Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is an open international standard. A WAP browser is a commonly used web browser for small mobile devices such as cell phones.
Before the introduction of WAP, mobile service providers had extremely limited opportunities to offer interactive data services, but needed interactivity to support Internet and Web applications such as:
- Email by mobile phone
- Tracking of stock-market prices
- Sports results
- News headlines
- Music downloads
The WAP standard describes a protocol suite allowing the interoperability of WAP equipment and software with many different network technologies, thus allowing the building of a single platform for competing network technologies such as GSM and IS-95 (also known as CDMA) networks.
