Majority of Web users will be wireless by 2002

From...

April 12, 2000
Web posted at: 8:52 a.m. EDT (1252 GMT)

by Rebecca Sykes

(IDG) -- By the end of 2002, the world will have more wireless subscribers capable of Internet access than it will wired users, according to a forecast by IDC.

Currently, more than 40 million U.S. households are online, but there are more than 75 million cellular/personal communications systems (PCS) subscribers and over 40 million paging subscribers in the United States, according to Iain Gillott, an analyst at Framingham, Mass.-based IDC. By mid-2001, all digital cellular/PCS handsets shipped in the world will be WAP (wireless application protocol)-capable, so the number of people accessing the Internet from wireless devices could increase dramatically, Gillott said.

	MESSAGE BOARD
Wireless world

The numbers could also get a boost from telecommunications carriers, which may push customer services via wireless devices as a cost-cutting measure, according to Gillott. For example, it costs from $1.50 to $2.50 for a carrier to print out a customer's bill and send it through the mail, he said. Sending notification to a customer through their wireless device can cut that cost by as much as a dollar, Gillott said.

MORE COMPUTING INTELLIGENCE

IDG.net home page

InfoWorld home page

InfoWorld forums home page

InfoWorld Test Center

E-BusinessWorld

Reviews & in-depth info at IDG.net

IDG.net's personal news page

Year 2000 World

Questions about computers? Let IDG.net's editors help you

Subscribe to IDG.net's free daily newsletter for IT leaders

Search IDG.net in 12 languages

The changing numbers will have a huge impact on IS staff and Web masters, Gillott said. Users accessing a Web site via a phone with a little screen will not be able to display the same information that PC users see, he said. Companies will need to think about displaying the information on their site for wireless device users or perhaps having two sites, he said. Carriers' WAP servers can determine whether a caller is using a PC or a wireless device and direct the traffic to the appropriate site, he said.

Though wireless Web users won't be in the majority for a few years, opportunity already abounds for those who have anticipated this shift, according to Gillott.

"Today, there are companies doing a nice little business saying, 'You need to make your site mobile,' " Gillott said.

Sun-Netscape Alliance goes wireless
February 2, 2000
Cabletron releases wireless system
January 12, 2000
High-speed broadband wireless services go nationwide
January 7, 2000
Xircom announces wireless networking for Handspring
January 6, 2000
The wireless world becomes useful in 2000
January 4, 2000
Technology will tackle world without wires
January 2, 2000

Wireless Internet: Still ahead of its time
Industry Standard
Wireless will get useful in 2000
PC World
Wireless will be the standard of the future
CIO
Wireless tracking, location systems could be next 'killer' Web app
Computerworld
Wireless Web access will be vital to e-commerce
Computerworld

IDC Research

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.