The North American Wireless Report, released today by
eMarketer, reveals that disparity prevails in current US m-commerce revenue projections from a variety of
research firms.
Forecasts for the year 2004 range from between $700 million and $27 billion in 2004. The North American Wireless Report cites data from more than 100 research organizations and
consultancies, offering numerous examples of discrepancies between their projections.
"Until a technological standard is defined for m-commerce is adopted, you will continue to see massive
differences between the projections from different firms," states eMarketer analyst Ben Macklin. "Currently, it's difficult enough to forecast the next 6 months, let alone to the year 2004."
eMarketer conservatively forecasts that by 2004 approximately 30 million m-commerce users, spending $50 each, will purchase $1.5 billion dollars worth of goods, services and applications on mobile
devices.
According to the report, the North American wireless market is at a crossroads. m-Commerce will either 'kick-on' over the next 18 months with carriers driving new wireless data and
internet services, or it will fall further behind Europe and Asia and wallow in a mire of competing technological platforms.