There can be few people in the Western world who haven't heard about WAP and
how it's going to change our lives -- but is it?
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Well, if it is to become a part of our everyday existence then it's going to
have to change an awful lot from its current form.
The problem is that, yet again, it's a technology being driven by people with
little imagination. I'd have to say that WAP in its current form is the
Emperors Clothes of the year 2000.
Everywhere you look these days it seems that people are talking about WAP and
extoling its virtues. Content providers, such as news services, are tripping
over themselves to embrace it, easily swayed journalists given a free WAP phone
to play with are effusive in their praise, and cellphone manufacturers are
continuously telling us how great it is and that we absolutely must have it.
Cellular providers in Europe have even spent billions of dollars securing radio
spectrum in order to meet the perceived demand -- fortunately they seem a little
more sensible in this part of the world.
The cold, harsh reality however is that WAP, like the emperor, is naked.
While the prospect of a completely mobile, interactive Internet service
through your cellphone sounds marvelous -- it overlooks some of the major
problems intrinsic to the current generation of WAP phones -- or any device
as small as a cellphone:
- Limited screen size and resolution means that you can only view content
that is specially designed for WAP devices. It also means that the WAP
experience is nothing like a regular web-surfing session. Tiny graphics
and text that must be read in parcels of just a few words at a time, are
just a few of the ergonomically disasterous limitations of WAP.
- A severely limited keyboard means you won't be typing out emails or keying
in very much data at all. Today's WAP devices are almost entirely restricted
to following a set of pre-programmed menus -- which means that they're not quite
the "interactive experience" that one might think.
- As most cellphone owners know, the cost of heavy use at peak times can be
significant. Combine this with the slow pace of reading and the manner in which
a vast array of short menus can make interaction extremely slow and you can
see the dollars draining from your wallet.
I tend to think of WAP as a text version of those
incredibly slow and annoying automated telephone services that so many
companies have taken to using these days. "To be ignored by our sales
staff, press 1. To be ignored by our service staff, press 2...."
So what is WAP good for?
Well, if you listen to the WAP advocates, who at this stage are mainly the
WAP-phone, service and content providers, they'll tell you that you'll be
able to catch up on the latest news, book things such as travel, theatre tickets,
and accommodation, and even trade your shares through these devices.
I guess my question would have to be -- can't you do all that already using
a regular cellphone? Why would you want to have to find a convenient location
then start racking up cellular charges while you prod away at the tiny keys
on your WAP-phone navigating layer after layer of menus and laboriously
keying in information that is easier just spoken?
Don't get me wrong -- wireless internet will come and it will become extremely
popular, but I believe that we're a lot further from it being ubiquitous than
the providers might have us believe.
And when it does arrive, I doubt we'll be using crudely modified cellphones
to deliver it. It's far more likely that you'll be using a PDA type of
device that automatically synchronises with your desktop PC or company
network so that you can read and maintain your diary while on the road,
partake in remote video-conferencing, and perform a vastly greater range
of regular computing activities than is the case with a WAP phone.
Now I'm sure that there are people out there who will email me to say
that they've used or are using WAP and find it fantastic. I'd wager a bet
however, that these are the same people who would have bought 8-Track stereos
for their cars in the 1970s, Betamax VCRs in the 1980's, and home DAT audio
recorder in the 1990s. All great technologies -- but doomed to commercial
failure.
As always, your feedback is welcomed.
