Technical Introduction

Please note that it is the purpose of this section to supplement the content of the WAP standards with context that allows readers to understand WAP's importance and related issues. As such, we will not be spending much time reproducing the published WAP standards that can be freely downloaded from the WAP Forum web site http://www.WAPforum.org/ by readers.

The Wireless Application Protocol embraces and extends the previously conceived and developed wireless data protocols. Phone.com created a version of the standard HTML (HyperText Markup Language) Internet protocols designed specifically for effective and cost-effective information transfer across mobile networks. Wireless terminals incorporated a HDML (Handheld Device Markup Language) microbrowser, and Phone.com's Handheld Device Transport Protocol (HDTP) then linked the terminal to the UP.Link Server Suite which connected to the Internet or intranet where the information being requested resides. The Internet site content was tagged with HDML.

This technology was incorporated into WAP - and renamed using some of the many WAP-related acronyms such as WMLS, WTP and WSP. Someone with a WAP-compliant phone uses the in-built microbrowser to:

  1. Make a request in WML (Wireless Markup Language), a language derived from HTML especially for wireless network characteristics.
  2. This request is passed to a WAP Gateway that then retrieves the information from an Internet server either in standard HTML format or preferably directly prepared for wireless terminals using WML. If the content being retrieved is in HTML format, a filter in the WAP Gateway may try to translate it into WML. A WML scripting language is available to format data such as calendar entries and electronic business cards for direct incorporation into the client device.
  3. The requested information is then sent from the WAP Gateway to the WAP client, using whatever mobile network bearer service is available and most appropriate.

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