In the first of a number of occasional articles designed to remove the mystery of emerging Internet technologies, Evening Press Digital Media Manager HOWARD DAVIS considers the impact of the Internet on your mobile phone

THE Internet is poised to revolutionise the way you use your mobile phone.

What may sound like the stuff of science fiction is set to become an integral facet of the day-to-day lives of millions of people. And it's all down to what is basically text messaging on a mobile phone.

WAP technology (WAP stands for Wireless Application Protocol) is the in-thing in Internet circles at the moment. It allows anybody with a WAP-enabled mobile phone (estimated to be nearly 70 per cent of all Europeans in four years' time) to download information from the Internet.

But before we all get over-excited and rush out to buy a WAP phone be warned - at the moment WAP is little more than hype.

If you own a WAP phone there is a severe lack of quality services available. For example, the Vodafone network has news from The Independent and the BBC on a trial basis, but no WAP specific content. No information aimed directly at a WAP user. For such ground-breaking technology, this is pretty underwhelming.

It is early days for WAP technology, but WAP is not going to go away. Nor will it be superseded by new technology.

So what does the advent of the Internet on your phone actually mean?

Well, you can send and receive e-mails on your mobile, but certain e-mail providers allow you to do this anyway.

Some of the more dynamic companies aiming at the youth market are talking about the abstract idea of the "community". Teenagers and young-adults were the first social group to truly take advantage of text-messaging, using it to interact at times when verbal communication was not an option, organising social events and creating a feeling of community through information available only to users from that social circle. Many see WAP as a way of capitalising on this. Check out www.quios.com, a WAP-enabled site with the aim of "connecting people anytime, anywhere."

This lack of foresight has governed the industries attitude toward WAP technology. Although current providers have aimed their services toward specific users, nobody actually knows how WAP is going to impact on the average user, and in what direction the business is going to grow. For example, www.clubnation.co.uk inadvertantly discovered WAP, experimented with it and suddenly discovered a niche market offering localised information to clubbers and pubbers. Seventyfive per cent of hits on to www.clubnation.co.uk are from WAP-enabled phones.

Online gaming is set to embrace WAP technology. It was the hot topic at this year's games development conference at Milia and major games companies are setting aside millions to capitalise on the advent of WAP. They're just not sure what they are actually going to do. At the moment online gaming is confined to word or card games, such as www.wapscallion.net, but as technology improves, so will the gaming possibilities.

This uncertainty is even affecting the issue of WAP advertising. With such a small screen how do advertisers get their message across without alienating the user? It is a fine balance between being able to target advertising at specific consumers' needs, and just being plain intrusive on what is intrinsically a very personal service.

From my point of view though, the one thing you can be certain of is, now that e-commerce is finally gaining the faith of the Internet using public, m-commerce - e-commerce over a mobile phone - won't be far behind. Imagine being able to buy anything, anywhere, anytime ... the pinnacle of the consumer-led culture we live in.

From here it seems that the possibilities are endless. The next major technological milestone after WAP may well be Bluetooth technology. Indeed, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group boasts representatives from over 2,000 major manufacturers. Named after a legendary Norse king, Bluetooth technology allows wireless interaction (the linchpin of WAP) between computers, mobiles, personal organisers and the like, allowing you to have a whole digital system at your fingertips, accessing your home computer on the train, and personalising all your digital interaction.

An entire global digital network geared to your personal needs? Sounds the stuff of science fiction. But then, so does the Internet in your hand.

Even Evening Press local news will be available via WAP technology. With our new site design and the backing of media giants Newsquest, there are many exciting new avenues down which www.thisisyork.co.uk will be heading, and being WAP-enabled is just one of them.

Other WAP sites of interest include www.wapdrive.net, which gives visitors the ability to build their own WAP site, and www.wapaw.com, a directory of WAP-enabled sites.

If you have queries on this week's article, any topics you would like me to look into, or any sites you think will be of interest to Evening Press readers, please email me at

howard.davis@ycp.co.uk

New on This is York

The new-look Evening Press site - This is York - is due to be rolled out next week.

During our dual running period we've been inviting comments from users on the design of our new site. The most interesting comments from the poll were those from Yorkshire men and women living outside the county.

M Cowling wrote: "The Evening Press web site is very informative, when you are a very keen York City fan living in London."

American ex-pat Randy Parnelle said: "My wife and I read the online edition of the Evening Press every day here in Florida. We like to keep up with the local news."

This is York is even read on the other side of the world. "As an ex-York resident now living in Australia I find that the This is York page keeps me up to date with local happenings. Keep up the good work," wrote Jim Kendall.

There is an ex-pat section planned for the autumn, and it is this ever-expanding content that we are most proud of. This is York is dedicated to providing the best possible service.