Page 146 - DCAP512_WAP_AND_WML

WAP & WML

Notes

Task Analyze the distinction between unified messaging and instant messaging.

Chat

Chat can be distinguished from general information services by the information source: In
chats, the source of information is a person, whereas in general information services the source
is usually in Internet site. The amount of information transferred per message tends to be lower
with chat, where people are more likely to state opinions rather than factual data. In the same
way as Internet chat groups have proven a very popular application for the Internet, groups of
like-minded people called communities of interest have begun to use non-voice mobile services
as a means to chat, communicate and discuss.
Because of its association with the Internet, the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) would
allow mobile users to participate fully in existing Internet chat groups rather than setting up
their own groups that are dedicated to mobile users.
Qualitative Information

A wide range of content can be delivered to mobile phone users ranging from share prices,
sports scores, weather, flight information, news headlines, lottery results, jokes and so on. This
information need not necessary be textual, it may be maps or graphs or other types of visual
information.
The length of a short message of 160 characters suffices for delivering information when it is
quantitative such as a share price or a sports score or temperature. However, when the information
is of qualitative nature, such as a horoscope or news story, this 160-character length is too short.
Therefore, GPRS will likely be used for qualitative information services, but SMS will continue
to be used for delivering most quantitative information services.
Information services suppliers using WAP include Infospace.com, I3 Mobile and others.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:
1. WAP specifies an application framework and ……………………… for wireless devices
such as mobile phones, pagers and personal digital assistants.

2. The hand-held devices tend to have less powerful CPU, ………………………, very restricted
power consumption.
3. WAP content and applications are specified in a set of well-known content formats based
on the familiar ……………………… content formats.
4. A ……………………… is not specified for the HTTP protocol, used by the WAP Gateway
server to communicate with content hosts.
5. The ……………………… of the encrypted WTLS data is the WAP Gateway proxy server.
6. The ……………………… on mobile phones is currently sub-optimal and difficult for mass-
market users to manipulate.
7. The successful implementation of ……………………… programs incorporates several
different elements such as private information services, WAP and security.

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