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December 16, 2008, 02:25 PM ET
By 2020, Access to Internet Will Be in Everyone's Pocket, Study Says
The verdict on the future of the Internet is in (once again), and experts overwhelmingly agree that by 2020 much of the world’s population will connect to the Web using mobile devices, according to a new study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.
The report,“The Future of the Internet III,” included predictions from some 600 experts, including scholars and Internet stakeholders, about what path the Internet will take.
Of the respondents, 77 percent agreed that mobile devices, which will have greater computing power and will be more affordable, will be the primary tool used to connect to the Internet. The study also predicts that voice recognition and touch-based user interfaces will be more prevalent. A little more than half of the respondents agreed that virtual worlds and augmented reality would become integral parts of Internet users’ daily lives, although experts failed to agree on definitions of those terms.
Many of the interview subjects dismissed the idea that Internet-based communication networks would help increase social tolerance. And respondents were split about whether society would benefit if organizations and individuals revealed more about themselves online.
An earlier report, published in 2006 also predicted what the Internet would look like in 2020. —David DeBolt
Categories: Research
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