Ericsson is staking its future on its prediction that the mobile
Internet will soon outstrip fixed access, writes Antony
Adshead
Ericsson's CEO Kurt Hellstrom set out his company's vision of a
future characterised by handheld access to the Web in a keynote
speech at the Comdex Fall 2000 conference.
He said that the company based its vision on, "a whole new
mindset - one where a phone does not belong to a place, it belongs
to a person. It is about personalisation".
Hellstrom's predictions come at a time when the company's mobile
handset division is operating at a loss, against a background of
mobile handset makers struggling with sales as the market reaches
saturation.
In support of his argument, Hellstrom said research showed that
the mobile Internet market had grown 4% faster than predicted and
forecast that there will be more people on mobile lines than fixed
by the end of 2001. "The same thing is happening with the mobile
Internet - we believe that it will develop more quickly than the
fixed Internet," he said.
Growth of the mobile Internet depends on the availability of
high-bandwidth third generation (3G) mobile networks allowing
speeds of up to 4mbps, Hellstrom warned. He predicted that the
first commercial 3G networks will be available next year, with 90
operators worldwide by the end of 2001 - the first in Japan, then
in Europe, followed by the rest of the world
"The mobile will be the device to access the Internet in future.
Why? Because it makes life easier. It appeals to the basic need for
personal freedom and because of this the mobile Internet will be
bigger than the fixed Internet," he said.
Hellstrom said mobile phones are already the world's most
popular electronic device, with 700,000 new subscribers daily and
mobile handsets outstripping PC sales.
"It is happening right now in Japan," he said. "Three operators
serve 17 million people. NTT DoCoMo's i-Mode is the largest. It
provides subscribers with e-mail, games, shopping, banking and
trading - 2,000 services altogether. It is gaining 5,000 new
subscribers a week."