22.3 WAP: A Global Standard

22.3 WAP: A Global Standard

WAP is a format for displaying Web and other data on the small screens of handheld devices, specifically cellular telephones. WAP is a set of specifications, developed by the WAP Forum, that lets developers using WML build networked applications designed for handheld wireless devices. WAP is a standard, similar to the Internet language HTML, which translates the Web site into a format that can be read on the mobile's screen. The data is broadcast by the telephone's network supplier. WAP v1.1 constitutes the first global transparent de facto standard to be embraced by well over 75 percent of all relevant industry segments. WAP's key elements include

1. The WAP programming model

2. Wireless Markup Language and WML Script

3. A microbrowser specification

4. Wireless Telephony Application

5. The WAP stack. ^[5]

WAP is designed to work with most wireless protocols such as CDPD, CDMA, DataTAC, DECT, FLEX, GSM, iDEN, Mobitex, PDC, PHS, ReFLEX, TDMA, and TETRA.

^[5]Murphy, D., The mobile economy becomes a reality, Telecommunications, 33 (11), 31–34, 1999.