LONDON-By the end of the year there are expected to be 16.7 million wireless portal end users in Europe’s top 15 markets, according to a study released by The Strategis Group.
The study, European Wireless Portals: Strategies & Market Positioning, projects that the year-ending holiday season will boost handset upgrades and portal activity substantially.
“The level of freedom and the choice of service available via the portal will be a key factor in the differentiation of one cellular operator’s offering from that of their competitors, in what is set to become a highly competitive marketplace,” said Jamie Moss, telecom analyst at The Strategis Group.
The study noted a variety of factors driving the European wireless portal market including handset vendors announcing that future models will be Wireless Application Protocol-enabled; operators adopting increasingly aggressive promotions and marketing strategies encouraging handset upgrades; further WAP upgrades to support enhanced graphics and animation; and the earlier-than-anticipated deployment of next-generation services.
The Strategis Group also expects cellular operators to launch portal-based applications for use by any cellular-phone user, instead of the current content model, which restricts subscribers’ access to third-party portals.
