What WAP means to your Mobile. It's a catalogue. It's a travel agent. It's a news-service. No, it's your WAP phone. What does it mean to your mobility?

By Pooja Garg & Roop Karnani

You've got so used to your mobile-phone that you probably don't even look at it any more. Indulge us, and take a close look at it. Looks the same, doesn't it? But events beyond your ken could soon render it the ultimate hand-held device. A device through which you can get the latest stock- and weather-updates, make airline and hotel reservations, even bank. Facilitating this will be a new technology called Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) which, to put it simply, brings the Net to your mobile-phone.

With mobile-phones outnumbering PCs by almost 2:1 today, and this ratio set to increase to 3:1 by 2003, WAP-a creation of the WAP Forum, a consortium launched in December, 1997, by Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia, and Unwired Planet, which has close to 200 members now-represents a critical transit-point in the convergence of mobile telephony and the Net. Wireless devices-cellular devices will account for the bulk of the numbers in this category-will account for close to 90 per cent of e-commerce by 2003. And with the cellular market on a roll-the number of new subscribers added to the network every month month in 2000 is around 70,000, as compared to 15,000 in 1999-everyone better watch this WAP-thing. But what does it mean for the consumer? For the cellular service-provider? For companies that provide WAP-technology and WAP-content? And what impact will it have on b2b, b2c, and c2c transactions? BT dot.com provides Everyman's catechism to WAP:

Q.1. What is the WAP value-chain? Or, how does the Net get to my mobile-phone?

There are 3 elements in the typical WAP value-chain: content; technology; and access. WAP content isn't very different from the Hyper Text Mark-up Language (html) content one comes across on any Net page. Only, it isn't in HTML, but in WML (Wireless Mark-up Language) which facilitates mobile (read: wireless) devices with their small displays and user-interfaces access content resident on Internet- or intranet-pages. Content-providers can choose to WAP-enable their sites, as jaldi. com, an on-line consumer durables store, has done. This will enable mobile-phone users directly access this site.

Explains Mukesh Arora, 37, Director and Chief Technology Officer, jaldi. com: ''It makes sense for an e-Commerce-oriented site like ours to be WAP-enabled; our customer-access should not be restricted by pc-penetration.'' Alternatively, content-providers can continue to do their thing in html. And if a customer wishes to access their site through a mobile, the WAP filter on the WAP gateway will convert html into WML.

The WAP gateway, the technology constituent of the value-chain, serves the purpose of technical integration. The WAP Gateway could reside at the cellular service-provider's site, or the WAP-service provider's. Says Sanjay Sharma, 35, General Manager, (Business Development), Ericsson: ''For reasons of security and network-quality, it is preferable that the WAP gateway be deployed at the operator's site.'' Ergo, all access-providers (read: cellular service-providers) need to have a WAP gateway of their own. Only then will subscribers be taken to the service-provider's default WAP portal when they switch their mobiles to the WAP mode.

Apart from linking to the WAP servers of content-providers, this gateway will also be able to connect to Web- and e-mail servers. Avers Manoj Kohli, 40, CEO, Escotel: ''It is critical that we control the WAP gateway because access to subscribers is where the maximum value lies, and we should not give that away.'' However, several companies that are not in the cellular-intermediation business are setting up WAP portals of their own where customers can access information and utilities. These companies, however, are mere intermediaries and may well lose out to the WAP portals of cellular service-providers who control access.

Q.2. What kind of opportunities exist for content-providers in the WAP regime?

There is a fundamental difference between the kind of content people are used to on the Net as we know it, and WAP content. The latter will not have any graphics or visual elements-although companies like Nokia are already speaking about 3G (Third Generation) network technologies that will make it possible for mobile-phone users to send and receive multimedia messages-and will be far more localised than the former.

Agrees Ajit Balakrishnan, 52, CEO, Rediff.com: ''The kind of opportunities that exist for WML content-providers is very different from those that exist on the Net. Local news, local weather, traffic conditions, discount sales... these are the kind of things that will be relevant.'' Given that, the biggest winners are most likely to be city-specific sites like www.mumbaishops.com, and www.virtualpune.com, or, to go one better, sites like www.koramangala. com and www.sidewalk.com, which are neighbourhood-specific.

Achieving a balance between global and local content, feels Sharma of Ericsson, is critical: ''What would a user in Jhansi want? Would he be looking for information about the trains from Jhansi, or will he be interested in global stock-positions? Probably both-and that will have to be considered.''

Q.3. What can you do with WAP? And what can't you?

A WAP-enabled phone will help you surf the Net, but not the same way your pc browser does. The reason? Handsets have limitations in terms of input and output capability. So, while one can read the text, one cannot see the graphics-at least not while bandwidth is still a constraint. However, if your company-site is WAP-enabled, providing your front-line employees with WAP-phones can increase their efficiency and improve the quality of service you provide.

For instance, in the US, beverage-major PepsiCo has WAP-enabled its Website and equipped its salespeople with Nokia 7110 phones. When the customer places an order with the salesperson, the latter can use his mobile to log on to the company's site, check availability of stocks, and inform the customer when the shipment will be delivered. And, if the Website is linked to the company's ERP, as most functional corporate sites are, the order translates into an input in the company's production-scheduling process.

Avers Kohli of Escotel: ''WAP will actually help companies e-enable their operations efficiently and rapidly.'' And, not to forget, at a cost that is far lower than what a pc-based network would cost. For instance, the Nokia 7110 phones that PepsiCo uses retail in India for Rs 21,000 while even a low-end laptop-which the company's salespeople would have had to use otherwise-costs Rs 70,000.

WAP can also be used for mobile e-Commerce. A WAP gateway can provide users access to payment services. The Delhi-based Nucleus Software has created a WAP-software called Bank-o-Net to help banks WAP-enable their services. Other companies like HCL Perot Systems and J.P. Systems are in the process of developing WAP software for banking-, insurance-, and local-shopping applications. Says Tina Umeken, 42, Alliance Director (India), British Telecom, Bharti Cellular's joint venture partner in AirTel, one of the cellular service-providers in Delhi: ''WAP technology is limited right now only because of the lack of application layer software. Given, the Indian expertise in programming, we should have a plethora of applications interfacing with the gateway soon.'' BT's WAP-plans include a service called Genie, which will be made available through AirTel. Genie started life as a SMS-based service in the UK in 1998, and became WAP-enabled in January, 2000.

Q.4. How fast will Net-access from WAP phones be?

Faster than the analogue telephone line, for sure. Today, the speed at which a WAP-phone transmits and receives data is 9.6-14.6 kpbs-at least thrice as fast as the 3.3 kpbs that the copper telephone line is capable of. By end-2000, this will increase to 115 kpbs, at least in parts of Europe which are using GPRs (General Packet Radio Services).

And by 2002, 3G networks, like UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecom Systems), will make WAP-phones even faster. Explains Milind Thosar, 38, CEO, Scala (India), the Pune-based Indian arm of the Dutch WAP applications-builder, Scala: ''WAP has been designed keeping in mind future developments like 3G networks. Thus, while the speed at which data flows will increase, the underlying technology will remain the same.'' Unlike the speed of accessing the Net through a PC, which is dependant on the capability of the modem used, that of accessing the Net through a WAP phone-a process that does not require a modem-is dependant only on the capability of the network itself.

Q.5. What revenue-models will WAP entail? And who will benefit the most?

No one's saying anything yet, but chances are service-providers will follow the same approach that they did for SMS (Smart Messaging Services), which were free till April 1, 2000. Now, Delhi's largest service-provider, AirTel, charges Rs 1.50 a message. But companies are not very clear about the revenue implications of WAP.

Agrees Kohli of Escotel: ''The revenue would arise from the increased number of users, and the increased air-time usage per user. But we are still trying to figure out the exact revenue model we should use.'' Agrees K.S. Jayanth Kumar, 54, CEO, BPL Cellular: ''Only after the volume of people using such services grows would it be possible to explore revenue-models.'' May be, but when that happens, the cellular service-provider, by virtue of being at the top of the food-chain, is certain to emerge in the high profit-zone.

For instance, service-providers can charge a commission on e-Commerce transactions that take place on their wortals, or charge store-fronts they host a monthly rental. Indeed, before long, Indian cellular service-providers will launch their own wortals. And customers can customise these wortals to suit their individual needs. The benefits? Increased network usage by customers who find their cellphones more than just dumb devices to talk into.

Advertising could soon emerge as a viable revenue stream in the WAP-scheme of things, but only if someone figures out what kind of advertising will work on mobiles. Even the larger display screens of the new generation of WAP-enabled phones are not made for advertising.

The revenue model for WAP services, thus, is likely to be one that is driven by the cellular service-provider. The logic? Independent wortals and Websites will continue to exist, but the only strategic option for them at this point in time seems to be co-branding efforts with service-providers loath to invest in their own gateways. However, alliances between cellular operators and e-commerce sites, and local-content providers will proliferate. Says Balakrishnan of Rediff: ''We think cellular operators should be willing to part with some percentage of the revenues that accrue to them through increased air-time usage as people surf the Net.''

And if-as some futurists predict-voice becomes free, service-providers will move to a business model where revenues stem from WAP content and WAP-enabled commerce. Cellular service-providers will not charge a monthly rental, nor will calls be charged. Could that happen? It's possible. After all, 5 years ago, whoever thought your mobile phone would be all screen and no keys, and that you would use either a stylus or a voice command to activate it.

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