Wireless Internet users grew 29%

New study show that an estimated 171 million people, or 44% of Internet users have accessed the Internet wirelessly.

The Face of the Web study found the number of wireless Internet users in 2004 grew by 29%. The latest findings, based on interviews in 12 key global markets, show that an estimated 171 million people, or 44% of Internet users in the measured markets, have accessed the Internet wirelessly.

Japan and the Advancing markets saw the largest year-over-year growth among adults who used the Internet via a wireless connection. However, wireless population growth was largely driven by the two biggest Internet markets, the U.S. and Japan, fuelling 69% of user increase and adding an estimated 15 million and 11.6 million new wireless Internet users, respectively. Wireless Internet also gained some popularity in Western Europe, South Korea, and Urban China.

Consequently, and challenging popular thinking, it isn’t the growth in laptop and Wi-Fi usage that is leading wireless Internet take-up. The number of adults who used a laptop for connecting to the Internet wirelessly was smaller compared to those who used a device like a mobile phone. In Japan, for instance, where wireless Internet, laptop, and mobile phone prevalence is highest, twice as many adults (59%) have accessed the Internet through a mobile device such as a mobile phone than have used a wireless laptop connection (28%). Similarly, outside of North America, Germany, and Urban Mexico, mobile devices like mobile phones are propelling wireless Internet use.

Proof of the trend toward data-driven applications via devices such as a mobile phone can be found in the kinds of features that mobile phones have. In the 12 markets analyzed, close to half of the mobile phone handsets have email or Internet browsing capability. Mobile phones have reached a turning point, evolving from primarily a voice communication device to a popular multimedia tool emphasizing data applications. Similarly, SMS may have been the growth vehicle for non-voice applications on a mobile phone in recent years. However, Internet-based applications are the wave of the future as evidenced by activities that have taken place on at least one mobile device in the household:

· One in three mobile phone households (estimated 175 million) has exchanged email via the mobile phone
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· One in four (estimated 124 million) has browsed the Internet
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· One in four (estimated 123 million) has exchanged digital image/video
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· One in five has conducted Instant Messaging
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· One in five has played a video game
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With the exception of SMS and ring tone download activity, the year 2004 saw a year-over-year increase in wireless activities across the board. Email usage grew by 21%, though exchanging video and pictures and browsing the Internet saw more than double that growth, pointing toward the tipping over of this traditionally audio or text based instrument to a multimedia engagement gizmo. Mobile commerce, while still a nascent activity, saw the biggest lift—prevalence of wireless online purchasers grew by 100% and wireless online bankers grew by 60% (year-over-year prevalence growth in these activities was highest).

Said Brian Cruikshank, Senior VP of Ipsos-Insight and co-author of the study: “These developments are indicative of an early adoption of multimedia and transaction-based activity through a mobile device. As smart-card technology handsets are introduced in many markets, transaction-based activity will be yet another frontier driving data connectivity and ARPU in the next three-to-five years.”

The next phase of data use on a mobile device will be dependent on the value placed in mobile data activity, the disposable income available for these activities, and the resulting cannibalization of other data-centric activities in the household. According to Ipsos, 2005 will be a spring board year for the wireless Internet via a mobile phone, as 3G service offers start to reach more markets and the price of the service and 3G mobile phone subsidies present an opportunity for adoption of these services among the broader populations in many markets.