The five-country study in which over 3,000 individuals in the U.K., Finland, Germany and Japan were interviewed stressed that consumers and vendors do not see the same limitations of the wireless web.

• Use of the Wireless Web: While use of the wireless Web was the highest in Japan and the lowest in Finland and the U.S., all users, regardless of region, viewed the wired PC connection as the most viable option for accessing the Web.
• Device: The vast majority of those surveyed not using the wireless Web, because they found the small screen too difficult to read and the services too slow.
• Security: Where vendors are seeking new technologies to make wireless transactions more secure, consumers are less concerned. "Clearly, privacy is not a major impediment to development of the mobile Internet, said John Beck, an associate partner with Accenture’s Institute of Strategic Change.

• Only 25 percent of Americans and Japanese respondents were concerned about security issues.
• Europeans were even less concerned at 13 percent.

• M-Commerce: Less than one percent of those surveyed have made an on-line purchase via their wireless device. The regional differences are as follows:

• In U.S., 12 percent
• In Germany, 9 percent
• In Japan, 7 percent
• In U.K., 6 percent
• In Finland, 5 percent

"We believe that the secret formula for driving wireless adoption, and in turn m-commerce, is creating killer applications that allow users to get the information they want, anytime, and anywhere. This study tells us that millions of users around the world are ready to make the leap to the next era of Internet communications and commerce, " said Richard Siber, partner, Communications and High Tech, Accenture.

For more information: www.accenture.com/xd/