Most mobile Internet users in the U.S. access WAP sites, which provide only basic information on the Internet, like news summaries. When WAP first came out, mobile operators pitched it as the Internet for your phone. But the WAP sites often loaded very slowly and they offered only text content with few, if any, graphics. They were also difficult to navigate, requiring users click through several layers of menus.
"People who first surfed WAP sites were disappointed by the experience," said Eskil Sivertsen, a spokesman for Opera Software, a company that has developed a mini-browser that allows users to access traditional Web pages on their mobile handsets. "And they've never really come back."
Advancing toward full Web browsing
But a newer version of the protocol, WAP 2.0, has been introduced, and some people believe WAP has finally come of age, rendering more robust mobile Web pages that offer one-click access. In fact, the number of WAP Web sites has grown exponentially in the last couple of years. And companies such as Bango, which helps mobile Web site owners monetize their mobile content, say they've seen an explosion in new users accessing WAP-based content from their handsets. Bango sees 400,000 new users each month and the company processes more than 9 million transactions every month.
"Twelve or 24 months ago, I would have said that the WAP browsers weren't particularly rich, but that's really changed," said Adam Kerr, vice president of North America for Bango. "And we're seeing the number of WAP sites growing. The great thing about WAP is that it allows users from any carrier, using any handset, to access a site."
Still, some experts say that WAP is only the beginning of where the mobile Internet is headed. As carriers roll out faster wireless networks based on 3G technology and handset makers sell more-sophisticated handsets with more processing power and memory and larger screens, users will expect a mobile Internet experience that is similar to the one they experience at home on their PCs.
"WAP is really the midway solution to getting around having low bandwidth speeds on a 2 and 2.5G network," Yankee Group's Hatton said. "I think what you really need to make it a good user experience is a full HTML browser."
Typically, full mobile Web browsing has been reserved for devices, such as smart phones, that have powerful processing capabilities and operating systems. But some companies have also developed intelligent mini-browsers for less-sophisticated phones. In January, Opera Software introduced Opera Mini, a free downloadable browser client designed for Java-enabled cell phones that strips down the size of regular Web pages to allow them to transfer to mobile phones more quickly and fit on smaller screens. Sites viewed through the Opera Mini browser are compressed about 70 percent to 80 percent.
Since its launch, the company says its little browser has been downloaded onto more than 5 million handsets worldwide. Some carriers, such as T-Mobile, are also preinstalling the browser into phones it sells.
But new applications and browsers are only two of the many elements needed to improve the user experience. Users also need access to fast 3G wireless networks and 3G handsets, experts say. In the U.S., only about 7 million subscribers use 3G services out of a total of about 207.9 million wireless subscribers, according to data from wireless consultant Sharma. Other analysts agree that more penetration in the market is needed.
"The installed base of 3G phones is still limited," Yankee's Barrabee said. "It's building momentum, but until you have the speed of the 3G network and 3G phones in customers' hands, it's not going to be a great experience."
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Opera Mini 3 was just launched today. Go to www.operamini.com to get it!
Posted by anonymous on Tuesday, November 28 2006 04:53 PM