Waiting game: Beijing holds out for WAP, but customers aren't biting.
The Chinese government ordered a frantic roll-out of mobile phones that are wireless application protocol (WAP) enabled. WAP allows mobile-phone users with a suitable handset to access a pared-down, text-only version of the Internet through special WAP sites. China should be the perfect place for...
| Published in: | Far Eastern Economic Review Vol. 163; no. 33; pp. 40 - 42 |
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| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | Article |
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Review Publishing Company Ltd.
August 17 2000
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=513007805&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 513007805 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00147591 FEE jtl: Far Eastern Economic Review issn: 00147591 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: August 17 2000 vid: 163 iid: 33 pid: 850 pub: Review Publishing Company Ltd. artinfo: ui: 513007805 ppf: 40 ppct: 2 formats: tig: atl: Waiting game: Beijing holds out for WAP, but customers aren't biting. aug: au: Holland, Lorien Lawrence, Susan V. su: Wireless Application Protocol (Computer network protocol) Wireless Internet Internet China sug: subj: China Wireless Application Protocol (Computer network protocol) Wireless Internet Internet ab: The Chinese government ordered a frantic roll-out of mobile phones that are wireless application protocol (WAP) enabled. WAP allows mobile-phone users with a suitable handset to access a pared-down, text-only version of the Internet through special WAP sites. China should be the perfect place for Internet access through mobile phone: For every four Chinese with a handset, there is only one with Internet access through a computer. Chinese officials therefore promoted powerful visions of a China transformed into the world's biggest Internet market through a computerless IT revolution. However, as is the case with many grand plans in China, a mass market in wireless Internet is a lot more difficult to pull off than it looks. Customers are not taking up WAP, and China's mobile-Internet revolution has yet to get far off the ground, despite the fact that mobile operators got the service going in March 2000, well ahead of government schedule. As a result of this lack of success, combined with a worldwide squeeze on funding for Internet plays, WAP is struggling in China. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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