Date: Feb. 27, 2001
Link: http://webreview.com/2001/02_16/strategists/index01.shtml
Source Author or Organization: Meryl Kaplan Evans, WebReview.com

This article examines the debate over the usability and future of Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), the open communications standard for wireless devices such as cell phones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), two-way radios and pagers.

The stakes appear to be large: The WAP Forum estimates 40 million WAP-enabled devices already in use, and explosive growth in the wireless market that will result in wireless users outnumbering wired users by the end of 2002 is predicted by an IT Forecaster study.

A major event in the debate has been a Nielsen Norman Group study that issued a damaging summary concluding 70% of WAP users were having a negative experience. The WAP Forum, citing WAP's user base and the fact that the study was based on responses from only 20 users, objected. The Nielsen Norman Group maintains in usability testing small numbers of users are adequate.

A major criticism of WAP services is slow speed. Defenders feel the technology should be viewed as being in its Lynx and Gopher days. Another discussion centers on whether WAP faces a threat from the growth of NTT DoCoMo's i-mode protocol, which AT&T will be introducing to United States markets. i-mode critics say it will not unseat WAP competing without the language advantage and near monopoly it enjoys within Japanese markets.