Wireless to Outstrip Wired Net Access

by the ISP-Planet Staff [February 9, 2000]

The day is coming in which more people will access the Internet via wireless Net devices than via wired connections, a new study predicts.

According to a recent study by International Data Corp. (IDC), the number of people using wireless devices to connect to the Internet will increase some 728 percent by 2003.  That's an increase from 7.4 million U.S. users in 1999 to 61.5 million users in 2003, according to the study.

"It is easy to envision a time in the next few years when the majority of Internet access could be through wireless and not wired means," said Iain Gillott, IDC's vice president, worldwide consumer and small business telecommunications research at IDC.

"The irony is that many users will not know they are using the Internet over their wireless devices—they will simply see, as some do today, updates from CNN, CNBC, Reuters, and so on and take that fact for granted. The underlying infrastructure that makes this possible is invisible to them."

Awareness factor
Despite the expected increase, the study suggests that users' lack of understanding currently is thwarting interest.

"Some cellular/PCS users believe access to the Internet means browsing and displaying full Web pages on the handset display," Gillott said. "This incorrect perception will have to change."  Instead, most wireless Internet access involves sending and receiving specific information such as personalized news and e-mail via technology such as Wireless Application Protocol (WAP).

The study notes that two major occurrences pushed the wireless Internet market forward in 1999.  The first was Microsoft's involvement with the WAP Forum; the second was the introduction of mobile-specific portals.

Along with others, IDC believes that location-based wireless Internet services will grow quickly.

"The power of receiving the location of—and directions from the subscriber's location to—the nearest Italian restaurant that takes a specified credit card cannot be overlooked," Gillott said.

The IDC's new study is: Wireless Access to the Internet, 1999: Everybody's Doin' It.

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