SMS Messaging Applications

WAP Push

WAP Push is the most complex and advanced type of binary SMS; it is also very useful and many multimedia SMS services require WAP Push. Based on binary SMS, WAP Push is a powerful technique that allows you to “push” information directly to a mobile phone. It is especially suited to multimedia content.

WAP Push has a variety of applications. It is often used to deliver high quality ringtones and wallpapers to mobile phones. It can even deliver software such as mobile phone games or other mobile phone applications. This section discusses all the layers of WAP Push and the details required to produce a full implementation; after reading the section you should be able to craft your own WAP Push messages with a good understanding of what the various parts of the binary message mean. Make sure you have read the previous section on Binary SMS before attempting to read this one, as a working knowledge of the general framework for binary SMS is required to understand how to implement WAP Push.

What Is Wap Push

In its most popular form, a WAP Push contains a prompt and a URL (technically, this is a Service Indication WAP Push). The phone will react by prompting the user, and if the user accepts the push, the WAP-enabled Internet browser in the phone will automatically download data from the URL.

This mechanism has no obvious equivalent in the usual Internet world. Web browsing there is always initiated by the user, who “pulls” information from web servers. WAP Push, as its name suggests, ...