Wireless Service Providers like Essar and Airtel r promising WAP to consumers in India....HA!!!!
We all know WAP is an open, global specification that empowers mobile users with wireless devices to easily access and interact with information and services instantly,
i.e. it is a set of protocols for delivering web content to wireless devices with limited resources [screen size, lack of color, low bandwidth].
WAP technology was largely developed by phone.com, Nokia, Ericsson and Motorola, which r looking at a way to send content over slow networks and allow it to be displayed on postage sized screens common on most mobile phones.That means removing nearly all the graphics. Bandwidth in India is obviously a big issue. But the content offered by service providers is not helping either. It looks like , developers at airtel and essar are simple shoveling current web content to cell phones with little thought as to how the user experience could be enhanced. Imagine having to click 5 times to get to a stock quote.
Let’s face it...WAP has a fundamental flaw...telephones are built for ears , not for eyes. WAP development has experienced retarded development; it’s trying to turn an audio phone into a visual browser. That’s ridiculous. And that’s why IVR(Interactive response systems) are taking off in a big way. IVR technology converts information into audio....The service providers in India should focus on this technology which requires much lesser bandwidth and is ideal for cell phones.
Although the only internet-enabling technology being adopted en masse by handset manufacturers and service providers is WAP, so a big possibility is that WAP will become a protocol that wouldn’t die - at least not without a fight.
Anybody who has used the WAP services offered in India will tell u what a pain it is. The content is not personal or interactive. Too much information is shoved in 2*2 screen. The connectivity and bandwidth is an issue without a description. These companies are promising too much too soon and u will surely be let down. One of the reasons Japan is so successfull in wireless content is that it is promising ’wireless data’ - i.e. u choose what u want and take it with u. They are not promising the wireless web (as our companies r).
Even in USA, the WAP market is just 2%. People are waiting and watching the quality of content delivery and usability of WAP enabled cell phones.
WAP is a solution in search of a problem
So, if u r thinking of buying that WAP enabled phone and betting u’r hard earned money on this new service...I would say..think AGAIN!!!! Time is not right....not just yet!!!