Businesses right to remain WAP sceptics

Two-thirds of UK companies don't have a strategy for WAP-enabling some or all of their corporate systems by they end of this year (see, http://www.silicon.com/a38565 ).

Is that really such a shocking statistic?

Until now WAP has been riddled with problems. Few handsets, slow speeds, and content that can often be accessed more easily by going into a newsagent's and buying a paper the old fashioned way or logging on to the internet via a PC.

Yes, businesses do need to be thinking about it, but let's look at the facts. Consumers won't put up with poor services at expensive prices. That means the demand for this mobile protocol isn't there yet, no matter what vendors trying to hype up the market say.

A year ago we were being told that WAP would change our lives. Now vendors are telling us that it won't be until high-speed GPRS networks are up and running that many of the problems will be resolved. But the first signs of GPRS through BT Cellnet don't instil enormous amounts of confidence.

The development of WAP is still at such an early stage that if businesses build a WAP site to the current specifications, it is likely to be out of date six months down the line, especially if we get some kind of WAP-i-mode hybrid that is easier to programme for.

Paul Turton, associate director at the advanced telecoms group of CSC, the IT services firm that commissioned the research, said the survey shows 'inertia and apathy'. That's one interpretation.

On the other hand it could be said most business and IT professionals are making sound decisions, not wanting to throw themselves at an immature technology which is still far from perfect. We shall see if they have any regrets.