Indeed, the image of SMS as principally a tool of lovelorn teens already belies the reality that it's becoming big business. Some Scandinavian operators are already making as much as 10 percent of their revenue from SMS, said Strand Consult, Copenhagen, Denmark. Only 25 million WAP-compatible handsets were sold last year, against projections of 125 million, although some manufacturers remain confident. Nokia, for example, expects 200 million WAP handsets will be bought this year. But WAP still has its defenders.
Network speeds are much more important.
And too many operators over-hyped WAP, with uninteresting services available, slow network connections, and tiny screens. With always-on technologies and higher data speeds, WAP will do just fine for a long time to come. There's too much momentum behind it to think seriously of other alternatives for a while. But while 2G and 2.5G can deliver such services, many are looking to UMTS to enable the more elaborate, bandwidth-hungry applications. While 2002 was long touted as the launch date, doubts are now growing.