Europe Net use taking off
news.com
By Reuters
Special to CNET News.com
September 8, 1998, 9:15 a.m. PT
PARIS--Europe is a tremendous growth area for
Net and technology use and the gap is closing
between Europe and the United States, a research
executive said.
"Europe is growing faster than anywhere right
now," Patrick McGovern, chairman of U.S.
high-technology consultancy International Data
Corporation, told his company's annual European
Information Technology Forum.
"Europe has been somewhat comatose in its
embracing of the Internet. What a difference a year
makes," IDC senior vice president Frank Gens said
in a speech to the meeting.
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, who also attended
the meeting, appeared less sure.
In a speech, Gates said Microsoft needed to reach
out to get the measure of the European market.
"I don't think the word is out there yet, but I don't
see why it should be so different as in the United
States," Gates said.
Last year at the forum, IDC said Europeans were
showing an alarming lack of interest in the potential
of computers and were in danger of falling behind in
the information technology race.
At that meeting, IDC pointed to companies in the
Asia Pacific region as being the most serious about
the Internet and the development of electronic
commerce.
The economic meltdown has put a damper on that,
Gens said.
"The question last year was, 'Will Asia leapfrog
Europe?'" Gens said.
Europeans have taken up the challenge with
enthusiasm.
"The growth forecast is extraordinarily strong for
the European Internet economy. Europe was
lagging, yes. But in the last year, businesses with
Web site presence have more than doubled.
Europe used to be one to one and a half years
behind the U.S., but now they are less than one
year behind the U.S. in establishing Web
presence," Gens said.
"The U.S. is still moving fast, though, so Europe
must keep up the pressure," Gens said.
IDC published new research at the forum,
predicting that there would be an explosion of Web
users, with Europeans making up an increasing
percentage. Research also included the following
points:
Spending by businesses on information
technology to build an online presence will hit $954
billion in 2002, up from $211 billion in 1998.
Web users worldwide would reach 320 million
by 2002 compared to 97 million in 1998. Western
Europe's share would reach 23 percent by 2002,
compared to 19 percent in 1998.
Electronic commerce on the Web would reach
$425 billion by 2002, up from $32 billion in 1998.
Business-to-business transactions would
account for 79 percent of the total in 2002 vs. 66
percent in 1998.
Burgeoning electronic commerce will boost new
technologies which deliver the Internet. Personal
computers, which in 1997 handled 96 percent of
traffic, will slip to 43 percent. The balance will be
won by new Internet appliances such as WebTV
and satellite TV.
Gens pointed out in his presentation though that PC
makers would still be in a healthy position because
the market for Internet devices generally would
rocket to 97.8 million in 2002 from 32.9 million in
1997.
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