What is actually available is slow, text-based access to a relatively small number of sites, which themselves vary widely in reliability. These perform adequately, but only if the consumer is expecting something comparable to the Internet circa 1994 or so. Even many habitual users, when quizzed, lack the enthusiasm for the services. Ryan Best, a Utah day trader and consumer electronics retailer, says he uses his phone to reach stock quotes as quickly as or more quickly than he could over a computer. But he says the technology needs improvements before it can be used as advertised on a mainstream basis.
Nobody has the patience or time to do that.
In his research, Neilsen gave mobile phones with Net access to a group of average consumers, asking them to keep track of what they did and what they liked. It turned out that most didn't like much of anything, complaining the phones were difficult to understand and use. The majority said they'd rather pass on the technology altogether until problems had been fixed. Moving along a parallel track, the distinction between handheld computers and cellular phones is being broken down. Companies like Kyosera and Samsung are offering phones with the Palm operating system that have keyboards and large screens built in.