WAP was launched globally in 1999, and made its appearance in India in 2000. WAP is an emerging data transfer standard, on account of which the Internet is on its way to Mobile phones is an attempt to define the universal standard for how content from the Internet is filtered for mobile communications. Currently, one has to connect the ordinary mobile phone to a laptop and dial from the latter to access the Internet. WAP enables the mobile phone itself to connect to the Internet through the wireless network of the cellular operator. It puts a relatively simple micro-browser into the mobile phone and uses a new interface called Wireless Markup Language (WML) as against the Internet’s Hyper-Text Markup Language (HTML) format thereby turning a mobile phone into a network based smart phone is the gateway to a new world of mobile data-web-based interactive information services and applications.

The essence of todays technology is first, mobility, then convergence. Consequently, different jobs can be done by a single electronic gadget. How WAP works? WAP content is available on the Internet. When a mobile phone user requires some information, he dials in. The required information is obtained from the Internet and passed on to the Webservers. At the web server, the information isconverted into WAP language. The message isthen put on the mobile phone operators’ WAPgateway. Finally, the Mobile User receives themessage on his phone.In India Rediff.com has tied up with Mumbai’soperator – Orange. Indiainfo.com and Idya.comare WAP – enabled. Another startup,Indiangypsy.com offers navigational facilities likecity road maps for the benefit of customers whohave lost their way and intend to find their wayback home.WAP has its limitations mainly in speed andbandwidth. Also, the tiny device does not allowa big display screen. Further, since the timeavailable to surf when one is on the move islimited, content has to be minimal.

WAP’s nextgeneration technology, GPRS, has addressedmost of these issues. GPRS – General PacketRadio Service – works more or less on the basison which e-mails work, send text and high-endgraphics data as packets at very high speeds. Smart card was first introduced in India in 1990l Unlike Credit /Debit cards smart cards can be used for multiple applications.l Presently 50 million smart cards are used in India.l Petro Card, SIM cards of mobile phones are examples of smart cardsl Increasing use of mobile phones, banking and retail, projects by state governmentsoffer growth of smart cards in India.Smart card is an electronic information carriersystem that uses plastic cards, about the sizeof a credit card, with an imbedded integratedcircuit that stores and processes information. Itcan be used to store personal identification,medical history and insurance information.Because it has its own micro processing chip,a smart card can store more bits of informationthan a magnetic stripe card, although it requiresa special card-reading device.

Sometimesreferred to as a chip card, Smart Card containsan integrated circuit that gives it a limited amountof intelligence and memory. Smart cards arebeing used in a variety of ways includingidentification and to encode information. Smartcards have an embedded computer circuit thatcontains either a memory chip or amicroprocessor chip. There are several typesof smart cards: Memory, Contact, Contact less,Hybrid (Twin), Combi (Dual Interface), Proximityand Vicinity.The smart cards are basically of three types -the storage/memory cards, intelligent cards andthe hybrid cards.How Smart Cards WorkThe smart card has to be inserted into a smartcard reader, which in turn reads the informationstored on the card. Then after appropriate actionhas been taken, the reader updates theinformation on the card.The smart card has built in security keys suchas PIN (Personal Identification Number) thatauthenticates the user.

Secondly, tampering witha smart card is difficult, as this would destroythe microchip inside it.
Thirdly, manual enteringof access code is eliminated. Smart card is anintrinsically secure device.The Smart Card Market in IndiaThough India’s population has passed the onebillion mark, it does not have a nationalidentification (ID) document scheme till date. TheIndian citizen has a paper-based documentknown as the ration card, which serves as anidentification and for claiming other governmentbenefits. Due to the lack of proper ID, India facesthe problem of identifying and tracking illegalimmigrants, of counterfeit identification, traveldocuments, bogus voting and inaccurate votingrosters during each election. Hence, theintroduction of smart card-based national IDdocuments is natural in such an environment.In India, five basic sectors are using smart cards telecommunications, banking and retail,transportation, healthcare and government.There are other segments, such as universitiesand electronic access control system (EACS)that are gaining acceptance in this country.Smart cards were introduced in India way backin 1990 by companies, which offered telephonecards, employee cards and ATM cards.However, their entry was too early for the Indianmarket and they suffered huge losses.

The realgrowth came in 1995 with the arrival of mobilephones in the country, where the red card (SIMcard) is a smart card. Till date, the growth ofsmart cards is limited to the telecomapplications market, which includes GSM andthe smart card payphone markets. Mumbai’sexperiment with smart cards for ticketing for itsBrihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport(BEST) buses, and the Gujarat driving licenseproject are probably the most successful onesto be implemented. According to the Frost & Sullivan report, thesmart card market in India is poised to seegreater maturity in terms of technology upgrade.The cards are expected to hit 21.7 million unitsby 2005. The technology trend of the Indiansmart card market is gradually drifting towardopen platforms, which minimises entry barriersand creates open, dynamic and competitiveenvironment with greater choice when it comesto suppliers. An open platform supporting multiapplications can be advantageous to a highlypopulated country such as India.

However, themain barrier to the open platform technology isthe cost. In addition, multi-application mayappeal to many, but it is actually far less attractivebecause of its complexity and has become moreof a closed environment application as opposedto an open environment. According to Frost & Sullivan report, the keydrivers of smart cards market in India in nearfuture will be:l Increasing use in mobile phones as SIMcards;l Large potential market size attracts marketparticipants;l Lack of proper national identificationscheme;l Huge appeal for banking and retailapplications;l Increasing pilot projects by stategovernments; andPenetration of the Internet and e-commerce inthe large and medium-sized cities. For adeveloping country like India, where technologywould play an important role in the overall growthand development of the country, smart cardevolution is very critical.

For faster services,growth in areas such as banking and finance toreach the grass root level, smart cards wouldbe a critical tool. Personal identification cardsand applications such as utilities that presentlyhave strong bottlenecks in distribution wouldhave greater positive impacts on the overallsystems if an application such as smart cardpenetrates faster.The major bottlenecks of smart card market inIndia are:l Low purchasing power;l Low technology awareness/cultural shifts;l Delay in approval standards;l Other cheaper competing technologies; andl Poor allied infrastructure such as telecominfrastructure and ATMs and card readers,etc.
The government has to play an active role inthree areas to overcome the bottlenecks.

Promote awareness of such technologiesamong the end users;l Use efficient systems like smart cards andreplace rudimentary and inefficient systemssuch as ration cards and other majoridentification documents; andl Fasten the process of overall standardapproval.Asia Pacific accounts for approximately 30% ofworldwide smart card sales, making it thesecond-largest market after Europe. In Asia,India represents a great deal of potential and avery strong market is developing here after Chinaand Japan.Presently India has got approximately 50 millionsmart cards users with around 30% usage inCell phone SIM cards.l Indian smart card industry is growing @45% per annum.l The smart card business potential of Indiais expected to reach US $ 6 billion by theyear 2010.l Presently, India has got around 3 millionmobile phone users and it is expected toreach 8 million users by year 2003.l The requirement of smart cards as identitycards, the combined municipal card and thewelfare sector is expected to be 600 millionby the year 2005.l The demand for smart cards in Health care& Transportation sectors is expected toreach 350 million by the year 2005.