Problems In Implementing Services For Mobile Phones
Challenges and prospects of WAP services for mobile phones
by Rishipal Bangarh*,
- Published in Journal of Advances in Science and Technology, E-ISSN: 2230-9659
Volume 2, Issue No. 1, Aug 2011, Pages 0 - 0 (0)
Published by: Ignited Minds Journals
ABSTRACT
WAP s biggestbusiness advantage is the prominent communications vendors who have lined up tosupport it The ability to build a single application that can be used across awide range of clients and telecom carriers makes WAP virtually the only optionfor mobile handset developers at the current time. Whether this advantage willcarry on into the future depends on how well the vendors continue to cooperate(via the WAP Forum) and also on how well standards that are agreed upon andissued by the WAP Forum are followed.
KEYWORD
WAP, services, mobile phones, communications vendors, application, clients, telecom carriers, WAP Forum, standards
INTRODUCTION:-
WAP Services
So, what kind of new opportunities are there? What kind of services do the existing users want? While WAP is right now still looking for the next killer app, most of the online services that we are used to today can be of interest in the wireless community as well. The key issue in successfully launching these services is usefulness. If the usefulness factor is not high enough, then the majority of users will just ignore the service. Bearing in the entertainment factor, the usefulness of a game might be very high in a certain percentage of the population, as demonstrated by the remarkable success of a company in Japan that provides cartoons for WAP phone users to send to each other at a premium rate. We also need to remember that the vast majority of the public is not very familiar even with basic Internet services today. However, some examples of useful mobile services are in the following fields:
BANKING
• Accessing account statements • Paying bills • Transferring money between accounts • Finance • Retrieving stock and share prices • Buying and selling stocks and shares • Looking up interest rates Looking up currency exchange rates • Shopping • Buying everyday commodities • Browsing and buying books • Buying CDs • Ticketing • Booking or buying airline tickets • Buying concert tickets • Booking theatre tickets • Entertainment • Retrieving restaurant details • Looking up clubs • Finding out what is playing in what cinemas • Playing solitaire games • Playing interactive games • Retrieving local weather forecasts • Looking up weather at other locations A Advanced phonebook management • Updating a personal phonebook • Downloading a corporate phonebook WAP also opens new possibilities for service and content providers, since they do not necessarily have to come to an agreement with a specific operator about providing services to their customers. This offers several benefits: You only need to create a service once, and it is then accessible on a broad range of wireless networks. The following are some example WAP applications: 23Jump (http://www.123jump.com) A selection of stock data and news, all via WAP
1477 corn (http 111477 corn) WAY/Web development services
2PL World-Wide Hotel Guide (http://wap.2p1.com) A worldwide hotel guide,
accessible in multiple languages via a WAP-enabled device
AEGEE-Eindhoven (http:llwappy.to/aegee/) A Europe-wide students' association
whose goal is to allow all students to integrate and learn about each others cultures
Ajaxo (http:llwww.ajaxo.com) A WAP service for Wireless Stock Trading from any
WAY-enabled device
Aktiesidan (http://mmm.aktiesidan.com/servlets/aktiesidan/) A Swedish stock-
market monitoring service, all WAP-enabled
Amazon.com Bookshop (http:llwww.amazon.comlphonel) Amazon.com has
launched this WAP portal (HDML-based) for browsing books
Traffic Maps (http:llwww.webraska.cornl) A French service that monitors and shows
the latest in traffic news via maps You can have anything you like on a WAP site. People have already set up WAP sites that deliver all sorts of personal content, from daily shopping lists to contact lists.
LOCATION-BASED SERVICES
Obviously, services that can be used while users are actually mobile are best suited for the mobile Internet. Location-based services are services, that know exactly where you are located in the world and can provide you with information that is relevant to your position. Traveling in a strange city? Feeling hungry for Chinese food? From your norma WAP menu, click on Restaurants. The gateway interrogates the phone network and determines which radio cell you are connected to. It then provides you with a list of loca Chinese restaurants for menus and prices, and even gives you a Imap of how to get to the one you choose. Or how about a service that displays the current physical location of different types of public transport. Let's say you get to the bus stop and you are late for a meeting. You need to find out if the bus has just left the stop, or is ten minutes late. At the bus stop there's usually a timetable, but this bus stop also has a unique number printed on it. You access the public transportation site from your mobile device, and type in the unique number. The Web server at the other end then knows exactly where you are and can display the exact time of arrival of the nearest bus heading in your direction, because the bus has a GPS (Global Positioning System) on board. An application like this could be enabled today in virtually any modem city in the world without having to wait for any new technology.
CUSTOMER CARE
Customer care is another place where WA? services can be of use. Substantial amounts of money are spent on voice call centers, through which people ask questions about their bills, or the features of a service are explained. Many companies have successfully launched Web-based customer care services, as 'well, allowing users to access support data online. These online services can be designed to speed up the process at traditional call centers by, for example, having the user fill out a questionnaire to pin down the problem before the customer-care operator is contacted. This online approach, however, does not solve the problem entirely, since customers generally do not have access to the Web when they are on the move. With a WAP-based customer care service, the customers would be able to select from multiple choice menus to pin down their problem and get help whenever they want, without having to spend a substantial amount of time waiting for their call to be answered. The word Telematics itself was first used by Mercedes-Benz to describe their automotive communications technology, and has since caught on.
WIRELESS EMPLOYEES
Now let's imagine that you work at a road construction company, building and repairing hundreds or perhaps thousands of roads. Typical projects are discussed in the hundreds or even thousands of employee-years. Your organization learned some time ago to make use of advances in computing technology by delivering real-time access to information via mainframe terminals and later Windows applications on employee desks or on workshop floors. This opened up existing databases to improved reporting, charting, and other user interface features.
WHY WAP?
Some critics have pondered the need for a technology such as WAP in the marketplace. With the now entrenched and widespread use of HTML, is yet another markup language really required? In a word, yes. WAP's use of the deck-of-cards model and its use of binary-file distribution ties in and works with the display size and bandwidth restrictions of typical wireless devices in a way that HTML never could. In addition, scripting with WML Script gives support for client-side user validation and interaction with the portable device, which helps to eliminate round trips to remote servers.
REFRANCES
1. Akers, R., (1997). Web Discussion Forums in Teaching and Learning, Technology Source, Case Studies, August. Retrieved 14, January 2005 from: http://horizon.unc.edu/projects/monograph/CD/Technological_Tools/Akers.as 2. Attewell, J., Savill-Smith, C. (2003). Mobile Learning and Social Inclusion: Focusing on Learners and Learning. Retrieved 14, January 2005 from: http://www.lsda.org.uk/files/pdf/1440.pdf 3. Berger, C., (2001). Wireless: Changing Teaching and Learning “Everywhere, Everytime”, EDUCASE review, January/Fabruary, p.58-59. 4. Brown, T. (2003). The role of m-learning in the future of e-learning in Africa. 5. Presented at f the 21st ICDE World Conference. Retrieved 14, January 2005 from: http://www.tml.hut.fi/Opinnot/T-110.556/2004/Materiaali/brown03.pdf 6. Buchanan, G., Farrant, S., Jones, M., Thimbleby, H., Marsden, G., Pazzani, M., (2001). Improving Mobile Internet Usability, Tenth International Conference on World Wide Web, Hong Kong, China.
