The options are vastly different and still in their infancies. They won't replace conventional ways of plugging in for most consumers anytime soon, but they offer tantalizing glimpses of a revolution that will make the Internet faster and more widely available than ever. The wireless information age is good news for the estimated 625 million mobile phone users worldwide for whom the Internet is fast becoming the big star of the really small screen. It's also good news for many households that won't be able to get high-speed Internet service from local phone and cable companies. Revenue is expected to skyrocket this year for carriers like Teligent and Winstar, which use industrial-strength versions of fixed wireless technology to zap broadband services to business.
Analysts expect the share prices of leading wireless technology and service companies to soar.
Microsoft staked out turf on the wireless landscape over the past year, making investments and creating technology that will help people reach their e-mail and corporate networks from handheld computers and mobile phones. The number of professional and amateur programmers working to create wireless data applications has jumped from 4,000 to 25,000 since August, says Sprint PCS CEO Andrew Sukawaty. And mobile phones are cheaper and easier to use than computers. Sukawaty expects mobile data speed to double in the next six months and continue increasing. But for now, data trickles into most wireless phones at about one-fourth the speed of a 56K modem and is limited to information tailored to the miniature screen.