[Networking] abbe-dev:
Hi, this thread has some factual errors, so figured it may be valuable for someone who looks for information and ends up here, to have a set of good information available in the thread.

I am not sure what "mobile applications" that want to access websites you are talking about. The typical apps available on a device from the factory that need to connect somewhere are Browser, MMS and Email applications. Of these, the Browser is the one that wants to access a website and the browser has built-in the protocols it needs.

And also to clarify lets make it clear that WAP specs includes both specs for markup language (how to display the content) as well as transport protocols (how to send/get the data). But, for this post I will only comment on the data transport protocols and completely ignore the markup languages (WML, xHTML-MP and HTML) and how or where they are used.

BROWSER

Let's split the Browser into two types of browser first, to make things a little more clear.

1) WEB Browser

2) WAP Browser
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The WEB Browser uses the "regular" HTTP protocol to connect directly to webserver (on top of TCP/IP provided by the operating system) to get content.

The WAP Browser can use WAP 1.2 (Wireless Session Protocol/Wireless Transaction Layer) to connect to a WAP Gateway, and the WAP Gateway in turn uses regular HTTP to get the content from the webserver.

The WAP Browser can use WAP 2.0 (Mobile Profile HTTP) to connect to a WAP Proxy, and the WAP Proxy uses regular HTTP to get the content from the webserver.

I do not want to make this confusing by even mentioning the secured versions of the above, cause it's messy.

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MMS (a.k.a picture messaging)

Multimedia Messaging also uses WAP. When a MMS Message is sent to a cellphone recipient, the cellphone actually only receives a SMS message (a.k.a. text message) which includes a Notification that a new MMS message exists. Then, the cellphone must open a data connection (GPRS,3G, CDMA or whatever the device/carrier uses) and then use WAP 1.2 or WAP 2.0 to connect to a WAP Proxy or WAP Gateway and then use that connection to download the actual MMS Message. When sending messages the cellphone also uses WAP 1.2 or WAP 2.0 and WAP Gateway/Proxy to deliver the message to the carriers MMSC (Multimedia messaging center).
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EMAIL

Email has it's own set of data transport protocols. Depending on the users account it could use protocols like POP3 or IMAP to receive and manage the arriving emails. To send, it could use the SMTP protocol. Unless, it's a Microsoft Exchange email client and uses MS proprietary protocols.​

Conclusion so far: As you can see, "mobile apps" can use a variety of protocols to get or send data over wireless connections. Generally the only thing they have in common is that they all ride on top of TCP/IP and the operating system creates that TCP/IP layer on top of the wireless technology (GSM/CDMA/3G/4G/WiFI etc) connection.

To return to the original question of whether WAP still is in use (in 2010), the answer is that

WAP in use in almost every handset on the market and doing well

. However, it is the WAP protocol stack that today is the important part of the technology. WAP 2.0 pages (xHTML-MP formatted) are also very common and ringtone delivery pages etc all use this over WAP connections as this way the carriers can charge for the content with your monthly bill. Without it, they can't control the payments and credit cards or other means must be use.

Further, if you buy a ringtone or similar by sending a text somewhere, you get a WAP Push message in return with a link for downloading the content. This link would not work over regular HTTP as then the carrier can't track if you downloaded the content you paid for or not.

For Android or Meego or other "new" popular platforms, the OEM maufacturers of devices can buy the WAP Stack's for WAP connectivity or MMS from companies like Winwap Technologies (winwap.com) that specifically provide such technolgy for the manfuacturer.

In the end, the consumer does not need to know if HTTP, WAP or something else is used as long as they get what they paid for and want.

Hope this helps somebody?

Cheers,

Aaron (a developer of mobile that's been around too long...)