Only one in three Wap users in the UK actually surf the internet from their mobile phones. These figures, from the annual cellular customer satisfaction study by JD Power were revealed at the Mobilexpo show in Birmingham last month.
The study found that, while around 10% of British households now have access to a Wap-enabled mobile phone, people are simply not using the Wap function.
This experience is borne out by MTV's experience with its Videoclash TV programme, first aired in the UK and Ireland in February this year, and billed as the world's first interactive cross-platform show.
Viewers can vote for their favourite videos by sending in a text message using their mobile phone or by visiting the MTV Wap or websites. An MTV spokeswoman, Eleanor Parker, says that although viewers have been keen to interact using SMS text messaging, Wap take-up has been relatively poor.
So what does this say about the future for the mobile internet?
There are applications for the technology, but users seem to be looking for larger - and colour - screens, such as that seen on the Siemens SIMPad.
The SIMPad bears an uncanny resemblance to a child's Etch A Sketch, except that it allows mobile users to surf the internet in full colour and graphics - and at high speeds using digital cordless (DECT) radio channels.
The unit looks like a flat screen monitor for a PC, except that there is no keypad. Instead, users control the freestanding device, which weighs around 1kg, using a touchscreen and stylus.
The operating system on the unit is Microsoft's PocketPC and allows users to surf the internet, access their email and complete many of the functions they normal do at their desktop, but on a mobile basis, with four hours' steady use between charges.
Software pre-loaded on the SIMPad, which will be launched later in the summer, includes Pocket Outlook, Pocket Word, Pocket Excel and Pocket PowerPoint
Eventually, it is likely we will see the SIMPad in a GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) version, for use across the high-speed mobile internet services launched by BT Cellnet and Vodafone in recent weeks.
More immediately, the SIMPad is compatible with most digital cordless base stations already seen in the home and office, allowing users to roam around their homes and offices provided they stay within a few hundred feet of their base station.
The SIMPad will sell in two versions. The consumer edition, at £700, has a facility to accept flash memory cards that boosts the onboard memory of the unit to 64 MB.
The business edition will sell for around £100 more and include a PCMCIA card slot to allow Ethernet LAN cards and other office systems to be interfaced with the unit.
BT Cellnet, meanwhile, has found another use for the mobile internet - company email on the move - using Research In Motion's Blackberry PDA (personal digital assistant).
Externally, the unit looks like a flattened regular PDA, but with extra features such a thumb-operated trackwheel. The unit also has a thumb-operated keyboard and a large backlit screen, as well as email and other personal organiser software preloaded.
Despite its small size (2.5 x 3.5 x 0.93 inches), the Blackberry handheld has more than 15 million transistors at its heart. Along with an LCD screen and sufficient memory to support multiple applications, the unit comes with a PC docking cradle and Windows desktop software.
The device sells for around £450 for companies to interface with their office-based email systems, and supports an always-on connection across high-speed mobile internet radio channels.
Users will also need to shell out an extra £39 a month for a subscription to BT Cellnet's fledgeling GPRS facility, allowing them to pipe up to 5MBof data to and from the Blackberry.
If Blackberry sounds an odd name for PDA, there are a number of other fruits that have become household names - Apple and Orange spring to mind.
This still, of course, leaves Plum and Pear as possible names for mobile services.
