From Bloomberg.com:
bloomberg.com
Although the media may have made the Internet the symbol of the New Technology, the story of the decade is not that the world is wired but that it is going wireless. Worldwide, roughly 300 million people use the Internet; some 500 million pack a mobile phone. As the two technologies converge, cell phones that connect to the Net will help bridge the digital divide, bringing many new customers on-line. But while the spread of the Internet may depend on wireless technology, the cell-phone market is already growing like Topsy. Last year, 283 million mobile phones were sold; this year sales are likely to exceed 450 million, according to Dataquest, a research firm based in San Jose, California. In China alone, almost 2 million new subscribers sign up each month--while another 1.2 billion potential customers wait in the wings. For Nokia, the world's No. 1 handset manufacturer; Motorola, which ranks second; and Ericsson, which places third, as well as newcomers like Audiovox (now No. 4 in North America), the race for global market share has just begun. (Sweden's Ericsson trades on the Nasdaq as American depository receipts, while Finland's Nokia trades on the New York Stock Exchange.) |
