Three factors explain Europe's wireless revolution and the widespread unveiling of WAP-compatible applications. Adoption of a continentwide mobile digital telephony standard. Resulting economies of scale lowered handset prices and connectivity costs. The number of cell phone subscribers topped 140 million in 1999, up from 93 million the previous year. Flexible pricing and payment models for wireless services encourage Europeans to sign up.
Outgoing calls cost, sure, but incoming calls are charged to the person making the call.
European cell phone users have latched on to the capabilities of digital technology. Besides the improved clarity of digital calls, compared with crackly analog connections, Europeans have come to appreciate other features. In March, German mobile subscribers exchanged over a billion SMS messages, while U.K. users sent and received 360 million, according to Mark Smith, communications director for the GSM Association in Dublin, Ireland. With SMS, you can send text messages from a cell phone or PC to other cell phone users connected by more than 355 operators in 132 countries.