MANILA, The Philippines—The development of wireless devices and services could push new modes of commerce during the next 10 years, according to a report released by information technology (IT) consulting and management company Accenture.
Titled “The Future of Wireless,” the report projected the global market for small wireless Internet-capable devices, such as handheld computers, basic microbrowser phones and smart phones, will grow 630 percent by 2005.
As mobile devices become more widespread, the report predicted the transformation of mobile commerce into u-commerce, which Accenture defines as “ubiquitous, untethered, and unbounded” commerce. It also stated that mobile devices will not only enable the kinds of transactions people currently make from phones or desktops, they will also drive many data transactions, replacing work everyone does not think of as computing or communications.
The study surveyed 3,500 consumers in five countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Finland and Japan, plus thousands of companies focusing on wireless technologies. Of the total respondents, only 15 percent actually access the Internet through a wireless device. In Germany, 16 percent had used a mobile phone to access the Internet compared with only 10 percent in the United Kingdom and only 6 percent in both Finland and the United States. Japan had the highest wireless Internet user rate with 72 percent.
