WAP     Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is an open, global specification that empowers mobile users with wireless devices to easily access and interact with information and services instantly (www.wapforum.org).  WAP technology utilizes the WAP gateway and WML/HDML language to translate a mobile web request into a traditional HTML/HTTP request that the web server understands and vice versa.  WAP plays as a bridge between wireless network and Internet.  It can be used as an information channel between wireless devices and the Internet.

SMS     Short Messaging Service (SMS) is a digital cellular network feature.  It allows user to send and receive text messages to and from digital cell phones using cell phones and e-mail addresses based on public SMS messaging gateways over the Internet.  The text can comprise of words or numbers or an alphanumeric combination. SMS was created as part of the GSM Phase 1 standard. The first short message is believed to have been sent in December 1992 from a Personal Computer (PC) to a mobile phone on the Vodafone GSM network in the UK. Each short message is up to 160 characters is length when Latin alphabets are used and 70 characters in length when non-Latin alphabets such as Arabic and Chinese are used (www.gsmworld.com).  Today, SMS applications include stock quotes, sports scores, and news than can be delivered to mobile phones at regularly scheduled intervals.  Currently, there are approximately 16 billion SMS messages sent globally each month.  The majority of that traffic occurred in Western Europe and Asia.  In North America, most major cellular phone providers offer either one-way or two-way SMS services to their subscribers.  With one-way service, a user can receive messages; while with two-way service, the user can receive and send messages with a cellular phone.  “Increasing use of Short Messaging Service on mobile phones is good news for the media industry.  Newspapers and magazines struggling to generate direct consumer revenues from their Web sites have more opportunity to charge for content on mobile phones,” said Jupiter MMXI’s Oliver Beauvillain.  “They should use their Web presence as a way to promote mobile content with which they will be able to generate more revenues.”

 I-mode           I-mode provides a predominant wireless Internet service that offers wireless web access and e-mail services through mobile phones.  It was first introduced in Japan by NTT DoCoMo and was patented (www.mobileinfor.com).  As of November 2000, I-mode had an estimate of 10 million users roughly represent 60% of world’s wireless Internet users.  In Japan, I-mode users are not charged for the user connection time to a web site or service, but they are charged according to the transmitted data volume.  This is different from typical western web services.