Why WAP will not die (Score 1)

Yes, WML will probably die because of compatibility and presentation limitations, but not WAP, despite what many are saying here with 3G, UMTS, TCP inside WAP, etc. I see WAP with 3 main advantages: 1) data integrity 2) security 3) *speed* Let's you are in the middle of a secure wireless transaction, using TCP and SSL and your cell coverage temporarily goes out of range or your device is passed from one cell tower to the next. You could drop your data. WSP, WTP, WDP, WTLS inside of WAP were made to handle intermittent connections and recover from these situations where there can be errors and dropped packets. The wired network is much more reliable and redundant in this regard and TCP, HTTP are well suited for that specifically. There are multiple levels of security built-in to WAP, aside from application (depends on developer)or data link layer (depends on mobile operator), including SIM/WIM cards, WTLS, wireless digital certificates, PKI cryptography for wireless networks, etc. SIM/WIM's not only ensures who you are over the network (I don't think this level of security is available in current HTTP), but you can swap them between phones and also reduce the risk of somebody hijacking your account. Good WAP Gatway/Proxies also maintain security at the levels of user, session, source IP, and destination IP. 3G, including UMTS are just faster networks which WAP can sit on top of. Sure, the new networks will be 100 times faster and can do full multimedia, but WAP compresses data (I've seen 3 to 4 times smaller) so that it is even faster. WAP gateway/proxies can cache data too, whereas not as much HTTP traffic passes through a proxy. Even if you had 100Mbps wireless on 4G, it is undeniable that people will *always* want and need more speed. It reminds of something a young man once said about memory required in PC's: "640K ought to be enough for anybody." - Bill Gates, 1981