Phone.com Inc, one of the founders of the wireless application protocol (WAP) forum, is trying to propagate the use of the internet data transport mechanism for mobile phones through the licensing policy for its UP.Browser WAP microbrowser. Hitachi Ltd is the latest company to sign up to use Redwood City, California-based Phone.com’s software, previous licensees include Alcatel, Qualcomm, Samsung, Panasonic and Sony.
Hitachi will use the browser in its first WAP-compatible handset, the C201H CDMA phone, which is now available in Japan. Malcolm Bird, Phone.com’s managing director, said the company did not charge royalties for the use of its Microbrowser, only an initial payment and maintenance fees. In this way, he said, Phone.com hopes to establish the WAP format as a ubiquitous interface for services to be delivered via the internet to mobile phones. Phone.com, which was formerly known as Unwired Planet, makes its sales revenue from selling WAP servers to mobile network operators. A WAP server acts as a proxy server that sits on top of a web application server converting the standard internet protocol into the WAP format so that data can be efficiently transmitted on bandwidth-restricted wireless networks.
Typically, WAP service providers will tailor services for compatible handsets. Users sign on with a service provider and access the services by logging on to a URL. Bird said that a range of WAP services are now on offer, he said that email was very popular despite the cramped input method, as well as banking information, travel information and sports reports. Bird said that many of the network operators would offer billing information about the user’s phone account – price per call, time left on the account and the like – as part of their service portfolio. AT&T, Nextel, Sonera and DDI in Japan all have WAP services available now. Omnitel is starting its service on June 28.
