Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)
A set of communication protocol standards to make accessing online services from a mobile phone simple. Specially created WAP sites display text-based information in a format that is designed for easy-reading on a small mobile screen. The information and services available are stripped down to their basic text format to ensure rapid loading to the phone. Sites and services include news, weather, sport, entertainment listings and financial data. WAP is supported by all operating systems.
It is important to note however that a WAP device isn't necessarily able to access the world wide web, and so users won't be able to see exactly the same sites on a WAP phone as they can on their PC.
There are two versions of WAP:
WAP Version 1
Relies on WML (Wireless Markup Language) and special protocols that are designed for efficient transmission of content to limited devices over a limited connection
WAP 2.0
Relies on new set of standards that have more in common with Internet standards used on the web. Although not as efficient as WAP 1.x, faster wireless data technologies and more powerful devices make this change possible, which has numerous advantages for publishers, enabling much more and better content to be available for mobile devices.
