I hope that this forum isn't dead. Lots of information regarding WAP can be found at
wapforum.org
That site includes a FAQ that I found very interesting.
For a negative view on the long-term future of WAP, see these posts:
Message 12891357
Message 12893062
Message 12931521
In one of those posts, the poster states that because advances in display technology will soon allow handset manufacturers to expand the size of the screens, we should see less reliance on WAP in general. After all, if your have a larger screen, why worry about cutting out graphics and other "information".
However, the wapforum site's FAQ points out that WAP solves more problems than just small display size.
Internet standards such as HTML, HTTP, TLS and TCP are inefficient over mobile networks, requiring large amounts of mainly text based data to be sent. Standard HTML web content generally cannot be displayed in an effective way on the small size screens of pocket-sized mobile phones and pagers, and navigation around and between screens is not easy in one-handed mode. HTTP and TCP are not optimised for the intermittent coverage, long latencies and limited bandwidth associated with wireless networks. HTTP sends its headers and commands in an inefficient text format instead of compressed binary. Wireless services using these protocols are often slow, costly and difficult to use. The TLS security standard requires many messages to be exchanged between client and server which, with wireless transmission latencies, results in a very slow response for the user.
WAP has been optimised to solve all these problems, utilising binary transmission for greater compression of data, and is optimised for long latency and low to medium bandwidth. WAP sessions cope with intermittent coverage and can operate over a wide variety of wireless transports using IP where possible and other optimised protocols where IP is impossible. The WML language used for WAP content makes optimum use of small screens and allows easy navigation with one hand without a full keyboard, and has built-in scalability from two-line text displays through to the full graphic screens on smart phones and communicators.
<<...>>
Is WAP necessary with higher bandwidth 3G networks?
Even as bandwidths increase, the cost of that bandwidth does not fall to zero. These costs result from higher power usage in the terminals, higher costs in the radio sections, greater use of RF spectrum and increased network loading. In addition the original constraints WAP was designed for -- intermittent coverage, small screens, low power consumption, wide scalability over bearers and devices and one-handed operation -- are still valid in 3G networks. Finally, we can expect the bandwidth required by applications users want to use to steadily increase. This means there is still a need to optimise use of device and network resources for the wireless environments. We can expect WAP to evolve optimised support for multimedia applications and continue to be relevant. If WAP is very successful in mass-markets on 2.5G networks, 3G networks may be needed purely for capacity relief with the same applications. |
