Abbreviated as WAP by abbreviationfinder, the Wireless Applications Protocol has been created based on the knowledge acquired from the Internet and the limitations of a system such as mobile telephony. Its objective is to facilitate the way to use all Internet resources and its technology (XML, IP), optimizing other standards (HTTP) to adapt them to the limitations of transmissions and mobile devices, it works with WAP layers, it has implemented the htmllanguage and JavaScript for your benefit by transforming it into WML and WMLscript accordingly.
Advantage
With WAP we can surf the Internet, carry out bank transactions, buy or reserve tickets for shows, in short, any activity that we used to carry out in front of a computer connected to the Internet, now we can do it with a simple mobile phone.
The result could not be more satisfactory, a multitude of new services based on WAP have been created, easy to use and that offer the necessary security in order to be able to be used in electronic commerce operations, banking transactions, etc. In addition, due to the similarity between Web technology and the new WAP standard, it is not difficult to use all Internet resources on a mobile phone, by means of a simple conversion between one protocol and another.
All this is possible with WAP and there are currently hundreds of projects underway so that we can enjoy all these new services without the need to be tied to a static computer. Currently there are more than 300 million people with mobile phones, which far exceeds (more than double) Internet users; That is why the potential demand that these services can generate is causing a tremendous push for this technology.
On the one hand, it will allow us to take advantage of a large amount of time, accessing a multitude of services anywhere and allowing us to receive notifications about those issues in which we have interest, such as receiving a notice about a charge that has been made to our current account.
Infinite possibilities offered by WAP at the corporate level
For companies and professionals:
- WAP corporate agendas
- Order management (sales force)
- Location services
- Fleet management
- Courier services
- Virtual shops
- Mobile e-commerce
for the consumer:
- Online banking services (mobile home-banking, stock market,…)
- Sale and reservation of tickets (transport)
- Ticketing: shows
- Information weather, traffic, schedules, tourist,…
From the corporate point of view, companies will be able to count on a tool that allows access to their information without the need to remain online, being able to provide instant information on their stocks in an affordable way, for example to their commercial representatives located anywhere in the world., placing orders and accessing the corporate intranet.
Currently, many systems based on WAR are already in operation. CNN has created “CNN Mobile”: a service that allows you to access news, weather, sports information from your mobile phone.
Disadvantages
It is evident that we have the limitations of having a very small keyboard and screen and a wireless network that, although with a very great potential, is below the benefits offered by current cable transmissions.
That is why WAP has been created under these conditions, trying in all cases to reduce this double limitation and provide a set of protocols and solutions that allow making a mobile phone a true browser (browser).
The differences between one transmission system and another would make the sending of standard HTML content from a Web page to a mobile phone totally ineffective, requiring the sending of large amounts of data, which otherwise could not be viewed correctly by a user. small screen.
On the other hand, HTTP is not designed for limited bandwidth with long latency periods, although new systems such as HSCSD, GPRS and UMTS will offer a large increase in bandwidth, it will only allow to cover the initial needs since the Future massive use of WAP devices will reduce the capacity of these systems.
The need to send coded information, as in the case of the WML, will make it possible to optimize the scarce resources that the use of the mobile telephone network means. On the other hand, all mobile devices must be small enough to be transported comfortably, which implies a memory and CPU limitation that would make it impossible to use JavaScript, as we know it today.
However, with WMLScript we have a language that, although based on JavaScript, is optimized considering the limitations of a small device, not including a large number of unnecessary functions, which would make the mobile terminal much more expensive.
Within the WAP architecture, different components intervene.Therefore, in the WAP architecture, three main systems intervene (mobile WAP, WAP Gateway and a conventional HTTP server) and two different means of communication: the wireless network and the Internet, among which the mobile phone only represents one end of the chain, while at the other end we could find a conventional web server.
So that from a mobile phone we can access and take advantage of Internet resources, it is necessary to have a system that acts as an intermediary between our mobile phone and the Internet server where the content (information, WML programs) are located. This is done by an element called the WAP Gateway, which is connected to the mobile phone network and the Internet.
