WAP uses a concept similar to that used in Internet banking. Banks maintain WAP sites which customer's access using a WAP compatible browser on their mobile phones. WAP sites offer the familiar form based interface and can also implement security quite effectively.
Bank of America offers a WAP based service channel to its customers in Hong Kong. The banks customers can now have an anytime, anywhere access to a secure reliable service that allows them to access all enquiry and transaction based services and also more complex transaction like trade in securities through their phone
A WAP based service requires hosting a WAP gateway. Mobile Application users access the bank's site through the WAP gateway to carry out transactions, much like internet users access a web portal for accessing the banks services.
The following figure demonstrates the framework for enabling mobile applications over WAP. The actualy forms that go into a mobile application are stored on a WAP server, and served on demand. The WAP Gateway forms an access point to the internet from the mobile network.
Figure 2 : WAP Network Architecture for Mobile Applications