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Dateline: 21 January 2000 Early Edition Read The Previous Edition
Editorial
The machine I bought was an Epson HX20 and by today's standards can only be
described as extremely primitive. I vaguely recall that it had a puny little 8-bit
6800 processor and just 8Kbytes of memory. But it was the display that was
the machine's weakest aspect -- a tiny LCD that displayed only about four
lines of 20 characters. To compensate it did have an optional built-in
dot-matrix printer that would print to the type of roll paper commonly found
in cash registers.
Twenty years later and I have a (now aging) Pentium-based notebook with a full colour
active LCD that lets me work at 800x600 with 32MB of RAM. And, thanks to
the kind people at Vodafone, it can even connect to the Net through a cellular
modem and GSM digital cellphone.
So what's my point in taking this misty-eyed trip down nostalgia lane?
WAP -- that's what.
For those of you who don't know what WAP is (where have you been for the past
six months?), it's Wireless Application Protocol. In plain English -- it's
the system that allows users of WAP-enabled cellphones to access Internet
data such as email and even the WWW.
Billions of dollars are being invested in WAP-based products and services, with
most analysts predicting that by sometime in the next few years, wireless
Internet will be everywhere -- its users totally eclipsing the number who
surf only from their desktop PCs.
Nokia, Ericson, Phillips, Motorola, Samsung and just about every other
cellphone manufacturer in the world are currently working on their 3rd-generation
WAP-enabled cellphone models and venture capitalists have all but decided that
"dot com" is now old-fashioned and that you have to have "WAP" in your name
or your business plan before you're worthy of interest.
This all sounds marvelous doesn't it? Just imagine, clear your email from
anywhere on the planet through your cellphone. Surf the Web to get the latest
news, stock prices and weather forecasts -- all from the convenience of your
little pocket communicator.
However, I remain skeptical. Call me a cynic -- but even 20 years of exciting
involvement in the fastest-moving industry on earth hasn't erased the memories
of frustrating hours spent trying to work with any sensible amount of data through
the tiny display of that Epson HX20.
Yes, wireless Internet will come -- but I strongly believe that it won't be
through a screen the size of a matchbox. WAP on your cellphone sounds about
as promising as: Microsoft BOB, Visi-On, The Pen Computer, 3D Television
and bubble memory.
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Aardvark Daily is a publication of, and is copyright to, Bruce Simpson, all rights reserved
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