WASPlab, a local development company, claims to have solved the problems with downloading enterprise applications over the Internet onto mobile handsets. It uses GPRS, which it says will save its customers time and money.
All that is needed, says projects director Chris Casaburas, is a phone with a wireless markup language (WML) browser.
Using Microsoft`s ASP.Net Mobile Controls (formerly known as Mobile Internet Toolkit), a developer`s toolkit listing a large number of mobile handsets conforming to WML, WASPlab has opted for an open platform that does not necessitate the use of proprietary hardware, as other vendors have done.
"Other vendors who have tried to make enterprise applications accessible to mobile workers and buyers have come up against the high total cost of ownership inherent in a proprietary platform," Casaburas says. "That is also the reason WAP (wireless application protocol) was stillborn - high cost.
"Then came GPRS (general packet radio service, a data enhancement to GSM cellular networks), and the problem was solved," he says.
The WASPlab offering - the name is a contraction of Wireless Application Service Provider Laboratories - consists of Web sites developed for customers on Microsoft`s .Net platform. "Either we host the customer`s application and port it to WML for access by its customers, employees or partners, or the client transfers files to us and we do the porting to WML back to them."
The user doesn`t make any use of a mobile network, other than to be authenticated via the network`s WAP gateway, which communicates with the Internet on the user`s behalf.
Just the beginning
As a proof-of-concept reference site, Casaburas says WASPlab has developed a site for Dawn Distribution Networks, which obviates the need for internal or external customers to phone in for stock on hand. "This saves time and money in phone calls, since the stock database is neatly and easily accessible in text format, 24 hours a day," says Casaburas.
But it doesn`t end there. "I can`t think of an industry that won`t have a use for this," he adds. "Procurement becomes a whole different ballgame if you put the Yellow Pages on cellphones. Parents can save money on their children chatting if one bypasses SMS in this way. Sales figures can be made accessible to sales representatives. Cellphone dealers can access credit scoring agencies within minutes."
With frequent use, Casaburas estimates that any user sends no more than 200KB of data per month, which is a cost-effective proposition to any user of mobile data. GPRS is not a bandwidth-intensive application if use is restricted to text; text being the sole focus of WASPlab`s product.
Will it sell?
A live demo of the application showed that site information is cached, so that if the connection is lost, the application is not. This robustness makes wireless data a better proposition than most people have experienced.
Casaburas believes GPRS will take off in SA, so long as people are shown the benefits and the ease of use. "Quite often, someone will go into their browser, and the first thing they see is Club Nokia. Club Nokia is an overseas site, and if it takes too long to get into, people often shrug and give up on GPRS. But the point is that a site with no multimedia, hosted locally, makes the world of difference."
WASPlab may find the networks a tough nut to crack, since their average revenue per user will decrease in many cases with WASPlab`s applications. "But we`re not about replacing SMS," he says. "Besides, mobile data is far bigger than SMS alone."
Developing on .Net has made it possible for WASPlab to cut out last year`s circuitous conversion into HTML before it even got to WML. This has sorted out issues like site display on phones, with fewer steps and a more simple and elegant approach.
And is it secure? Casaburas says it is as secure as the cellular networks, whose gateways use secure http and secure socket encryption.
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