Waiting for WAP
I feel compelled to respond to "Waiting on WAP" in your November issue by Ray Valdés. First, the all-too-often cited "soda machine" example needs to go away. Forever. Much like the local Starbucks calling to tell you that a discount is available if you stop in, this has no practical value now, nor in the foreseeable future.
I don't know where Mr. Valdés got the idea that WAP was intended to allow a full-blown browsing experience. The devices are inherently, diametrically opposed to that sort of transactional model and the Phone.com people themselves will tell you as much. Yes, this does present a development challenge and yes it's certainly harder than creating an application for an "unconstrained" device. But does this necessarily mean that the medium is therefore unsuitable or to be avoided? I must again disagree. Those merchants who come up with a solid business case and (subsequently) an application will be able to do very, very well for themselves regardless of the technical hurdles involved.
We had similar problems in the early days of the Web. While some chose to sit around and argue about platforms, specs, and so on, the quick among us chose to get down and dirty, stop whining and actually build something—even if it meant building four (or more) different versions across Mac, PC, IE, Netscape, or whatever. Yes, there were lessons learned but I'd rather learn those lessons ahead of my
competition.
There are more and more of these devices every day. To put it simply: "Build it and they will come."
Matt Mizenko
Wireless Director, Advanced Development Group
Fry Multimedia
Politicians at Heart
In his November "Home Page" article Amit Asaravala wrote:
"Perhaps the best way to decide is to ask your favorite candidate, 'What platform are you campaigning on?' If the reply is, 'Linux,' you know you have a winner."
