This new market is powered by fast-growing demand for mobile
and Internet services and complementary technologies that allow
people and information to be increasingly interconnected. The
penetration of wireless service subscription continues to increase
dramatically around the globe. It is almost impossible to be in a
place where no one uses wireless phones. Continued growth in the
United States, Europe, and Japan is strengthened by emerging
wireless device industries in China, India, and Latin America.
Riding on this wave of growth, the number of wireless subscribers
by mid-2001 exceeded 119 million subscribers in the United
States alone, according to the CTIA, and the number of U.S.
Internet users topped 167 million based on Nielsen NetRatings.
Furthermore, over 60 percent of U.S. households have online Web
access. The Strategies Group predicts that wireless data penetration
will reach 60 percent in 2007, from just 2 percent in 2001.
This massive growth is attributed to the aggressive rollout of highspeed
services and applications and consumer acceptance.
Furthermore, over the next several years, the majority of devices
that tap the Internet will not be home or office PCs, but rather
wireless devices. This trend is accelerated in Japan and Europe,
where the Wireless Internet is transitioning from text-based short
messaging (SMS) to digital audio and video broadcasting. The
demand for high-bandwidth wireless applications and connections
to corporate networks from the field is fostering the development
of and demand for Wireless Internet networks. Figures 3-1, 3-2, 3-
3, and Table 3-4 break down United States and global Internet and
wireless use.
The growth of the Wireless Internet is directly linked to
the success of the wired, HTML-based Internet. The Yankee
Group, a major research firm, estimates that by 2005, approximately
56 million people in the United States, or almost 20
percent of the population, will regularly tap into the Wireless
Internet over a voice-enabled device; a major investment
banking firm takes an even more optimistic outlook, projecting
115 million subscribers in the same period. The Wireless
Internet will exploit the gold mine of content available in digital
format from Internet servers designed originally for wired desktops. Many of the largest players, such as AOL, Yahoo!,
and Microsoft are charging forward into wireless as a key
growth initiative. Carriers such as AT&T, Nextel, Sprint PCS,
Verizon, OmniSky, Metricom, Vodafone, and many others
offer Wireless Internet access through cellular phones, PDAs,
RIM pagers, and various other devices. Figure 3-4 shows projected
Wireless Internet growth in the United States and
Figure 3-5 shows projected growth worldwide.