Wireless investors should take notice. According to the recent Wireless2000 survey by Micrologic Research, the cdmaOne market is growing more rapidly than the GSM market. About 125.6 million GSM cellular telephones were shipped in 1999. That's a 42% increase over 1998's total. But cdmaOne grew by 166% in 1999, shipping 42.3 million units.
Still, GSM already has an established presence, and it should remain the market's leader over the next five years. The survey predicts that in 2004, 254 million GSM phones will be sold worldwide, while 180 million cdmaOne units will be sold. TDMA will follow with 48 million units sold. Don't write off the third-generation (3G) phones, though, which will soon have an impact. In 2004, 10.6 million 3G phones will be sold in Europe, 6.8 million will be sold in Japan, and another 6.8 million will be sold in the Americas.
Meanwhile, the survey also looked at Bluetooth's future. Researchers believe this technology will develop much more slowly than its proponents would like. Jack Quinn, author of the report, says, "The Bluetooth market cannot take off until it is reduced to a single, inexpensive semiconductor chip, and I don't see that happening before 2002."
For more information about the Wireless2000 survey, contact Will Strauss at Forward Concepts U.S.A. at (480) 968-3759. Or, point your browser to www.forwardconcepts.com.
