The Face of the Web.

The Face of the Web 2005 represents the sixth wave in The Face of the Web series, a fascinating multi-country snapshot of the Internet’s global impact – how this medium has evolved over the past year and where it’s heading.

The Internet continues to evolve in ways never imagined before. The convergence of technologies and media has brought exponential online penetration worldwide. Today the Internet is no longer just a means to extract information. Rather, through mobile handsets, digital cameras, MP3 players, video game consoles, digital video recorders, DVD players, and a host of other consumer technologies, the Internet is providing consumers the ability to tap into a vast landscape of integrated transactions that, in turn, impacts virtually all businesses around the world. The Face of the Web was created to help companies better navigate this constantly changing landscape.

A number of key trends emerged in 2005 in a variety of global marketplaces:

In North America, the rising level of notebook PC ownership is fueling significant growth in wireless Internet access. The U.S. and Canada lead the world in Wireless Internet Access via PC: At least one-third of North Americans (U.S. & Canada) have accessed the Internet wirelessly in the past 30 days – significantly higher than rates seen in 2004. The U.S. and Canada also have some of the highest rates of Wi-Fi awareness and usage, as roughly two in five that have that have heard of Wi-Fi technology have actually used it to access the Internet.

In Europe, France and Germany appear poised to drive global Internet growth in 2006, as does urban Russia, where Internet usage remains a nascent activity, but is on the rise. In addition, future growth in wireless Internet access via handset/cell phone looks promising in Europe as well, particularly in France and the U.K., while usage and/or access to VoIP telephony (Voice over Internet Protocol) is also rising steadily in France, Germany and the U.K., indicating these nations may be emerging as the early adopter markets for this Internet technology.

In East Asia, the urban China market is quickly evolving into one of the most dynamic Internet-based economies in the world, as it boasts not only the heaviest Internet usage of any of the countries measured (17.9 hrs/week online), but also may have room to grow; only 50% of individuals have accessed the Internet in the past 30 days here, far behind usage in other major East Asian markets such as Japan (89%) and South Korea (68%), providing a glimpse of urban China’s potential. Another important factor to watch: whether the PC will continue to be the dominant platform for accessing the Internet, as over 90% of all households in the major East Asian markets own at least one cell phone.

To view report CLICK below (Adobe Acrobat Reader required): http://www.ipsos-na.com/news/pdf/FOW05_ChartsandTables.pdf