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the rap on WAP
killer WAP
Australiaâs Telstra says wireless application protocol is a key to future survival
MARK WHITMORE
Wireless application protocol (WAP) technology and services are helping drive the so-called convergence industry. Around the globe, Internet service providers (ISPs), hardware manufacturers, software providers and telecommunications carriers are scrambling to position themselves with radical new WAP handsets and services in the hopes of capturing a large share of the emerging market with "killer" WAP applications.
Telstra, Australiaâs oldest and largest telecommunications corporation, says its effort to develop WAP-based software is now a question of survival and part of the carrierâs broad strategy to provide online information to customers independent of device type or access mechanism.
This is quite a turnaround in attitude for a corporation that has generated the bulk of its revenue from traditional landline services. But the need for the new focus is simple. "Mobile phones now outsell personal computers by over two to one, and market analysts estimate there will be about a billion mobiles in use globally by 2002. At the same time, personal services such as e-mail continue to boom as by far the most popular Internet services," says Greg Van Mourik, group product manager for Telstra OnAir. "It is just a question of time until the right combination of hardware and software combines this demand into an integrated product."
According to Van Mourik, fledgling attempts to converge television cable, compact disk (CD) and other technologies into online shopping services have, so far, failed to turn into giant revenue-generating propositions. However, as more Internet sites are converted from hypertext markup language (HTML) to wireless markup language (WML), applications such as personal banking, ticketing, residential and business directories, address books, news and e-mail notification services become possible.
These services offer a new commercial proposition for corporations such as Telstra. Company research, Van Mourik notes, indicates the market for convenient, easy-to-market wireless services is growing exponentially. And far from residing in the domain of technologists, a good part of the demand for these services is coming from customers.
"The mobile phone is now seen by many as more than just a device to make voice calls ö itâs a personal appliance, and customers are demanding more features in them. No carrier now can afford to ignore the potential of WAP."
Van Mourik's outlook is backed by global trends. The Economist magazine estimates by year-end 2000, up to 80 percent of GSM and code division multiple access (CDMA) handsets sold will include a WAP browser. In North America, the first WAP services are delivering online shopping, banking, and stock transactions from mobile phones or other wireless devices.
Microsoft, in fact, takes the WAP market so seriously that it is not promoting its Windows operating system as a solution for wireless applications. Instead, Microsoft is developing an environment that will be designed to be less "clunky" for the companyâs micro-browsers.
In Japan, consumer goods such as air conditioners and ovens now have microchips to enable users to phone-up appliances and control them remotely. In Europe and Asia-Pacific, service providers are starting to develop and release unified messaging services that will allow users to receive e-mail notifications on wireless devices.
In Australia, the first WAP-enabled handsets hit the market in November 1999, and Telstra has completed testing the Motorola L Series and Nokia 7110 for compatibility with its Telstra.com mobile service.
Telstra is offering a free WAP introductory offer to people who purchase a Version 4 WAP-compatible phone between November 1999 and March 2000 to help stimulate customer awareness. Users register for the offer via the Telstra Web site and then get access to a micro-browser on the screens of their WAP phones for selected Internet sites.
The initially available sites include e-mail, CNN, and mobile and national information services with more to be added throughout the trial. Westpac, an Australian bank, helped support the introductory offer and its banking services are a major component of the WAP menu. Telstra expects other banks to participate shortly.
The complete WAP menu will appear as shown in Figure 1.
The WAP services in the introductory offer are targeted at professionals, small business owners and students, the same people most likely to use mobile phones for business and social purposes and likely to use a PC or laptop regularly.
"The early adopters in Australia will be people who want to be always informed with general news, sports and entertainment, and want to check e-mails on the way to work or between meetings. They have no time for shopping or joining queues and need access to applications while away from their desks," says David Kaye, senior manager, product strategy, Telstra OnAir.
Those purchasing WAP handsets during the introductory period receive a letter in the mail and a short message service (SMS) notification of the free WAP services trial offer available until March 1, 2000. They are then directed to the corporate Web site for registration and their participation, if approved, is activated by the next day.
Telstra is quickly learning lessons from the introductory offer. "For customers to embrace and use WAP services, it is clear we have to make them as simple to use as possible, and demonstration is vital," says Kaye. "If customers sense the slightest Îclunkinessâ or confusion, the convenience factor is immediately lost and the service is doomed."
It is clear, too, that some applications may not be popular at all. "The guiding principle is simplicity," adds Van Mourik. "Applications must be practical and useful, even though the technology behind them is complex. We also have to ensure pricing is simple. People instinctively consider mobile phone calls expensive, so they need to be sure that the new applications are cost-effective, as well as convenient."
Behind the scenes, WAP specifications continue to be developed by members of the WAP Forum, a collective body of international carriers, operators, manufacturers, and content developers who have defined the application environment for WAP applications.
Key to this environment is the micro-browser that can handle scripting facilities, e-mail, World Wide Web (WWW)ötoömobile-handset messaging, and mobile to telefax access, delivering all this within the size constraints of the mobile phone WAP "screens."
The forum conducts interoperability testing, but it is the live trials that are shaping WAP technologies and strategies.
The Telstra introductory offer, for example, is as much a pilot of the underlying processes and architecture as it is a test of the handsets, software and WAP interfaces.
"From the beginning, we recognized that the WAP platform will need to be highly reliable and capable of handling the traffic of both traditional service providers and Internet service providers," explains Van Mourik. "For this reason, we have turned, initially, to Hewlett-Packard's Open View telecom platform as the systems integrator for our WAP services. Scalability and open architecture are important, as we have no idea how diverse the services we offer will be, or even which ones will be added."
This view is backed up by Kaye. "All along the line from registration to billing systems, we need to be flexible," he says. "To be active and effective in the WAP market it is clear we will need to be able to quickly integrate new services across all WAP devices. This trial is one of the first opportunities to test our architecture." [Figure 2 illustrates the architecture.]
In addition to the trial, Telstra has initiated a developerâs program to educate application developers and promote awareness of WAP technology throughout the corporation. "This represents a significant investment by Telstra in WAP technology and future WAP developments, such as WTA [wireless telephony application], push alerts, over-the-air activation and content design guidelines," says Kaye. "Weâre quite clear we are serious about WAP."
Mark Whitmore (Mark.P.Whitmore@corpmail.telstra.com.au) is senior product manager -- new business, Telstra OnAir, Collingwood, Victoria, Australia.
the rap on WAP
WAP is an acronym for wireless application protocol, which enables HTML files to be "read" by wireless devices such as mobile phones. WAP defines its own application language ö a Web-like language that defines the application user interface. WAP provides a communications protocol for data exchange between a handset and WAP server. The key element of a WAP interface is the micro-browser ö similar to an Internet browser but tailored to the restricted environment of handset screens.
Reprinted with permission from internetTelephony.com. Copyright 2000, Intertec Publishing Corp., Overland Park, KS. GlobalXtra is an exclusive online offering from Global Telephony magazine. Visit Global Telephony on the web at www.internettelephony.com.
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