WAP FOR BEGINNERS

By Mark Shainblum

Originally published in Quill and Quire, 2000.

Please note: The wireless field has changed considerably since the article was written, and I cannot vouch for the accuracy of all the links provided.

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WAP! It sounds more like a comic book sound effect than a technology that's shaking up the Net world, but the Wireless Application Protocol may soon pack a punch worthy of Superman.

In a technology sector constantly being inundated with supposed "next big things," WAP looks like it might be the genuine article. Although in some ways merely an extension of the existing Internet into the realm of wireless phones, pagers and other mobile devices, WAP also fulfills the long-held fictional promise of Dick Tracy's two-way wrist TV, offering users the World Wide Web, e-mail and other Internet services in somewhat dehydrated form. So-called m-portals, like Toronto’s Web2Mobile offer condensed versions of traditional web content like news, weather, financial information and sports in a format that doesn’t overload the postage-stamp-sized dimensions of mobile web browser screens. Major Canadian players in several sectors are already offering their services through the m-portals, including financial institutions like the Bank of Montreal, ScotiaBank and TD Bank Financial Group; media outlets like Southam, the CBC and Toronto’s NOW Magazine; and general resource providers like the Yellow Pages and the Canada.com search engine. The leading US search engine, Google.com, also offers a wireless search portal which not only matches the capability of its wired parent site, but also translates and truncates ordinary web pages into a format readable by the relatively limited plain-text mini-browsers which come with most mobile phones.

Navigating the wireless web is still somewhat complex, and may vary considerably from device to device. On most mobile phones, users surf the Net by pressing “Back” and “Forward” keys and by entering text in triple-keypress entries on the standard telephone keypad. More advanced devices, like the credit-card sized BlackBerry wireless handheld from Waterloo-based Research in Motion, offer wireless digital paging, e-mail and web browsing on a single gadget which comes complete with a QWERTY keyboard and built-in wheelmouse. The latest generation Palm VII handheld from 3Com uses a different technology to surf the wireless web, but due to radio frequency conflicts, the service is not yet available in Canada. Next generation devices promise enhanced user-friendliness and the advanced features users have come to expect from their desktop computers. Owners of the SL45 mobile phone from Siemens can already download and play MP3 files, for example.

Though the wireless Net is hemmed in by the tiny real estate of most mobile browser screens, its supporters are touting it as liberating force breaking the chain to the computer desktop. And it caught the eye of venture capitalists and entrepreneurs just as the dot.com bubble burst earlier this year. The advent of wireless technology also represents a fundamental shift in the political and economic geography of the Internet. For the first time since the Net appeared in the late 1960s, North Americans are playing catch-up with the rest of the world. Wireless companies (or "carriers") in Japan and Western Europe launched services well ahead of their North American counterparts, and in Japan at least, giant NTT DoCoMo can barely keep up with the success of its i-mode wireless Internet service. Because personal computers don’t have anywhere near the market penetration in Japan as they do in North America, Internet use has also lagged considerably. The introduction of i-mode has changed that. Mobile phones are closer to personal electronics than computers, and gadget-crazy Japanese have embraced them in a big way. According to an article earlier this year in BusinessWeek's Asian edition, i-mode has been signing up its subscribers at a rate of 450,000 a month since launching in February 1999. By March 2001, the number should hit 5 million, and could match America Online's subscriber base of 21 million by sometime next year.

Canadian wireless carriers like Bell Mobility, Rogers AT&T Wireless, Telus Mobility, Clearnet and Fido (and their counterparts in the U.S.) are now racing to introduce their own web-enabled mobile devices and online services. Unlike the traditional wired Internet however, the wireless Net is being launched to Canadians balkanized by an array of confusing and often incompatible technologies and standards, though that does not seem to be slowing its growth. According to IDC Canada – as quoted in a recent Toronto Star article by Paul Lima – data and Internet services will drive revenues in the wireless market upwards from $4.3 billion in 1999 to $8.4 billion in 2004, by which time 95% of all mobile phones sold will be web-enabled. The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association for its part says the number of wireless phones in Canada is likely to increase by about 25% by early 2001. An Ernst & Young survey from earlier this year quoted by CWTA found that 4% of Canadians use wireless Internet services; 24% said they were likely to purchase the service in the coming year.

It’s doubtful the boom in WAP technology will do much to drive the consumer book market. Though a few primer-type user-guides will inevitably appear – the overwhelming trend now seems to be technical and business texts aimed at carriers and service providers. As such, WAP will likely favour specialist bookstores with a high-tech core constituency, at least in the short term. The longer-term impact of the wireless Net on bookselling in general is incalculable and potentially explosive, especially as wireless download speeds begin to match the wired Internet, and mobile devices take on more of the characteristics of electronic bookreaders like the Rocket iBook. To date, readers have generally been loathe to trade in their traditional books for the dubious pleasures of reading extended text on computer screens. In the face of vastly improved screen technology (promised by new developments from Microsoft, among others) and the prospect of virtually instantaneous wireless access to any book in print, that resistance may crumble overnight.

WAP TERMINOLOGY

3G

3G (third generation) is an upcoming mobile telephone standard that will permit high-speed access to the wireless Internet.

Carrier

A wireless service provider. In Canada, carriers include Bell Mobility, Telus Mobility, Clearnet (in the process of being absorbed by Telus), and Microcell (which does business under the Fido name).

GPS

Global Positioning System. A satellite-based tracking system originally used by the U.S. military, now being added to some wireless mobile devices.

GPRS (General Packet Radio Service)

A technology based on the Internet Protocol that will allow users to stay continually connected to the wireless Internet and may eventually permit extremely high-speed wireless Internet access.

GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications)

The current global standard for most wireless phones and pagers. GSM occupies the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands in Europe, Asia, and Australia, and the 1900 MHz band in North America.

HDML

Handheld Markup Language, the original wireless equivalent of the Internet's HTML. Now in the process of being replaced by the newer Wireless Markup Language, or WML.

Mobile Device

Any wireless device, whether web-enabled or not. This includes cellphones, PCS phones, digital pagers, and personal communication devices like the RIM Blackberry and the Motorola PageWriter.

Phone.com

A leading provider of software that enables the delivery of Internet-based services to wireless devices. Though other standards are arising, the majority of web-enabled mobile devices sold in North America use Phone.com's built-in mobile browser.

Service Provider

Similar to a web site provider on the traditional Internet, WAP service providers offer specialty services like news, banking, stock quotes, weather reports, and entertainment in formats specifically formatted for small screens.

SMS (Short Message Service)

A wireless messaging technology much simpler than WAP that can transmit messages of up to 160 characters to mobile phones.

VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol)

A system that allows voice messages to be transmitted over the Internet. Mobile providers have high hopes for VOIP-based voice services.

WAE

Wireless Application Environment. A subset of WAP (see below) that allows service providers to create programs and online services.

WAP

The Wireless Application Protocol is actually a group of protocols that permit mobile devices to access wireless services.

WML Card

The WML equivalent of an HTML web page. A web card exists inside a WML deck containing one or more cards.

WTP

Wireless Transaction Protocol. The equivalent of the web's HTTP, or HyperText Transmission Protocol.

Web sites of interest

WAP.com:  A general resource site for the world of WAP.

Wapsilon.com: A site which allows you to sample the wireless web in a simulator on your computer desktop.

Selected books

Understanding WAP : Wireless Applications, Devices, and Services by Marcel Van Der Heijden (Editor), Marcus Taylor (Editor) Hardcover - 250 pages Book& CD-Rom edition (July 2000) Artech House; ISBN: 1580530931; Dimensions (in inches): 0.95 x 9.29 x 6.23

Designing Wireless Information Services

by Johan Hjelm Paperback - 432 pages 1 edition (June 14, 2000) John Wiley & Sons; ISBN: 0471380156 ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.04 x 9.18 x 7.50

The Essential Guide to Wireless Communications Applications: From Cellular Systems to WAP and M-Commerce by Andy Dornan Paperback - 350 pages 1 edition (Coming November 15, 2000) Prentice Hall Computer Books; ISBN: 0130317160

WAP: A Beginner's Guide (Networking) by Steven Lee, Stephen Lee, Dale Bulbrook Textbook Binding - 512 pages (December 2000) Osborne McGraw-Hill; ISBN: 0072129565