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.