Modern business demands rapid access to information on the move.
With a homogenous platform for data accessibility through mobile
phones and other wireless accoutrements will come tangible
commercial benefits
The demand for mobility
In the present dynamic business environment, companies are forced
to become more competitive in order to survive. Tightening
competition, globalisation and changes in customer behaviour
present formidable new challenges to companies. They have to adapt
to the changes in the business environment quickly enough and
invest more in know-how and skilled employees to be able to
increase their competitiveness. One of the most recent and
significant changes in the business environment has been the
growing demand for mobility. This means that customers, partners
and employees should be able to access the information resources
and services of a company wherever they are and whenever they
want.In 1998, 73 per cent of European corporations were using some
kind of mobile data solution and 91 per cent of those who were not
said that they would within 1999. In addition, 60 per cent of the
mobile data users in the US said they wanted to use a mobile phone
for mobile data instead of a computer or some other device. These
results clearly show that there is a true demand for access to more
information and services on mobile phones.However, most of the
mobile data users currently use only SMS applications, which can
provide only limited functionality compared with, for example,
Internet services. This is now changing. It is estimated that in
2005 there will be about one billion mobile phone subscribers, and
that a substantial portion of the phones sold that year will have
multimedia capabilities.This means that there will be an explosion
in the number of services that can be provided to a mobile phone.
As a result, markets, brands and customer loyalties are on the
move. Constant availability is the key concept for future
competitiveness.This will provide a huge market potential for
corporations. Besides offering their existing services via a new
mobile channel, they have unlimited possibilities to create new
services and products for their customers. Users of mobile phones
can now be offered relevant personal services that suit their
needs. Today, people must carry with them at least a wallet, a
calendar and a phone. Soon it will be only a phone - a media phone,
which enables you to make calls, pay bills, buy tickets, check
email and manage your agenda.
WAP: a platform for media
phonesWAP is the platform for media phones. It provides an open
universal standard for bringing Internet content and advanced value
added services to mobile phones and other wireless devices. WAP
enables corporations to be part of the wireless future.While
developing WAP technology, products and services, the leading
telecommunications companies have built on the experience of the
web era. At the same time, however, they have designed WAP tools
that take into account the critical constraints of the wireless
world: limited bandwidth, challenging conditions of use, and the
specific user interface and processing characteristics of mobile
phones.As a result, WAP enables a wide range of wireless services
that are independent of the underlying digital wireless network
technology. WAP-based services are global, easy to use and offer
improved security. In addition, because WAP and web tools are
similar, it is relatively straightforward to adapt existing
applications and IT systems to the mobile environment. As of now,
the mobile web means business.Nokia is one of the four founding
members of the WAP Forum. The WAP Forum is the industry association
that has developed the WAP standard. The primary goal of the WAP
Forum is to bring together companies from all segments of the
wireless industry value chain to ensure product interoperability
and growth of the wireless market. Today, the WAP Forum members
represent over 90 per cent of the global handset market, carriers
with more than 100 million subscribers, leading infrastructure
providers, software companies and other organisations providing
solutions to the wireless industry.
Mobile phone usage: breaking
the recordsIn order to understand the business potential of
WAP, let's take a closer look at the characteristics of a mobile
phone. A mobile phone as an access device has four important
attributes: it is personal, mobile, trusted and usable.As with a
watch or a high quality pen, a mobile phone says something about
its owner. The phone has become a very personal device. It is also
a device over which the user has full control. The user is able to
choose where, when, and how he or she uses the device. A mobile
phone plays a key role when offering truly personalised
services.Secondly, a mobile phone is by definition mobile. It
enables the user to communicate at any time regardless of location.
Literally, the mobile phone is within the immediate vicinity of its
owner 24 hours a day. A mobile phone is also a trusted device and a
natural platform for secure applications.The mobile phone is a
highly usable device. It is always at hand, immediately ready to
use without time consuming boot sequences, and readily connected -
no hassle with those modem configurations and messy wires! The
usability is clearly illustrated by the rapid penetration of mobile
phones in all age, social and professional segments. For example,
recent research shows that the total number of mobile phone users
worldwide is over 300 million, double the number of Internet users.
In addition, it is estimated that in 2005 there will be about one
billion mobile phone subscribers.In conclusion, a mobile phone in
every pocket is a near future prospect. It is fast becoming the
preferred method of communication - an essential connection to
everyday reality.
Business applications: WAP means moneyWAP
represents significant business potential for corporations across
multiple industries. This potential is two-fold. First, WAP
provides an open technology platform for offering new and
innovative services to the consumer market and a wireless channel
for existing services.Secondly, it increases employee productivity
and improves business performance through continuous mobile access
to corporate intra- and extranets.
Consumer applications:
services while on the moveThe division between work and free
time is blurring. Moreover, the time spent away from work and from
home is increasing. This implies that there is a growing number of
time periods when an individual is neither working nor at home; one
such example is waiting for a plane. Many of us would like to use
these moments as effectively and enjoyably as possible.The mobile
phone is a bi-directional channel enabling development of services
that allow users to react only when notified by the mobile phone.
For instance, a mobile phone can alert a user when the threshold
limit of a stock rate is passed. Investors thus do not have to
constantly watch the stock rates on their own. In addition, they
can react immediately wherever they are.WAP applications help the
consumer to reduce the hassle related to many routine activities,
freeing up time for more meaningful activities. Banking is probably
the one most often cited application area that will benefit from
WAP. Being able to check your bank account and carry out
transactions with a mobile phone is a very lucrative offering.
Online ticketing is another domain where mobility opens up
interesting opportunities. For example, a business traveller who
realises that an important meeting will extend over its planned
duration can use his mobile terminal to change his flight to the
next available connection. This offers real value.The whole area of
"infotainment" presents an important business potential. Being able
to receive simple, but in many cases vital, pieces of information
such as weather, news and sports, traffic information, white and
yellow pages, as well as public transportation schedules on a
mobile terminal will make life easier for most of us. WAP is an
entertainment medium as well. For example, it makes it possible to
connect to a network of chess enthusiasts and play a game or two
over your mobile phone.Recent developments in the retail industry
clearly underline the opportunities of Internet-based retailing.
Mobility increases the business potential even further. It is
important to note that it may be that only one part of the
purchasing cycle is completed via a mobile terminal. For example,
it is likely that one would not define or configure a weekly
shopping list with the limited user interface and a small keyboard
of a mobile phone. However, it is easy to envisage modifying the
list, glancing through available delivery times, and triggering the
delivery through a WAP-enabled phone.
Corporate intra- and
extranets: towards real-time operationsIn most companies there
is a daily need to access corporate information. Sales
representatives are meeting potential customers all over the globe.
Customer service representatives are working at customer sites.
Management has to be able to track the development of business
operations. Remote customers and suppliers want to know the status
of their particular order. Mobile access to corporate intra- and
extranets enables employees and business partners to access data in
a cost- and time-efficient manner while on the move. This is true
both in terms of generic applications, such as email, calendars and
directories, as well as access to tailored industry-specific
applications. More specifically, the following applications lend
themselves especially well to being WAP-enabled.
Sales force and
field service automationA WAP application for sales force and
field service automation includes mobile access to contact
management, order entry, product and spare parts availability and
deal tracking. Advanced push-notifications can bring additional
benefits through distributing business-critical data when the
timing of the information delivery is crucial.
Operations and
maintenanceIndustrial machinery or even individual components
can be equipped with "GSM chips". This then makes it possible to
provide the operating and maintenance personnel with access to
information about the component's performance and need for
maintenance. This mission-critical information can be aggregated
into a few high-level indicators, which can then be further
investigated by "drilling down" into the specific data
elements.
Management informationIn practically all companies
there exists a vast amount of information that has significant
managerial value. This information resides in various corporate
databases, enterprise applications, and numerous departmental
systems. It is essential for effective managerial decision making.
Moreover, in most cases this information is simple textual
information with low bandwidth requirements, thus ideal for WAP.In
conclusion, mobile access to corporate intra- and extranets will
enable companies to move one step closer to real time operations.
In today's fast-paced competitive environment this translates to
operational excellence, faster and better decision making, and
ultimately to superior business performance.
Technological base:
elements of a global standardWAP enables Internet access to
mobile devices. The fact that the access will be over a mobile
network has some important implications.Firstly, saving bandwidth
will always be relevant. The coming broadband networks, such as
HSCSD, GPRS and UMTS, will indeed offer increased bandwidth.
However, their coverage will be, at least in the initial phases,
limited to major metropolitan areas. In addition, even the peak
bandwidth, that is 2Mbps for stationary terminals and some 384Kbps
for mobile terminals, will be significantly less than wireline
networks today. Moreover, the massive use of WAP devices will
constrain the use of bandwidth. Hence, the bandwidth in the mobile
network will be a scarce resource for the foreseeable future.
Considering all this, it is important that WAP is designed with
this limitation in mind.Mobile access means that the access device
will have to be small enough to fit comfortably in a pocket. From
the technical aspect, this implies that the device will have a
limited display and restricted man-machine interface capabilities.
Looking at the issue of usability, WAP applications and utilisation
environments will be fundamentally different from that in the
wireline Internet. People on the move typically use mobile phones
with one hand. In such an environment, the time for "surfing" and
"browsing" is very limited. Quick access to the information is the
mode of use. The Wireless Markup Language (WML), which is part of
WAP, is specifically designed for this kind of use.Security is
especially important in many corporate solutions. WAP includes a
specification which implements options for authentication and
encryption and is optimised for use in the mobile environment. It
provides end-to-end security for messages. Corporations can be sure
that the information travels securely all the way to the end
user.Voice will remain an important application in the wireless
world for the coming years. This is demonstrated by the success of
already existing applications, such as phone banking. WAP is an
application protocol for devices inherently geared towards voice
communication and it accommodates for the integration between voice
and data applications.
The WAP standard: application environment
and protocolRoughly speaking, the WAP standard defines two
things: an application environment and an application protocol. The
application environment consists of two things: a markup language,
WML, which allows programmers to define the application's user
interface in a device-independent way, and a programming language,
WMLScript, which allows programmers to embed executable logic in
their applications. In practice, these are realised in the
microbrowser environment in a mobile terminal. Conceptually, the
microbrowser is very similar to a web browser. Because the WAP
applications can be downloaded on demand and discarded when no
longer needed, the application environment also allows for dynamic
extension of the terminal's user interface.The actual application
protocol is a layered communication stack that consists of a
session protocol, a transaction protocol, a security protocol, and
a datagram protocol. The protocol stack isolates the applications
from the bearer so that one application can be run regardless of
the actual transport service being used. Naturally, the amount of
data being transferred and the nature of user interaction affect
the selection of the optimal bearer. For example, one would
probably not implement an image database or a multi-user reaction
time competition over SMS.In addition to the application
environment and the application protocol, the WAP standard also
defines a technology known as WTA (Wireless Telephony Application).
It is a telecom-oriented technology that allows WAP to be
integrated with the advanced services in the telecom network, such
as Intelligent Networks. Combined with the browser-based user
interface of WAP, the WTA would allow, for instance, new
Intelligent Networks-based services to be introduced to users
without modifying the terminals in any way.The Wireless Application
Protocol has all the elements of a successful global platform
standard. It defines the key ingredients of interoperability at an
appropriate level of abstraction. Interoperability is fundamentally
defined by protocols, programming interfaces and content formats.
Moreover, recent years have brought to the attention of the public
a new kind of content format: mobile code. It is an executable
content format that can be dynamically downloaded and extended, as
well as safely executed in its target environment. Java is the most
famous example of mobile code technologies. The trend of utilising
mobile code in application development will strengthen continuously
in the near future. WAP will provide the content developers with a
mobile code technology that is especially designed keeping the
limitations of mobile terminals in mind.
(c) Nokia 1999