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The last few months have seen amazing rate of development in the
provision of Internet Access through mobile phones. Although SMS or
short message service has been around for some time, and it has been
possible to send and receive e-mail through mobile handsets, access
to the World Wide Web through the handset seemed improbable with a
tiny screen, tiny keys, limited memory and wireless
connectivity. However, the improbable has happened through a
technology called WAP. Now, analysts predict that soon there will be
more users accessing the web from mobile and handheld devices than
from Personal Computers. In Japan already mobile phones are the most
popular devices for Internet access. |
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So how is all this possible?
Mobile phone technology has graduated from analog technology to the
second-generation digital services, better known as GSM. The
International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has been planning the
shifts in technology and the Universal Mobile Telecommunication
System (UTMS) has become a standard in 2002. The ITU is
responsible for setting the global standards for telephony. Although
there were multiple standards earlier, now global standards are in
place and leading handset manufacturers including Nokia, Ericsson
and Motorola have invested in handset and infrastructure technology
since now they can cater to a global market. The emergence of
“Extensible Markup Language” or XML allowed the development of a
technology called the “Wireless Markup Language” or WML, which is
used to create web pages that could be displayed on handsets. The
equivalent of the Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) that manages
the link between web browsers and servers, is known as Wireless
Application Protocol or WAP. WAP manages the link between the web
server and the mobile phone.
In order to offer WAP access to mobile phone users it is not
necessary to create a separate URL, the http server recognizes that
the request is originating from a mobile device and redirects the
request to the pages created in WML. WAP and WML although quite new,
may be interim technologies as newer technologies are around the
corner. Mobile screens technology is also changing with PC screen
technology being adapted for the mobile handsets.
Currently UTMS technology
offers bandwidths of upto 384k, which is about 3 times as fast
as ISDN can offer. General Packet Radio Service
(GPRS) technology can now provide 115kbps bandwidth. The introduction
of packet-switching technology has also improved the quality of
service, such as the speed of call set-up. In order to
use WAP one has to use a WAP enabled handset. Several
manufacturers including Nokia, Erricsson and Motorola are offering
these handsets in India. M–Commerce (Mobile commerce) is the next
killer application that is revolutionizing the way
transactions take place. Ticket bookings, reservations, payment of
bills, stock transactions and a host of others are now just a click
on your mobile away!
Resources on WAP
Industry Forums
<http://www.wapforum.org/>
set up by Nokia. Ericsson, Motorola and Phone.
<http://www.mwif.org/>
Mobile Wireless Internet Forum
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