• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, November 12, 2002

Wireless Messaging Will Outpace Wireless Internet

In-Stat/MDR reports that there are some very bright spots in the wireless data market. Overall, the messaging market (thanks to the newer Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS) and Multimedia Messaging Services (MMS) that support graphics and video) will continue to outstrip the wireless Internet market, in terms of subscribers, through 2006, growing from an estimated 305 million at the end of 2001 to more than 1 billion by the end of 2006. While smaller than the messaging market, the wireless Internet market is growing at the same pace.

The study found that:

- The wireless Internet market will grow from 74 million wireless Internet subscribers, at the end of 2001, to more than 320 million subscribers by the end of 2006.

- Japan is the obvious early leader in the wireless Internet market, primarily due to the innovations based on Personal Digital Cellular (PDC) technology. However, competition is growing in Japan, and DoCoMo's next hope, its Freedom of Mobile Access (FOMA) service, is largely failing due to minimal coverage, high device and service pricing, and a lack of applications that set that technology apart from the earlier generation's service.

- The Korean market is now coming on strong in the Wireless Internet space, largely fueled by CDMA technologies, and the US is not performing as badly as some might expect.

- Europe is largely failing with GPRS technology and, not including SMS and other messaging services, is falling behind the rest of the world in terms of wireless data adoption.

"Going forward, the wireless Internet market's future rests largely on service pricing," says Becky Diercks, a Director with In-Stat/MDR. "In most regions, service pricing is completely inconsistent and far too expensive for the average consumer."

Find out more here.