your net:// Numbers on wap's side

By CHRIS BARTON

If you are one of those people who regularly defy the god of mobile telephony by turning your mobile off, you may not care about the wap revolution.

But a small number of mobile users are doing wap now.

They are the "early adopters," the disciples in this fast changing technological age of the next big thing - surfing the internet by phone.

They are onto something. Wap is Wireless Application Protocol - the means by which internet websites are reformatted so they can appear on a tiny mobile phone screen.

It sounds like a ridiculous idea. Why would anyone want a few lines of black text on something a little larger than a postage stamp when they can have a colour PC screen filled with rich graphical web pages?

The reason why wap is coming - whether or not you are stubbornly reluctant or reluctantly stubborn - is the numbers.

It was 1998 when cellphones first outnumbered PCs. This year, there will be something like 550 million cellular subscribers worldwide compared to about 300 million installed PCs. By 2003, the prediction is 1 billion cellphone subscribers compared to 400 million PCs.

True, not many are using their mobile to connect to the net right now. But incredibly - and a measure of just how quickly things can change - the statistics suggest that by the end of 2002, more people will be using the net by phone than by PC.

The mobile has some key advantages. It is light, fits in your pocket, is immediately switched-on, and is relatively easy to use. It is also vastly cheaper than a PC and provides something very basic - immediate personal communications.

That is a powerful formula that can quickly combine with text - as evidence by the enormous growth in text messaging from phone to phone using the lexicon of the keypad: "CU L8TR 4T."

Wap overcomes the inherent problem with short message services (sms) - their shortness. By providing access to websites, wap means users can read the latest news, check bus and plane timetables and scroll through sports results. But it also promises more detailed up-to-the-minute services like snow and traffic reports, the full menu for dial a pizza, or a list of what is on at the movies - plus what the reviewers say and a way to buy the tickets.

At present, wap in New Zealand is only available on the Vodafone network - at a very slow 9.6 kilobits per second (Kbps). By the end of the year, with the introduction of GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), the online speed is going to get a quantum boost to about 100Kbps. That is double the speed of dial-up modems (56Kbps).

The bandwidth will be "always-on" - no dialling to connect to the wap internet provider, just select from a menu and you are instantly there.

With GPRS and Telecom's new cdma One network (not due until the middle of next year) comes the wireless carriage of more information, including graphics and pictures.

It also means services can more easily send you instant information - not just alerts when your shares have taken a tumble, but special offers such as "Auckland to Sydney return for $299 this weekend only, buy now?"

Sometime next year, the early adopters will be using a new breed of phone. Screens will be larger, in colour and morphed with handheld computers like the Palm or Pocket PCs. That means an all-in-one phone, address book and diary, plus - thanks to the ability to download and play MP3 music - a personal stereo.

Phones will also have "Bluetooth", a technology named after an 8th century King of Denmark, aka Harold the Bluetooth, which lets mobile phones communicate with other devices in close proximity. It brings features like wireless headsets, the ability to synchronise your e-mail and diary with your PC just by walking near your desk, and, by waving your phone - now an electronic cash purse - at a vending machine, a new way to buy a can of Coke.

But there is more. Some of the really early adopters will be experimenting with phones that include digital cameras and global positioning systems (GPS). That means using your mobile phone on holiday to snap a photo, then immediately e-mail the digital postcard, signed "wish you were here" to your nearest and dearest. Or navigating through an unfamiliar city with your map location pinpointed on screen.

But let us not forget this is basically a personal communications device.

In the new mobile world - three years away when the third generation networks come on stream - mobile phone dating will be big. Users will attend virtual nightclubs where they will be able to peruse their prospects. If they have the courage, they will chat face-to-face via mobile videophone and perhaps experience the pain of wireless rejection. Stubborn reluctants will probably never leave home.

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