, and they can buy movie tickets and other items by phone. Business people will buy a WAP in order to buy stocks on their way to the airport. They will check the London weather before they buy some new clothes for the trip, and they will be logged on to the company WAP pages whenever and wherever they want to. Your neighbour will buy a WAP phone because you already have one, and because he thinks it is practical to have access to the latest Wall Street news. You will buy a WAP phone because you never remember to buy a TV guide, and you need to know if your favourite TV program is on BBC today. Besides, it is nice to be able to read about you favourite band when you are stuck on the train and everybody is starring at the chewing gums on the floor. Pricing The more people who use WAP phones, the cheaper they will get. The devices will cost from less to incredibly much depending on how complicated and fancy you want them to be. It is like the ordinary phones, the business people pay a month�s salary to have the coolest and newest, while ordinary people just need a mobile phone to keep in touch with their friends. The death of WAP Lately Wap has fueled a heated discussion about future standards for mobile internet. The limitations in todays version of WAP has led some to proclaim that WAP will die when the users find out that WAP only gives them a tiny part of the World Wide Web, and that what they get is colorless and boring. No doubt, the so called G3 will be better, but it will also be more expensive. And we will probably have to wait a while for it to come around. With WAP, you�ll just pay ordinary prices for mobile phone calls. Too expensive in our opinion, but it is after all prices to overcome. The future The future has never looked as high-tech as today. If you imagine the revolution Personal Computers have created for office workers you have a clue of what the handheld computers (like WAP phones, PDA�s and emerging broadband technologies) can do to you everyday life. Blue With the bluetooth technology, the wireless world will be even more wireless. You will be able to print from your phone or lap top without connecting any cables. You will tell your computers to communicate with each others without your permission, and they will give you the same screen and information no matter if you use your PDA, lap top or computer. The Bluetooth chip will also tell you if a friend of yours is nearby, or if the stranger passing you on the street is single and wants a date with someone like you. Some of the new devices will be fairly stupid, for example the thin screen hanging on your refrigerator, waiting for you to tell it (and the local super market) that you are out of milk. Personal computers with a lot of memory and software will be less popular, and your apartment will be full of small devices doing a lot of different things. You will be able to control the heating using your mobile phone, and you can tell your oven that it is time to boil the potatoes you want for dinner. With a better wireless technology you will be able to read books online while seated in your best living room chair. You will have Internet or WAP access 24 hours a day, and the information you seek will be only a click away. With UMTS (mobile broadband) you will be able to watch movies on your phone, your PDA or your bathroom screen. In your car you will have a city map for navigation, and if you are in an emergency, the GPS will tell the rescue team where they can find you. If you drive to work, you can pay for a service which tells you where the biggest queues are. The future is here, and WAP is a part of it. We don�t know if it will be called WAP forever, or if someone will come up with something brand new. The important thing is that your mobile phone will be a part of a fiction world Douglas Adams only dreamt of. Who else are happy? The advertising companies are always happy to be able to use one more channel in order to reach you. Commercial executives and planners are already aware of the mobile phone user's irritation and lack of patience when it comes to advertisements beeping on their personal phones. You will probably have to live with advertisements as an integrated part of the WAP services. That is a good thing, making the products free for you. Free services makes you happy, it makes the WAP service providers happy and the telecom companies happy. And of course, Wap.com is happy finally having you as a WAP portal user. Warm Regards, Edwin M. Bachtiar UNISYS World Trade, Inc. We eat, sleep, and drink this stuff http://www.unisys.com <http://www.unisys.com> * Gunadarma Mailing List ----------------------------------------------- * Archives : http://milis-archives.gunadarma.ac.id * Langganan : Kirim Email kosong ke [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Berhenti : Kirim Email kosong ke [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Administrator: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
