WAP wonder or big whopper?

Mobile phones could soon replace the pint of Guinness as the quintessential symbol of Ireland. Almost half the population have bought into the "wireless revolution" and some analysts predict there is scope for 100 per cent mobile penetration as free spending consumers buy more than one handset for work and pleasure.

But amid all the mobile mania the latest craze, WAP - Wireless Application Protocol, which delivers Internet information to mobile phones - is proving a frustrating and expensive experiment for many consumers.

Billed in multi-million pound advertising campaigns as offering the "Internet in your pocket" many early adopters of WAP have found the latest technology capable of little more than burning a large hole in wallets.

Since the technology's launch last year some 50,000 people in the Republic have purchased WAP-enabled handsets retailing at anything up to £400 (€508). But expectations of carefree Web surfing on the move or indulging in a spot of m-commerce (shopping with mobiles on the Internet) while stuck in the Dublin traffic have been dispelled by a combination of technological gremlins, limited services and mounting call costs.

"It's too slow, too unreliable and there wasn't enough literature given out about how to sign up to the Internet," says Mr Richard Flynn, a 19-year-old student studying engineering at Trinity College, Dublin.

He bought his WAP phone, the flagship Nokia 7110 model, two weeks ago for £199 and has been disappointed by its lack of performance so far.

"I expected a lot more information on it but all its got is just a simple edited version of the Esat Digifone website," he said. "My advice is for people who are considering buying a WAP phone is to check it out with someone who has one already."

But Mr Flynn, who is one of Esat Digifone's 20,000 WAP customers, can consider himself lucky he did not purchase the same Nokia handset on the Eircell network. Eircell withdrew the Nokia 7110 model from the retail market last month following numerous customer complaints about the phone's performance.

The company cited hardware and software problems as reasons for the removal of its most popular subscriber WAP phone which has more than 10,000 users. Such "techno-babble" means little to consumers who have been left feeling "wappered" or sick and tired of all the hype.

WAP can be costly too. Eircell charges 10 pence per minute for subscribers and 20 pence per minute for prepaid customers while Esat Digifone 12.5 pence and 20 pence respectively. Although this is lower than for voice calls slow connection speeds can raise the cost of calls.

However, a loophole revealed last week by ElectricNews.ie could offer some relief. This enables customers to slash prices by around 9 pence per minute on Esat Digifone's service by changing the settings on their phone and suggests lower call charge are possible. And it is not just the young student set who have been lured by chic advertising campaigns only to be stung by the WAP bug. "WAP just simply hasn't arrived yet for the business customer," says Mr Niall Kinsella, corporate sales manager for CarPhone Warehouse, one of the few retailers which is independent of Esat Digifone and Eircell. "It'll be about another 12 months before the breakthrough," he says.

Strange sentiments for someone who makes a living from selling mobile phones, but Mr Kinsella insists it is a question of standards. He compares the current state of WAP to the introduction of the digital 087 network which was like "a map of Ireland with a bit of acne on it".

He is also critical of the hypedup launch of the Nokia 7110 which was rushed out to take advantage of the Christmas market. The inevitable anti-climax is unacceptable for business clients, he says.

"We have to be very professional here and if things don't come around to scratch then there's a huge hullabaloo and that's what happened with WAP," says Mr Kinsella.

Putting aside these technical difficulties, many consumers simply remain unimpressed by the limited range of services. News, sports and the lotto are all fine but it is not exactly the interactive multimedia that all the hype has suggested. WAP services are far less numerous and inferior to a competing technology offered by NTT's DoCoMo's I-mode service in Japan. This already has almost eight million subscribers and some 7,000 special Web pages offering content to customers. The system enables customers to make purchases which are credited to their telephone bills facilitating the development of mcommerce.

In contrast, a recent study by UK management consultant AT Kearny found that less than 1 per cent of WAP users worldwide had used their mobile to make a purchase. This isn't surprising in the Republic as network operators offer little more than chocolates or flowers.

This will change as more and more services are made available over coming months, says Mr Jonathan Byrne, head of e-commerce at Eircell. "We are concentrating on three killer applications - banking, betting and ticketing," he said. A deal with Ryanair to provide airline tickets on the WAP service is expected to go live towards the end of the summer.

But with DoCoMo planning to bring the I-mode service to Europe as part of its alliance with Dutch telecom KPN and Hong Kong's Hutcheson Whampoa WAP will have to be much improved to survive. As companies and consumers seek for standardisation, early adopters of WAP may find they will be left with inferior handsets and very little content. Just remember the Betamax and VHS experience with video recorders in the 1980s.

However, setting aside the potential threat posed by I-Mode, consumers have a better reason to think carefully before purchasing the current WAP handsets. Technological enhancements which speed up WAP connection times such as GPRS (general packet radio service), mean existing WAP customers will have to purchase new handsets within six months.

Esat Digifone and Eircell will both introduce GPRS early next year and existing WAP users are unlikely to be offered an automatic cut-price upgrade for the new handsets.

Meanwhile third-generation mobile telephony is set to be introduced to the Republic by 2002-3 when a complete new range of handsets are likely to be introduced.

So for those who have yet to take the plunge on WAP - think carefully about how you want to buy those chocolates.