A new bloom for an old technology

by brad smith
February 4, 2002

Some industry observers say the growth of always-on networks could breathe new life into WAP—the technology some once thought was dead. But others remain skeptical.

Remember WAP–the technology everyone loved to kick around last year? Well, WAP may be back.

Wireless application protocol hasn’t generated much excitement in recent months. Even stories that mentioned it relegated it to the trash can of bygone technologies. One recent worldwide news service story even called WAP a “slow speed” mobile technology.

But as always-on, packet-data networks emerge around the world, some people in the industry think WAP will regain attention. Most insiders believe it will continue to exist for sometime–perhaps only in the background–but some think its role actually will grow.

Wireless Internet Magazine surveyed a number of analysts and WAP experts in North America and Europe about the future of the technology. All agreed on one point: The technology has to be implemented with the end-user firmly in mind. The always-on networks provided by GPRS, EDGE, CDMA2000 1XRTT and UMTS should enhance that experience, but only if the content is compelling.

This year brings a couple of technological advances. Not only are there new 2.5 and third-generation networks, but there also is the release of the WAP 2.0 specification. The latest release aligns WAP with Internet protocols such as extensible-hypertext markup language (XHTML) and is designed to take advantage of higher bandwidths and varied screen sizes and make it easier to develop mobile applications.

WAP Forum CEO Robert Brown refers to the emergence of the networks and new protocol as an “aligning of the planets that will enhance the end-user experience.” Still, Brown is reluctant to speculate that 2002 could be the proverbial “Year of WAP” because he doesn’t want to get caught up in hype.

Pontius Bergdahl, CEO of the Swedish wireless virtual private network company Columbitech, also thinks WAP will get a second wind with the launch of GPRS networks in Europe. He says WAP’s bad rap came about because GSM networks made Internet connections exceedingly slow and expensive.

“Now we can start judging WAP for what it is,” Bergdahl says. Columbitech is seeing heightened interest in its product because of the always-on GPRS networks. For example, a Swedish food processing company uses it to remotely monitor and control machines using WAP phones.

Among the biggest skeptics is Jane Zweig, CEO of Herschel Shosteck Associates, who says GPRS and other network upgrades will do little to solve the fundamental problems of WAP.

“GPRS is only a network,” Zweig says. “That doesn’t change the issue of the content availability and the way operators use it. GPRS, although packet, still has latency issues. GPRS will not save WAP.”

The analyst does admit that WAP may continue to exist for some time as a phone browser because it is relatively inexpensive. But she adds that WAP’s usefulness is being eroded by convergence with Internet technologies such as Sun Microsystems Inc.’s Java and Qualcomm’s BREW (binary runtime environment for wireless).

“WAP is a very uninteresting story,” Zweig says. “It will be replaced by other technologies that will be more interesting.”

David Chamberlain, research director for wireless Internet services and networks for Probe Research, also is skeptical that GPRS will improve user interest in WAP. He says the GPRS networks he’s tested so far have provided nothing new or compelling.

“Any belief that improvement in speed, assuming there is one, is going to be a significant improvement in the user experience and bring in more customers is way overly optimistic,” Chamberlain says. “It’s just not that much better.”

Chamberlain does say that WAP has a future as a transport technology for SMS-like services and for games. But like Zweig, he says developers will be more inclined to use engines such as Java 2 Micro Edition than WAP.

“A lot of developers are using Java already and it’s an easier learning curve,” he says. “Developers can be reasonably sure that applications they write in Java will be future proof. Why write WML (wireless markup language) today when the coolest phones will be using Java?”

Taking a more optimistic position is Graham Brown, an executive partner of the Wireless World Forum and former CEO of The WAP Group in Britain. Brown, who believes any mobile service will benefit from packet-data networks, thinks there is an undercurrent of WAP support that isn’t evident outside the industry.

“WAP has been doing well in gaining grassroots support from the developer community over the last 12 months in the face of mainstream rejection,” Brown says. “The Internet and the dot-com bubble are classic cases in point to emphasize what WAP has experienced.”

Brown faults the industry for designing WAP as an industry standard, rather than creating it to provide an optimal end-user experience. One reason he says NTT DoCoMo’s i-mode service has succeeded is because it was built using existing Internet standards and focused on compelling content.

“I think the industry needs to get out of the labs a little more and bring in the marketing people who will make it more acceptable to the wider audience,” he says.

The WAP Forum’s Brown, who started his job last October, says the forum already is undergoing a strategic change based on the realization that the group had become introspective and needed to reach out to other wireless and Internet organizations such as the CDMA Development Group, GSM Association, World Wide Web Consortium, 3G Partnership Project and 3GPP2.

What kinds of compelling content will the new WAP 2.0 standard enable? Brown says the flashiest applications, which currently are used in Japan, include photo postcards where users take photographs with phone/camera combinations or with a digital image synched to a phone and then send them wirelessly to friends and family.

Possibly more important, Brown says, are applications such as one in Sweden where WAP phone users can get the precise time a bus is going to arrive at a bus stop, or one in the United Kingdom that links the location of specific restaurants with reviews and helps users find taxi cabs and even the closest soccer field.

So will WAP survive? Most everyone sees a future for it at one level or another. Iain Gillott, head of iGillott Research, says plenty of content already is available, but the carriers and developers haven’t figured out compelling ways to get it into the hands of users. He believes that clearinghouses may emerge that will provide the content across all networks.

Gillott also says because of the “WAP is Crap” headlines in the popular media it might behoove the industry to rename it something else. With compelling content and technological cooperation, perhaps a new name really could make this flower smell a bit sweeter. [WIM]

Brad Smith is IP/data editor at Wireless Week. His column is a monthly feature in Wireless Internet Magazine. He can be reached at bsmith@cahners.com