Posted by Tom Fitzpatrick (193.120.68.78) on September 18, 2000 at 17:34:09:
WAP and i-Mode
i-Mode is a wireless technology developed by the Japanese company NTT DoCoMo that enables users to access Internet services via their cellular phones. I-mode (the I stands for information) is based on packet data transmission technology. This means that i-Mode is always online, and therefore users are charged only for how much information they retrieve, not how many minutes they are using it for. i-Mode can be used to exchange e-mail with computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and other i-Mode cellular phones.
As the Japanese giant NTT DoCoMo recently expanded their services into the European market we may witness a convergence of the two global standards in Mobile Internet technology, WAP and i-Mode. They are essentially similar technologies allowing the user to access web based information with transactional capabilities from a mobile phone. However there are some major differences that this article will explain.
The difference between WAP and i-Mode
The first important difference is the programming language used.WAP uses the markup language WML (Wireless Markup Language) while I-Mode uses CHTML (Compact HTML).
Compact HTML has an advantage over WML in that a large majority of WML developers come from the "web" world where they are used to HTML. However, the future of internet content serving is XML, and from XML the step to WML is hardly noticeable. It's much more noticeable with Compact HTML or HTML.
The second important difference between WAP and I-Mode is that I-Mode is an always-on connection. This means that you do not have to ‘dial up’ to access a site and email is instantly sent to your phone. This uses GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) technology and will be made available to us some time next year.
Email will become as instant as SMS, and as phone technology advances, we will be able to send, receive and store large files on our wireless devices.
The third major difference is in billing. As I-Mode is based on a packet-data (9600bps) transmission system, subscribers will be charged according to the volume of data transmitted, not the time spent on line. With the ‘always on’ connection this method is necessary as the time spent is unlimited.
One bonus for i-Mode is the fact that you do not need to own a credit card to purchase online, as the cost is added to your mobile phone bill. This is particularly important to companies targeting younger audiences who do not have credit cards. It also creates a smaller barrier to purchase for consumers as some product lines are expected to sell higher volumes over the ‘wireless’ Internet than the ‘wired’ Internet.
It must be noted that I-Mode is NOT the WAP killer the media has been waiting for. To be honest both technologies are in their infancy, and would do well to learn from each other.
While WAP and i-Mode both have different specifications, WAP specifications are being created so as to take in the i-Mode specifications. The WAP specification has been updated to version 2 in order to become more like it’s Asian counterpart. This is overseen by the WAP forum, which is the industry association involving companies form every sector of the wireless industry value chain.
Also, for now, i-Mode is being used mostly in Japan, although NTT DoCoMo (who have 20 million subscribers) hope to move i-Mode service into Britain and the rest of Europe in the coming future. In doing so, NTT DoCoMo has begun to provide English content on their i-Mode cellular phones for foreigners living in Japan. I-Mode service in the United Kingdom is expected to launch later this month.
Before it’s launch, WAP was hailed as the future for mobile communication, entertainment and commerce. The hype was massive and expectations were high. We have now seen what it has to offer, and some are disappointed with the present offerings. WAP has made a jump in mobile technology. We can now email, purchase and access data on the move. Something we couldn’t do a few months ago.
After the hype has died down we will realise that it is an interim technology while we wait for the real deal. 3G (third generation) mobile Internet will be in our pocket by 2004 realistically, when we’ll be video-conferencing and playing 3D games.