i-Mode: The big competitor of WAP

Short Overview i-Mode

What are the big differences to WAP ?

The biggest difference of WAP and i-Mode is certainly the always-on technology which makes i-Mode so popular. In contrary to WAP, an i-Mode phone is always connected to the internet and the user only pays for the amount of data downloaded. So far, with the GSM networks, this is not the case for WAP. The soon-available GPRS will also be always on, which will probably be the one step ahead, which starts a WAP-boom all over the world. 

Still, for right now, i-Mode is the user-friendlier technology. Another feature which WAP doesn't have is the 256 color capatibility of some i-Mode devices, which makes the whole appearance look much better and attractive. 

i-Mode screens also use many graphics to make the navigation for the user easier. 

The transmission rates of i-Mode are just about the same as for WAP (approx. 9.6 Kb/S) but since the service is always-on, it saves all the dial-up time. 

WAP and i-Mode are both capable of sending and receiving e-mail. In this category, WAP is ahead, because i-Mode e-mail is restricted to a mere 500 bytes.  

At this time, if one compares the 2 technologies, i-Mode is the clear winner of the contest.

i-Mode's Advantages: 

There are a few advantages of i-Mode over WAP which have been mostly responsible for the extremely fast spread of i-Mode all over Japan. 

• Color: The most obvious advantage of i-Mode is its color capability. Still, this is a feature, which does not work with all i-Mode phones. 

• HTML-based: i-Mode has been created out of some HTML-verifications which makes it a lot easier to handle for HTML-experienced programmers. 

• Always-on technology: The always-on technology makes fast access possible. 

• Can be uploaded to a regular server. No special server -as for WAP- is needed. 

• Can use most GIF-images, no need to change into a different format. 

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