Yes, you can get more interenet… but is it *better*?”
An interesting perspective from Mike Dano over at FierceWireless… I think it continues to make the case that a need for a quick-access, streamlined view of web content will always be needed in a highly fractured device—and standards—marketplace.
A begrudging farewell to WAP
As the world rushes toward a smartphone future, I find myself a little wary of the rich multimedia of the Promised Land. After all, WAP is actually pretty great, when you think about it.
But let me start from the beginning. WAP stands for Wireless Application Protocol, and it was invented in the early 18th Century (yes that’s supposed to be a joke) as a way to give Neanderthal cell phones with grayscale screens a taste of the Internet. See, phones from the Stone Age couldn’t download huge images or complicated HTML layouts like the newfangled ones you kids use today, but they did have just enough processing power and bandwidth to access small amounts of information stored on the ‘Net. The solution? WAP, which is essentially a scaled down version of the Internet that supports tiny screens and mostly text-based content.
WAP was touted as the second coming because, after all, it was the Internet on your phone! Incredible! Amazing! What a useful, sure-to-be-profitable technology. Of course, when people actually tried WAP they discovered it was the Internet circa 1981 on your phone, which isn’t really the same thing. Nonetheless, millions of phones shipped with WAP browsers, and at least a dozen websites launched WAP versions of their desktop offerings.
Then along came the iPhone and other high-powered smartphones, and–poof–regular websites are now available to cell phone users. You no longer have to pay the WAP tax to visit the Internet! How wonderful! Further, according to various analyst projections, all phones will be “smart” in a few years, so there won’t be a need for WAP versions of regular Internet sites–and everyone will be happy. Right?
Well, maybe. I’ve been a traveler on the wireless Web since the days of mMode on the original AT&T Wireless (remember that?). I’ve perused WAP sites from The Onion to The New York Times, and plenty of stuff in between. And I have to say: WAP is not crap.
In fact, I would argue with only a little bit of sarcasm that WAP is in some cases better than the “real” Internet. Why? Because you don’t get all that extra nonsense–no enormous banner ads that move when you mouse over them, no huge lists of links to random sites that may or may not be scams, no popups and no trickery. There’s just no room for it. Instead, what you get with WAP is just straight up information. You get the text of a story or post, possibly one small picture, and maybe a banner ad. And that’s it. And since no one actually pays attention to WAP, you can sometimes get free stuff: Did you know that the Wall Street Journal’s WAP site (http://mobile2.wsj.com) is not locked down?
Further, I would argue that the WAP tax actually keeps the riffraff from clogging up the scene. When I search the wireless Web, I don’t have to wade through millions of results–mainly because there aren’t millions of results. Most WAP searches turn up relevant and legitimate results because only the entities with useful content are venturing onto the wireless Web in the first place. It’s like natural selection, without the killing and eating part.
Indeed, I’ve grown accustomed to browsing the WAP sites of publications like The Washington Post or The New York Times. In some cases I prefer them to the desktop equivalent; they’re straightforward, no nonsense, and very easy to navigate.
Obviously there’s a clear benefit to being able to access the full Internet while mobile, but I’m going to miss the simplicity of WAP. Perhaps the Web designers of tomorrow will take some cues from the wireless Web–do more with less. Make it simple and clean. No tricks. The website of The Raconteurs is a good example. Press space bar to continue, indeed! –Mike
Posted and commentary by Kevin Perkins
IRVINE, Calif., June 4, 2008—Skweezer, Inc. today announced the launch of the Skweezer Reports & Analytics Web site, located at