Telephone to become big business

Tuesday, 22 February, 2000 - 21:00
ALL-in-one telephones with email and Internet access look set to be big business in 2000.

With businesses becoming increasingly mobile, sales and service teams can use the technology to give them more time on the road.

I On Australia director Giora Friede said the new generation of products were about to take the market by storm.

“There will be more than 151 million Internet appliances installed worldwide by 2002,” Mr Friede said.

“Consumer purchases of Internet appliances will eventually surpass consumer purchases of desktop PCs and the worldwide value of Internet appliance shipments will grow from $2.2 billion to more than $15.3 billion in 2002.

“Recent research indicates more than 55 per cent of Australian households are still without a computer and many families are eager to be part of the Internet revolution.

“All-in-one telephones are the perfect answer to concerns over potential difficulties associated with PCs in going online.”

The iPhone was launched by Ericsson in partnership with I On Australia at COMDEX 99.

The iPhone has a touch screen, a laptop sized keyboard and a 56Kbps modem.

Advanced features allow users to save names, street addresses, phone numbers and email addresses and call or email using the touch screen The phone also supports a caller ID and caller log.