Currently, private and business use of wireless net access (yet to really take off) are about equal. However, IDC forecasts that business use will start to grow more quickly in the near future.
“Business users will lead the way in wireless adoption as they are usually the early adopters and are willing to pay for services and applications they see valuable,” said Charul Vyas, senior research analyst with IDC’s Wireless and Mobile Communications programme. “Businesses tend to introduce new services and devices to their employees first, and mobile employees have a need for highly functional devices with higher speed wireless internet capabilities.”
IDC’s research expects the number of business wireless internet users to grow from 2.6 million in 2000 to more than 49 million in 2005. The research also finds that consumers are interested in accessing online information from their mobile phones or personal digital assistants (PDAs), which should lead to consumer adoption also taking off.
IDC’s findings come as a new report by Forrester Research claims that the two main wireless access technologies – Bluetooth and W-LAN – will coexist and offer complementary services throughout Europe (see Forecasts).
