Americans are catching the overseas craze for basic mobile phone service, however. Worldwide, analysts expect more than a billion cell phones to be in use in just a few years. By contrast, IDC says that fewer than 10 million people in the United States use Palm Pilots or other handheld computers. That's a telling statistical gap for some analysts who see the balance tipping slowly toward the cell phone companies. Both these products are among the highest-end products in their markets.
Few people use wireless Net services in the United States, however.
The technology industry is pouring funding and talent into the wireless sector on the assumption that people will adopt the wireless Net over the next few years. Wireless Web proponents point to strong demand in Europe and Japan. But in the United States, they're still working largely on faith. The most advanced Web and wireless companies aren't waiting for the market to develop. The big portal services such as Yahoo and America Online already have developed personal information services that fill much of the niche occupied by Palm and other organizers, and are making them available over wireless phones.