Wap

W.A.P. (Wireless Application Protocol).

What is wap ?

Short for the Wireless Application Protocol, a secure specification that allows users to access

information instantly via handheld wireless devices such as mobile phones, pagers, two-way radios, smart phones and communicators

The wireless telecommunication and the Internet are rapidly growing industries that are gaining more and more customers every day. The WAP intention is to combine these two markets and answer the new demands in this field

Purpose of WAP is to enable easy fast delivery of relevant information and services to mobile users.

Ok, So Why WAP ?

WAP is a free, unlicensed protocol for wireless communications that makes it possible to create latest telecommunications services and to access Internet pages from mobile devices.

WAP is supported by all operating systems. Ones specifically engineered for handheld devices include PalmOS, EPOC, Windows CE, FLEXOS, OS/9, and JavaOS.

Although WAP supports HTML and XML, the WML language (an XML application) is specifically devised for small screens and one-hand navigation without a keyboard.

WAP also supports WMLScript. It is similar to JavaScript, but makes minimal demands on memory and CPU power because it does not contain many of the unnecessary functions found in other scripting languages.

Wireless hand-held devices preset a more constrained computing environment and platforms, compared to desktop computers which most of the Internet technology was developed for. The hand-held devices tend to have less powerful CPUï, less memory, very restricted power consumption and problematic MMI (smaller and variant displays, phone keypads etc.).

Furthermore the wireless networks present greater problems as communication infrastructures they have less bandwidth, more latency and less connection stability and unpredictable availability. WAP intends to overcome these difficulties

What about Technical Concepts?

The WAP programming model is similar to the WWW programming model. This provides several benefits to the application developer community, including a familiar programming model, a proven architecture, and the ability to leverage existing tools (eg, Web servers, XML tools, etc.). Optimizations and extensions have been made in order to match the characteristics of the wireless environment. Wherever possible, existing standards have been adopted or have been used as the starting point for the WAP technology.

WAP content and applications are specified in a set of well-known content formats based on the familiar WWW content formats. Content is transported using a set of standard communication protocols based on the WWW communication protocols. A micro browser in the wireless terminal co-ordinates the user interfaces and is analogous to a standard web browser.

Standard communication protocols � WAP communication protocols enable the communication of browser requests from the mobile terminal to the network web server.

Content Encoders and Decoders � The content encoders translate WAP content into compact encoded formats to reduce the size of data over the network.

Encoders and Decoders Content � The content encoders translate WAP content into compact encoded formats to reduce the size of data over the network.

Diagram:

This infrastructure ensures that mobile terminal users can browse a wide variety of WAP content and applications, and that the application author is able to build content services and applications that run on a large base of mobile terminals.

What are Components of a WAP service?

Here we will describe the typical components for the setup of a WAP service.

The following figure shows how the components in a WAP service interact.

WAP terminals

Users of WAP services access WAP content with a WAP terminal.

The following devices can serve as WAP terminals:

1. Mobile phones with built-in GSM modem, WAP stack, and micro browser (e.g. Nokia) 2. Palmtops with GSM phone connected and additional WAP/ browser software

Billing:

Network operators should map the dial-in number for the ISDN channel package to a network-internal abbreviated number in order to offer exclusive content to customers and operating billing mechanisms to the content provider. This also allows operators to offer a cost-effective minute-based rate for WAP online time. If different access numbers are used (for example, in order to realize network-independent access), users are encouraged to use "Friends & Family" or "Home City" access numbers.

The MSISDN (Mobile Station identifier- the telephone number) of the WAP terminal must always be sent using the ISDN channel in order to personalize the WAP services and to generate additional, content-dependent billing information.

Airtime Billing

Billing of the base connection time (base rate for WAP online time) must always be performed by the network carrier.

Content billing module

The content billing module enables time- or event-based billing, depending on the requested content. This requires the following things:

The content provider has a corresponding agreement with the network carrier and/ or the operator of the WAP Gateway to market the content.

The content pages (billable) contain the corresponding billing information (in-band signaling). The authentication module delivers the phone number of the WAP user who has requested the

chargeable page. A preliminary page can be displayed to notify users of chargeable content. This way, users get to decide whether they want to request a certain page or not. The preliminary page is automatically generated by the proxy based on the fee information specified on the page.

Network-internal WAP applications:

In addition to external WAP services (on the content host or on the public Internet), network-internal WAP applications can be implemented. These applications are accessed by the WAP Gateway using a dedicated secure connection.

1. Detailed billing2. Cost control3. Management of voice mailbox4. Rates information5. Configuration module Over-The-Air (OTA) Server

Fear of Viruses being transmitted via WAP:

The mobile phone will follow a similar development path to PCs- with good ideas like screensavers and bad ideas like computer viruses appearing on mobile phones such as they do on PCs today. Solutions are being developed by various private companies to have a secure connection ….

A cell-phone virus is basically the same thing as a computer -- an unwanted executable file that "infects" a device and then copies itself to other devices.

Infected files usually show up disguised as applications like games

Applications for WAP:

The Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is being used to develop enhanced forms of existing applications and new versions of today’s applications.

The WAP will allow customers to easily reply to incoming information on the phone by allowing new menus to access mobile services.

Early applications are modification of existing applications such as information, along with applications such as mobile commerce, mobile banking and mobile games.

Mobile Commerce via WAP:

Mobile commerce was born in 1997 when the first two mobile-phones enabled Coca Cola vending machines were installed in the Helsinki area in Finland. The machines accepted payment via SMS text messages. The first mobile phone-based banking service was launched in 1997 by Merita Bank of Finland, also using SMS.

Two major national commercial platforms for mobile commerce were launched in 1999: Smart Money

(http://smart.com.ph/money/) in the Philippines, and NTT DoCoMo's i-Mode Internet service in Japan. i-Mode offered a revolutionary revenue-sharing plan where NTT DoCoMo kept 9 percent of the fee users paid for content, and returned 91 percent to the content owner.

Mobile commerce applications involve using a mobile phone to carry out financial transactions. This usually means making a payment for goods or transferring funds electronically. Transferring money between accounts and paying for purchases are electronic commerce applications.

There are several issues relating to the development of mobile commerce applications, such as security, integration with the retail and banking hardware and systems, non-standardized mobile infrastructure and competing e-commerce standards. Additionally, there is a lack of standards relating to the mobile phone to network interface, the interfaces between host and mobile platforms and between different mobile platforms. As such, the scalability of mobile commerce is questionable.

There are also questions about the appropriateness of using a mobile phone as the interface to e-commerce applications. The MMI (Man Machine Interface) on mobile phones is currently sub-optimal and difficult for mass-market users to manipulate.

However, this area of electronic commerce applications is expected to contribute to grow significantly in the future, as mobile phone penetration delivers a critical mass of potential customers for such services.

Conti…

It is expected that the mobile commerce will become just an extension of electronic commerce on the Internet. There will not need to be any special applications developed for the mobile to take into account screen, bandwidth and security limitations of the mobile device.

The value chain for mobile commerce took a step further in April 2000 with the announcement that Motorola, Ericsson and Nokia had partnered to see mobile commerce standards. The possibility to handle trusted electronic transactions from a personal mobile device is regarded

as one of the most important areas of the mobile Internet. As such, the aim of these companies is to offer solutions where security and payment services will be integrated as a standard into the mobile devices in years to come. Some of the key technology cornerstones will be WAP security functions, such as WTLS (Wireless Transport Layer Security), WIM (Wireless Identification Module), wireless public key technologies and others.

Mobile Banking via W.A.P.

The successful implementation of mobile banking programs incorporates several different elements such as private information services, WAP and security.

There are a few technology limits affecting how the mobile banking service is designed:

Any information that is useful to bank customers can be provided such as last 4 transactions, account balances, overdraft limits and so on.

Information can be provided in a number of different ways. It can be pull based and requested on an adhoc basis via a telephone call to an electronic voice menu to initiate the information. Alternatively, the user could send an information request in and get an information message back, or the service can be push based such that information is automatically generated at set intervals or on the basis of events.

The mobile banking service can run on all existing mobile phones or to be tailored for a particular branded phone or protocol-compliant phone, e.g. WAP.

Protocols such as WAP allow not just information provision, but also secure mobile transactions and electronic commerce.

Mobile banking suppliers using WAP include Materna (www.materna.com). Banks offering services over WAP include Deutsche Bank and Visa International.

Banking services using WAP from around the world include:

In the UK, Woolwich company offered 100 of its customers interactive banking over a WAP enabled mobile phone. Using a Nokia 7110 handset, customers will be able to view balances and transactions, pay bills, and transfer money on current, savings and borrowing accounts.

Games

Games are a huge service that many people see as being a key application for future mobile devices. In the same way as music distribution will increasingly take place electronically, so too will games. Instead of having to go to the video store to rent a game or video, we can download this from an Internet site and charge this transaction to our mobile phone bill.

Mobile games suppliers using WAP include:

www.digitalbridges.com , http://www.wapholesun.com, www.k-mobile.com and others.

Ringtones

Another emerging service is downloading ringtones. Ringtones are the tunes that the phone plays when someone calls it. With the same phone often sold with the same default tune, it is important for phone users to be able to change their ringtone to distinguish it from others. Phones often come with a range of different ringtones built into the phone�s memory that the users can choose from. However, it has become popular to download new ringtones from an Internet site to the phones. These tunes tend to be popular television of film theme tunes. Ringtones composers are also popular because they allow mobile phone users to compose their own unique ringtones. Expect to see this application grow in availability and popularity over time!

Internet Email

Upon receiving a new email in their mailboxes, most Internet email users do not get notified of this fact. They have to dial in speculatively and periodically to check their mailbox contents. However, by linking Internet email with WAP Push, users can be notified whenever a new email is received.

The Internet email alert is provided in the form of a short message that details the sender, the subject field and first few words of the email message. Most of the mobile Internet email solutions incorporate filtering, such that users are only notified of certain messages with user-defined keywords in the subject field, or from certain senders.

Because of the high and increasing usage of Internet email to communicate globally, and the benefit from using WAP Push to notify mobile users about important new email messages, this is likely to be a fast growing and popular application for WAP.

Affinity Programs

Affinity programs are the result of collaboration between mobile carriers and other companies in different industries with large customer groups. Affinity partners include television companies, sports clubs, supermarkets, hotels, airlines, banks and other retailers. WAP can be used to provide customers

with all kinds of remainders and information such as frequent flyer miles status, overdue videotape rentals, appointment remainders and other notifications.

Some examples of partners between companies in different areas of the mobile value chain to develop WAP services include:

Hong Kong network operator Hutchison Telecom has joined with Health Care International Holdings to launch an online medical service portal, Healthcare2U.com. Subscribers to Hutchison�s network can access the medical portal via WAP phones.

Finnair will enable passengers to make, alter and cancel reservations using WAP-enabled mobile phones. The service operates in English, but currently is only available to customers with Finnish phone service providers.

Ericsson announced a deal to make the guide Michelin travel publications available on WAP mobile telephones. The new service will give the customers instant access to a database of some 60,000 hotels and restaurants across Europe via WAP.

Customer Service

By providing mobile phone customers with information about their account, the WAP can help to avoid the need for expensive person to person voice calls to customer service centers.

Customer service suppliers using WAP include Phone.com (www.phone.com) and Categoric (www.categoric.com). Categoric specializes in �event alerts�. Every time an event of interest to the customer happens, SMS or WAP are used to let them know.

Positioning

Positioning in mobile context can mean several things: location of vehicles or people or phones. Vehicle positioning application integrates satellite positioning systems that tell people where they are with WAP which lets people tell others where they are. The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a free-to-

use global network of 24 satellites run by the US Department of Defense. Anyone with a GPS receiver can receive their satellite position and thereby find out where they are.

The SMS is ideal for sending GPS information such as longitude, latitude, bearing and altitude. GPS information is typically about 60-character length, leaving room for other vehicle-specific information.

Vehicle Positioning suppliers using WAP include www.wapolution.com.

Instant Messaging

Instant messaging is a cross between chat and email that allows people to view a listing of people they frequently communicate with, determine if these people are currently available for communication (i.e. online), and send and receive messages instantaneously. The tendency is to send instant messages to people rather than emails if you find that they are online.

Instant messaging was launched in early 1997 and continues to grow in popularity with over 100 million total users.

Wireless Instant Messaging is another example of the extension of the same services that people can access on the Internet becoming increasingly available on mobile phones. This is initially done through gateways that perform protocol conversion and reduce the size of the communication down to that which can be handled by low bandwidth wireless services. Over time, the gateways will not be needed, as seamless access to unmodified services becomes more widespread.

Instant Messaging suppliers using WAP include AOL Tegich (www.tegic.com).

Chat can be distinguished from general information services by the information source: In chats, the source of information is a person, whereas in general information services the source is usually in Internet site. The amount of information transferred per message tends to be lower with chat, where people are more likely to state opinions rather than factual data. In the same way as Internet chat groups have proven a very popular application for the Internet, groups of like-minded people � called communities of interest � have begun to use non-voice mobile services as a means to chat, communicate and discuss.

Because of its association with the Internet, the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) would allow mobile users to participate fully in existing Internet chat groups rather than setting up their own groups that are dedicated to mobile users.

Qualitative Information

A wide range of content can be delivered to mobile phone users ranging from share prices, sports scores, weather, flight information, news headlines, lottery results, jokes and so on. This information need not necessary be textual, it may be maps or graphs or other types of visual information.

The length of a short message of 160 characters suffices for delivering information when it is quantitative such as a share price or a sports score or temperature. However, when the information is of qualitative nature, such as a horoscope or news story, this 160-character length is too short. Therefore, GPRS will likely be used for qualitative information services, but SMS will continue to be used for delivering most quantitative information services.

Information services suppliers using WAP include Infospace.com, I3 Mobile and others.

So , these were all about VAS(value added services via WAP) and marketing tools for companies to attract customers.

Future Prospects:

WAP introduces several new concepts of the use of cellular phones, and new services that costumers can get. In a couple of years the 3rd generation of the cellular protocols will start to appear with high capabilities of data transferring and will give another boost to WAP. Further more WAP has many advantages that handle the very problematic bearer of the wireless phone, but we should not forget WAP�s disadvantages such as some inefficacy and high cost of the services to the end user. Some of theses disadvantages will be overcome when the WAP will be used and installed in many handsets.

WAP is an important development in the high-tech industry, network operators are aggressively trying to speed up penetration of WAP phones around the glob, but WAP has still a way to go, there are several issues that need to be handled, and there is still some time till the Wireless Application Protocol will be widely used in hand-sets. Time will show if WAP is capable to become the widespread customer used protocol.