The Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is an open, global specification that enables mobile users with wireless devices to instantly access and interact with information and services. These services include access to the Internet and advanced telephony services.

WAP is an XML-based specification that was developed by the WAP forum. It was designed to maximize the experience of internet applications within a more restricted communications environment, since wireless devices are smaller, slower, have less memory, and are able to display less graphical content than laptops or PCs.

WAP is a communications protocol and application environment. It can be built on any operating system including Palm OS, EPOC, Windows CE, FLEXOS, OS/9, Java OS etc. It provides service interoperability even between different device families.

WAP products include digital wireless devices such as mobile phones, pagers, two-way radios, smart phones and communicators. WAP is designed to work with most wireless networks such as CDPD, CDMA, GSM, PDC, PHS, TDMA, FLEX, ReFLEX, iDEN, TETRA, DECT, DataTAC, and Mobitex.

Here shows how it works:

WAP is one of the leading telematics applications.

Telematics is an emerging market of automotive communications technology that combines wireless voice and data to provide location-specific security, information, productivity, and in-vehicle entertainment services to drivers and their passengers.

Telematics brings together in-car embedded solutions technologies with wireless communications technologies. Telematics was designed to provide drivers with personalized information, messaging, entertainment and location-specific travel and security services using.

A WAP enabled system consists of:

• WAP Gateway

• HTTP Web Server

• WAP Device

Here's how they work together:

The WAP gateway acts as as mediator between a cellular device and an HTTP or HTTPS web server. The WAP gateway routes requests from the client (like a cellular phone) to an HTTP or Web server. The WAP gateway can be located either in a telecom network or in a computer network.

The HTTP Web Server receives a request from a WAP Gateway, processes the request and sends the output to the WAP Gateway. The WAP Gateway in turn sends this information to the WAP device using it's wireless network.

A WAP device sends the WAP request to the WAP Gateway, which in turn translates WAP requests to WWW requests, allowing the WAP client to submit requests to the Web server. After receiving the response from the HTTP Web Server, the WAP Gateway translates Web responses into WAP responses or a format understood by the WAP client and sends it to the WAP device.

The Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is the leading global open standard for applications over wireless networks.

WAP provides a uniform technology platform with consistent content formats for delivering Internet and Intranet based information and services to digital mobile phones and other wireless devices.(see devices below for more information) The purpose of WAP is to enable easy, fast delivery of relevant information and services to mobile users.

The WAP Forum is the Industry Association comprising over 500 members that has developed the defect world standard. The forum's official definition of WAP is:

"The defector worldwide standard for providing internet communications and
advanced telephony services on digital mobile phones. Pagers.
Personal digital assistants and other wireless terminals."
The primary goal of the WAP Forum is to bring together companies from all segments of the wireless industry value chain to ensure product interoperability and growth of wireless market.
WAP Forum members represent over 90% of the global handset market, carriers with more than 100 million subscribers, leading infrastructure providers, software developers and other organizations providing solutions to the wireless industry.
WAP is designed to make user-friendly and innovative data applications for mobile phones easy, and three types of terminals have been defined:

• Feature phones, which offer high voice quality with the capability of text messaging and Internet browsing;

• Smart phones, with similar functionality but with larger display (the Ericsson R380 is a smart phone);

• The communicator, which is an advanced terminal designed with the mobile professional in mind, similar in size to a palm-top with a large display.
  Essentially, WAP specifies a thin-client micro browser using a new standard called WML that is optimized for wireless handheld mobile terminals.

The Wireless Application Protocol is applicable to, but not limited to:

• GSM-400, GSM-900, GSM-1800, GSM-1900

• CDMA IS-95

• TDMA IS-136

• 3G systems - IMT-2000, UMTS, W-CDMA, Wideband IS-95

WAP Web sites that support color are still few, although several applications, such as mapping services, are expected to make use of the color option. In the next few years we will see an increasing demand for mobile terminals with access to Internet applications. The mobile professional, for example, will need wireless functionality to be able to read e-mails and access the corporate LAN while away from the office.