The senior author, JanTen Sythoff, Programme Manager at Frost & Sullivan, however, remains optimistic about the long-term outlook for WAP and the European mobile device market in general. He says, "Soaring demand for always on, all day wireless connection to the Internet, new billing models and new content and applications will stimulate exceptional growth in the European market for mobile devices."

The introduction of new technologies, such as WAP, Bluetooth, and GPRS, will help alleviate such limitations as poor performance and usability inherent in the first generation of WAP phones.

• European mobile device business was valued at $23.7-billion in 1999, but expected to grow to $488.8-billion by 2006.
• Bluetooth products are expected to reach critical mass in 2001.
• The advent of m-commerce will encourage the sale of WAP, GPRS, and UMTS handsets.
• The arrival of 3G networks will heighten the demand for applications such as music, graphics and other multimedia uses, which require greater bandwidth.
• With huge capital investments, operators will push to upgrade sales of device for the next-generation of networks, enabling them to yield a swift return on investment.
• With the expansion of mobile data services, operators will move toward a content-based billing model.
• The growth of the mobile advertising market will enable users to obtain free services once they agree to have a certain number of ads pushed to their devices.
• The proportion of a mobile operator’s revenue derived from non-voice services will exceed 45 percent by 2006.
• By 2006, the three most popular applications will be unified messaging, entertainment, and information services.