In the 2000 business year, the number of users of mobile computers in Japan , excluding voice-service users, will be 20 times what it is in the current business year and is likely to total 13.63 million people, an industry group reported Tuesday.
According to the projection by Mobile Computing Promotion Consortium, an organization composed of 60 computer-related and telephone companies to promote mobile computing here, the number of mobile phone users and portable-handy phone users will grow steadily from the current 38.2 million to 63.1 million in the 2000 business year.
Most portable telephone users only take advantage of voice services, but as technology advances and fees decline, the ratio of voice-only service users to those using non-voice services will increase to about 22 percent by 2000, it said. The consortium also said that shipments of personal computers, which stood at about 3 million in the 1997 business year, will also rise steadily.