Despite all the hype, WAP is in its infancy. Both the phone models available and services offered are extremely limited. A WAP phone is needed to access WAP services and the only one available in the Republic is the Nokia 7110. Siemens and Ericsson are about to release WAP models and most other vendors will follow suit soon after.
The Nokia 7110 with a first-time connection to Digifone or Eircell costs £249 and is available in mobile phone shops. The price is likely to fall as more WAP phones become available and the level of market penetration increases. Digifone says about 10,000 customers have bought its WAP phones and demand is increasing.
The cost of accessing Eircell via WAP is charged at the standard Eirtime rate for a national call from a mobile. WAP access is included in Eirtime minutes. Digifone charges a flat rate of 10 pence per minute.
When a user purchases a WAP phone, it is easy to configure the device to access the service of the mobile network provider (either Eircell or Digifone). Both suppliers include instructions on how to access their WAP services. Eircell and Digifone provide similar offerings such as news, weather, sport results and financial information. The information is available through easy-to-navigate menus. Expect similar services from Meteor when their network is rolled out.
New services are appearing regularly with the latest being e-merge, the wireless Internet portal from Eircell. Expect to see other similar services appearing soon, including services from ireland.com, the New Media division of The Irish Times.
WAP users are not restricted to the Eircell or Digifone services. It is possible to access any other WAP-enabled Internet site worldwide from your WAP phone at no additional cost. Those who have used their mobile phone to type a message know how slow and difficult it is to use the keys to type. This makes entering web addresses a frustrating process and highlights one of the main deficiencies of mobile phones. Another limitation is the quality and size of the display. Although the Nokia 7110 has a larger than average display it can still show only a number of lines of text.
There is much hype about WAP services and, at £249, the WAP phone is an expensive option. Don't forget that standard mobile phones have SMS (short messaging service) capabilities and much of the WAP information can be received via SMS. If you want the latest gadget then WAP is for you but prepare to be disappointed by the services currently offered and the device's ability to connect to them.
Advances in the user interface are essential before mobile phones can become practical Internet devices. Nokia has added a new device called the Navi Roller to the 7110 which aids the navigation and input process, but we will have to wait a little longer for significant advances in phone technology. The devices that we are likely to see in the future will resemble the device shown in the photograph above, if Nokia has its way. Other suppliers plan to have miniature cameras attached for video conferencing.
When the new upgrades to GPRS and, ultimately, 3G services are delivered in the future, the wireless information revolution will really begin. Until then we will have to make do with the obvious limitations of the current generation of mobile telephones.