LONDON-Smart phones, personal digital assistants and notebook computers will generate more than $130 billion in data access revenues by 2009, according to ARC Group’s Future Mobile Computing 2004 report.
The majority of those revenues-72 percent-will come from cellular access, or wireless wide area networks. The remainder will come from notebook users accessing third- and 2.5-generation WWANs primarily using plug-in PC data cards.
According to ARC Group, North America currently has the highest share of WWAN-connected notebook users at 4.4 million by the end of this year. Europe and Asia-Pacific each have about 3 million users this year, although ARC Group expects Europe to move ahead in 2005.
“By contrast, North America will be the unchallenged leader in WLAN public hot-spot usage via smart phones, handhelds and notebooks by 2009, with more than 61 million users, more than half of whom will be using notebooks to access services,” said Freda Benlamlih, senior consultant with ARC Group and co-author of Future Mobile Computing. Asia-Pacific is expected to have the second-highest number of WLAN public hot-spot users, according to the report.
ARC Group said WLAN public hot spots should triple worldwide during the next three years from 34,700 last year to 134,700 in 2006.
