Although every vendor of any clout is a member of the WAP Forum, what they're saying and what they're doing with WAP may be two different things. Another political-legal matter is the question of WAP Forum members charging fees for technology they contribute to the WAP specification. Tom Carlin, product manager at Art Technology Group Inc., a Cambridge, Mass.-based company that makes WAP servers, says his company has been notified that it may be required to pay licensing fees as well, adding that the company is currently investigating the matter. In general, he says he believes that vendor issues such as this one present barriers to advancing technology and go against the grain of having industry standards in the first place. The WAP protocol continues to be developed by the WAP Forum, an industry association made up of some 300 members.
Handsets contain a microbrowser, which is a lite version of a desktop browser.
WML conforms with Internet standards and is, reportedly, very similar to HTML, which is used to create pages for the Web. According to the WAP Forum, WML is also fully compliant with XML rules. J.P. Morgan's Olsen notes that the WAP application development was an integral part of the company's SynDirect Web development effort, and didn't require much of a language learning curve. He expects that the education and awareness-raising process will continue through most of 2000. In Phase III, partnerships between ISVs, platform vendors, and WAP providers will result in the shipment of WAP technology with applications.