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He's big, he's bad, and his name is WAP. The Wireless Application Protocol is surrounded by an entourage of impressive experts, including Nokia, Phone.com, and a hoard of startups. They make their way to the ring, cell phones at the ready. Even Michael Buffer wouldn't miss this one for the world.

The only problem is, I find this contender to be weak and strangely unappealing, although at times even I have a hard time believing it, given the enormous amounts of hype the wireless propaganda machines have generated in recent months. Certainly, many of you are already gnashing your teeth, appalled that a person could actually say such a thing. After all, scarcely anyone can argue that WAP is going to change the world—ending war, eliminating hunger and stamping out racism—all with a single blow from its untethered arm, right? Okay, maybe that's going a bit too far, but if WAP's supporters somehow thought they could make consumers believe it, they would certainly try.

I'm even going to lay down a challenge. I think WAP downright sucks. Okay, wait—let me put my mouthpiece in before you start throwing any punches my way.

In order to defend myself, allow me to digress to a discussion of the birth of the consumer Internet (a.k.a. the World Wide Web). What made it so popular? Unquestionably, email was (and still is) the killer-app that revolutionized the way we communicate and do business. The Web enables us to access libraries in Guam, read Parisian newspapers, and shop for coffee from South America. In short, it's a world of information emanating from my little desktop PC. Beyond the ease-of-access to vast amounts of information, it's the interface that makes it so compelling. I click on a link, smack my keyboard around a bit, and voila!

Now let's turn to my cell phone. This little device spends unearthly amounts of time attached to my ear. For talking anywhere while on the go, there is no question that it is an enormously useful device. What irks me is that the countless WAP startups tout the cell phone as the medium for the second coming of the Internet. Puh-leeze. Let's put a few of the characteristics of WAP and the cell phone into perspective here:

• One of WAP's cornerstones lies in the fact that it's geared towards devices limited to small screen sizes and low bandwidth. Dare I pose the question: How many of you are in such a hurry to read your horoscope that you simply cannot wait to get home and use your 19" monitor and cable-modem connection to do so? To make the problem even more pronounced, each generation of cell phones seems to shrink in size, making that screen even smaller.



• Use a cell phone keypad as the main method for input? To this very day, the thought of doing this repulses me. To demonstrate why, I performed a test on my own phone (Samsung-3500), counting the number of keystrokes it takes me to enter my last name, Gilmore. 22 keystrokes! That is three times the number of letters in my name! Not to mention that my eyes crossed more than once in navigating my fingers across the buttons. Wireless Internet shopping, here I come—not.

If the insistence remains to use a cell phone as the means for making the Internet accessible over the wireless medium, there are two directions to take. The first would be to continue melding the handheld and phone together to form one singular communications device. One such device that continues to look promising is the Nokia 9110i, which combines a QWERTY keyboard, relatively large viewing screen and a full-featured cell phone. As developments like this continue, one begins to see that the wireless Internet is not such a burden after all. However, attempting to sell me on the idea that I'm going to use my pocket-sized Samsung 3500 to access information is an insult to my intelligence.

The second alternative would be to use the cell phone for what it was originally intended: voice communication. In fact, several startups have jumped to the forefront of this idea, employing VoiceXML to allow the user to obtain information by speaking with an interactive interface. One of these startups making particularly great strides is Tellme. Tellme's voice-activated interface is extremely easy to use, and it's uncanny how well it understands even my own gutter English. Furthermore, you can personalize Tellme to fit your own informational needs. Another great service that works by the conventional touch-tone interface is Yahoo by Phone. Other than offering conventional phone services like free voicemail, you can check email, and listen to news, stock quotes, weather, and other information. By the way, keeping with the spirit of the Web, both of these services are offered free of charge.

Granted, the wireless Internet will become as integrated into our everyday life as the World Wide Web has in recent years. However, until the long-promised advancements in speed, improved interfaces, and a shift to the development of more practical devices becomes a reality, any true advantage gained from WAP remains to be seen.

William J. Gilmore has been an active Internet developer since 1995, and is a regular contributor to various online technical publications.

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