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The unofficial independent imode FAQ
6. imode versus WAP
6.1 What is WAP?
WAP (= Wireless Application Protocol) is a specification for presenting
and interacting with information on wireless (and other) devices. Technically
speaking communications systems consist of many layers (in many cases 7 or more): physical layers (optical
fibers, wireless transmission systems, lasers, antennas etc), and software layers (transmission
protocols, etc).
Good engineering practice requires that these layers are decoupled as much as possible.
WAP, as a protocol for presenting and interacting with information is positioned
near or at the top of these layers. Therefore WAP can be used on top of different communication
systems.
There are many different ways to implement commercial services using the WAP protocol. For example,
present (November 2001) implementations of commercial services using WAP in Japan and in Europe
differ substantially - the user experience is different, commercial models are different,
handsets have very different characteristics etc. Therefore
it is not useful to identify WAP with one particular implementation. Mostly, the user experience
is related to factors which have nothing to do with the WAP specification themselves, but are specific
to a particular implementation.
In addition, WAP specifications change
over time, and are coordinated within the
WAP-Forum, which also produces an excellent
WAP-FAQ Return to imode-FAQ main page
6.2 Does it make sense to compare imode and WAP?
Recently, a large number of newspaper articles, internet discussions etc comparing WAP and imode are written.
It's important to keep in mind, that WAP (= Wireless Application Protocol) is a protocol, while imode
is a complete wireless internet service at present covering almost all of Japan with 32 million subscribers
(as of March 2002). Therefore comparing WAP with imode is somewhat like comparing Rolls-Royce-Jet-Engines
with United-Airlines or Air France. It's not relevant to compare WAP directly with imode.
Today it is relevant to compare WAP with chtml,
or to compare a particular WAP implementation (e.g. Japan's EZnet or T-Mobil's WAP service in Germany) with
imode. Regarding the future it is important to look at the role of XML, and to follow how the WAP standard evolves.
Note also, that imode is a brand and a service mark owned by NTT-DoCoMo. As such, imode branded
services could employ one or more
different "application protocols" or page description languages in the future.
Return to imode-FAQ main page
6.3 What is the difference between imode and today's WAP implementations?
Before comparing WAP-implementations and imode please read question 6.2.
WAP based wireless internet services today are used in Europe, Japan, Korea and other areas in the world.
WAP implementations use a page description language called wml (wireless markup language) while imode uses chtml.
Different companies implement wireless internet services using WAP as a protocol in very different ways. For example,
WAP based services in Japan, which are in competition with imode,
provide a very different user experience than WAP based services in Europe,
demonstrating the flexibility of the WAP approach.
One important difference from the user and site developer perspective of wireless services
is that websites for imode are very similar to ordinary html based internet websites. imode uses
chtml as a page description language for imode websites. Therefore a very large number of private
imode sites are being created. imode sites can also be inspected with ordinary internet web browsers (although
the result differs somewhat from the display of the same pages on imode handsets).
Websites for WAP-based services on the other hand need to be written in
a new and WAP-specific page description language (wml). However, the real business differences between
today's WAP implementations and imode are more in the way these services are marketed, advertised, business
models, charging models, the handsets, battery life, handset display quality etc.
6.6 What are the main differences of WAP implementations in Europe and WAP & imode in Japan?
WAP implementations in Europe presently (Nov 2000) are circuit switched
(users need to dial-up in order to connect), imode is packet-switched (always connected, as long as the user's
handset is reached by the imode radio signal). In Japan WAP implementations also use packed switching.
imode includes images, animated images and color. WAP implementations in Europe at the moment only use text
and no images.
There are great differences in the business models, charging systems and marketing of different WAP
implementations and imode.
marketing: WAP in Europe is marketed to business, imode is mainly marketed to ordinary consumers
imode handsets in Japan have large full color (256 colors) displays and can display animated full color gifs and
ten lines of text or more,
while European implementations of WAP today have handsets showing four lines of text in black/white without images.
Note that this is not a limitation of the WAP protocol itself (as Japanese WAP implementations demonstrate)
but rather a limitation of present day implementations
in Europe. WAP-implementations in Japan do include full color images and many other featers not found
in Europe at present.
Content: Marketing of WAP based services in Europe presently focus on business applications (banking,
stock portfolio, business news, flight booking), while marketing of WAP-based services in Japan and
imode in Japan focus on fun and everyday life-style: restaurant guides, games, images, ringing melodies.
It is very difficult to predict the future: who would have correctly predicted the relative
development of WAP-implementations and imode 3 years ago? Future development depends on
user/consumer choices, operators' choices and commercial decisions, technical
limitations, and there are even health issues which keep being raised. Therefore
unexpected developments are not to be excluded. Who would have predicted imode's
success a few years ago? Of course this does not prevent intelligent guesses about
the future - but they may well turn out to be wrong. A large factor impacting change
will also be the introduction of broadband wireless (3G, UMTS etc) services. These
will impact the business models, the types of services offered, user acceptance,
cash flow models etc.
Return to imode-FAQ main page
6.8 Why are WAP based wireless services in Europe implemented as a circuit switched (dial-up) system while
DoCoMo's imode uses a packed switched system for imode?
DoCoMo already had a fully functional packet switched network installed before
introducing imode. This packet switched network is an overlay over DoCoMo's circuit
switched cellular voice system. European operators at this time (November 2000)
do not yet have such a packet switched mobile data network. Therefore they could not
roll out a packet switched WAP service, but needed to roll out WAP services on a
circuit switched (dial-up) basis. The WAP protocol itself has nothing today with circuit
switching or packet switching. Actually, WAP based internet services in Japan are implemented
in part on top of a packet switched network architecture.
Return to imode-FAQ main page
6.9 Who will win - WAP or imode?
(a) See Question and Answer 6.2
(b) First of all, this may not be a very good question to ask, since there are many different WAP implementations
in the world, and also both the WAP protocol and the imode brand and services offered under the imode brand evolve over time.
(c) Nobody knows!
(d) They may both win! Actually imode can also be deployed over WAP, or the standards could merge.
(e) In the future it is likely (but not guaranteed) that XML encoding will become dominant on the internet.
Therefore future standards both for WAP and imode could become XML based. In this (likely) case it is
difficult to assign winners and losers!
(f) Mobile communications are a revolution, and it's difficult to predict developments.
Return to imode-FAQ main page
6.10 How are users presently (November 2000) charged by the operators?
WAP (in Europe): WAP users are charged for the connection time. For example: if one user looks at a newspaper
headline or a football result for 10 minutes, he/she is charged for 10 minutes connection time.
WAP (in Japan): different charging models apply for different service offerings.
imode (in Japan): imode users are charged per packet of downloaded information. So if an imode
user looks at a news item or at a football result for 2 seconds or 3 hours on his/her mobile handset, the
charge is the same whether it's 2 seconds or 3 hours, as long as he/she does not download additional information.
In addition to information transfer charges, there is a basic charge and also suscription charges for
premium sites, and in some cases transaction, download or other charges. Return to imode-FAQ main page
6.11 Who can operate "portals"?
In the case of WAP as implemented in Europe, in principle anybody with an
internet connection can operate a WAP portal - there
is the possibility of multiple WAP portals.
In Japan's imode, NTT-DoCoMo operates the "official menu" and "imode center(s)". Anybody
can operate an imode site, but needs to enter into a partnership with DoCoMo in order for the site to appear
on the "official" imode menu. Only NTT-DoCoMo operates
"imode center(s)".
Return to imode-FAQ main page
