Welcome

1. Welcome Abbas Mooraj abbas.mooraj@air2web.com Air2Web is an application service provider (ASP)… supporting an open network and platform architecture for hosting wireless web applications that are: Always Interactive™ regardless of the device, integrate text and audio, push and pull content, and are optimally presented across all carriers for each wireless device.

2. TheMarket (the good news) • Strategy Analystics, Inc. predicts that 80 percent of all phones shipped in 2001 will be equipped with a browser, accelerating to 95% by 2003. • Openwave has deployments or trials with over 60 wireless network operators worldwide, and Phone.com's UP.Browser resides in over 100 unique phone models. • Japan’s leading mobile operator 6.92m subscribers to its mobile internet service and is adding customers at 20,000 a day. Phones exceed PC's in internet access race . (Ethan Haywood of Mobile Lifestreams)

3. The Market (the bad news) • There are many competing approaches and standards. • Quality and features associated with the service vary widely from carrier to carrier and technology to technology. • Much of the technology is either completely new or a variant of Internet technologies • Much of the advancement is happening in Europe, not the U.S.

4. SMS Overview • Short Message Service: A single short message, 160 characters or less in length • SMS messages are sent via an store and forward entity known as an SMSC. • SMS messages travel over the signaling channel (as apposed to the voice channel.) • GSM allows phones to both send and receive SMS messages. Non-GSM systems typically only support receive.

5. SMS to the Internet MS SME

6. Internet (SMTP) SS7 Network (SMPP) SMS to the Internet

7. SMS (the good news) • Largest existing customer base. 5 billion SMS messages were sent world wide in March alone. (Source: Mobile Lifestreams) • Simple protocol for message format and delivery, format is plain text, delivery is usually over SMTP. • Good built-in model for push content.

8. SMS (the bad news) • Providing service to all cell phone users can require establishing relationships with hundreds of carriers. • The capabilities of the service are very limited. • There is a high degree of latency. • Most phones in the U.S. can only receive messages, not transmit making interactive use challenging. • Very little control over message format and delivery time available using the public gateways. • No direct support for the best feature of the device, audio!

9. Wireless Modem Overview • Creates a standard PPP connection to the internet using the cellular radio as a modem (slow speed dial-up ~9600 bps) • Voice calls can not be made while the data connection is active. • Typically supported by combination devices or “smart phones”. • Devices support a limited subset of HTML.

10. Internet Wireless modems to the Internet

11. Wireless modems (the good news) • Uses Web standards • No requirement for establishing a relationship with the carrier. • Content can be formatted using HTML and limited support of graphics is available. (But be careful, 9600 bps is the typical transmission rate.)

12. Wireless modems (the bad news) • Very few devices are actually available • Small potential market because of high price and large size of devices compared to standard cell phones. • Large variability in HTML support and device characteristics. • No direct support for push content. • No direct support for the best feature of the device, audio!

13. Packet Networks Overview • Uses data-only wireless networks (no voice traffic) • Two biggest are AT&T’s CDPD network and Bellsouth’s Mobitex network. (Two way paging networks are also being used.) • Connection to the device is handled using a proxy server run by the network owner (Palm.net for example) • Devices support a subset of HTML and in some cases HTML extensions through meta tags.

14. Internet Packet Network (Mobitex, CDPD) Packet Networks to the Internet

15. Packet Networks (the good news) • Market is small now, but growing steadily. Over 300 thousand Palm VII’s. (Palm is being quiet about the exact numbers) • Web standards (or at least mostly Web standards). • No requirement for establishing a relationship with the carrier. • Content can be formatted using HTML and limited support of graphics is available. • Better typical throughput rates than Wireless Modems

16. Packet Networks (the bad news) • Network coverage isn’t as complete as it is for cellular networks. • Some pundits believe that user adoption will tail off once WAP takes over. • Prices for delivery of the data and the devices themselves is currently quite high. • Often the user must download a portion of the app to their PC and then sync before using the service. • No consistent support for push content (at least not alerting). • No audio support at all.

17. WAP Overview • Stands for Wireless Application Protocol. • WAP is a standard for deploying Internet content on wireless devices. • It specifies what servers need to be on the phone network, what software must reside on the phone and what communication protocol is between these two devices. • Markup is done using WML, an XML variant

18. SMS USSD CSD IS-136 CDMA CDPD PDC-P Etc.. Comparing WAP and the Internet Wireless ApplicationEnvironment (WAE) HTML JavaScript Other Services and Applications Session Layer (WSP) WAP Gateway HTTP Transaction Layer (WTP) SSL Security Layer (WTLS) Transport Layer (WDP) TCP/IP UDP/IP Bearers:

19. Internet Any Supported Network WAP to the Internet

20. WAP (the good news) • U.S. market is small and growing, world wide market is huge and growing. (remember 80 percent of all phones shipped in 2001 will be equipped with a browser) • Major wireless players like Nokia and Ericsson make WAP’s future certain. • Content can be formatted and limited support of graphics is available on some devices. • Throughput is good and getting better. • Some support for push content is available. • Some client-side programming available on devices with WML script support

21. WAP (the bad news) • The browser is burned into the phone making support for multiple versions and form factors a requirement. • Carriers are slow to upgrade network equipment making support for multiple gateway versions a requirement. • There are currently 3 main markup variants (WML, HDML, C-HTML) with multiple versions of each in the market. • Using the keypad as an input mechanism can be challenging • Developers must learn a new markup language. • Not all carriers have implemented push support. • No direct support for audio.

22. More choices coming soon! • SIM Toolkit • Environment that allows SMS messages to interact with the phone’s operating system in a common way. • Uses SMS as a bearer mechanism. • Supports over-the-air download of applications • Some support for SIM toolkit in Europe now, but notably not Nokia • Embedded Java • Two main initiatives going on, J2ME and MxEx. • Network access is bearer independent (like WAP). • Not available anywhere yet. • Bluetooth • Basically a non line-of-site replacement for IrDA • Not available anywhere yet.

23. Faster Speeds coming soon! • GPRS (some in 2002) • General Packet Radio System. • Theoretical speeds of up to 171.2 kbps. • Packet overlay to existing GSM networks. • EDGE (2002 – 2004) • Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution. • Builds on the packet system introduced by GPRS by changing the modulation mechanism to the one proposed by UMTS (3G). • Theoretical data transmission speeds of 384 kbps. • UMTS - 3G (To infinity and beyond) • Complete rework of the cellular network to optimize it for high speed data. • Speeds of up to 2 Megabits per second (Mbps) are achievable.

24. Whatever else you do… • Create new applications for the wireless web using your Internet content, don’t try to force fit your existing Internet apps. • Create as easy to use an experience as possible, even though this can be very challenging given the nature of the networks and devices. Phone.com and others have style guides you can start with. • Make best use of the capabilities of the device. Do not ignore audio if you can help it. • Tailor the features and the output to the device that you are targeting.

25. Thanks! • A few sites for further information • www.phone.com • www.palm.net • www.wapforum.org • www.w3c.org • www.gsmworld.com • www.mobilelifestreams.com • Contact me at abbas.mooraj@air2web.com • Any Questions?