Western European Wireless Data Forecast, 2010 To 2015

The Internet is no longer the Internet we once knew; there's no longer a single way in which consumers connect to it. Already, there are more than 22 million mobile broadband connections in Western Europe. This switch in connectivity must change the strategy for every Internet product forever. Mobile broadband affects all Internet-reliant products — be they online TV, a magazine or newspaper, a voice communication product like Skype, or a social network — as they depend on how and where consumers connect. Mobile broadband's contradictions drive new opportunities and the need to overhaul current products: It's broadband, but usage is not unlimited; it's cheap to start to use but expensive to consume at full tilt; it's a personal service, but one that lacks emotion; it promises ubiquitous "always on" connectivity but delivers just an "almost anywhere Internet." These contradictions are here to stay as more and more consumers embrace mobility. The product strategy of all Internet-based products must change now due to the rise of mobile broadband.