The growing surge of wireless technology could reshape communications in the world's most developed countries, according to the final results of an annual study of Internet trends released Tuesday.

Wireless usage has increased 145 percent in 13 countries and global markets according to "The Face of the Web 2003," a study conducted by market research firm Ipsos-Insight.

"Wireless Internet trial and usage in leading-edge and advancing markets is rapidly expanding with double and, in many countries, triple-digit growth," said study co-author Brian Cruikshank in a company press release.

About 134 million people in the 13 regions surveyed have used some form of wireless Internet, according to the study. That figure represents 40 percent of Internet users in those areas, which include the United States, Japan, urban China, urban Russia, Germany and South Africa.

"People are traveling more," according to Neil Modi, a research manager for Ipsos-Insight. "The business user is driving these changes."

As more people perform job functions on the go or from home, the technology is becoming more mobile. Laptops now represent one quarter of all computers, according to the study.

But Modi said the mobile phone will ultimately be the nexus of wireless technology and the multiple needs of users. Nobody wants to carry a phone, camera, PDA, pager, laptop and hand-held gaming device each time they leave the house.

"The cell phone is now becoming the center stage of all these devices," Modi said.

The number of households with at least one mobile phone increased by 30 percent last year in the regions covered by the study. The growth of household computers during that time was only about 6 percent.

So far, most users of wireless connections simply use it for email or text messaging. Only 6 percent of wireless Internet users interviewed for the study have purchased goods or services online using wireless technology.

One reason for the low number of wireless e-commerce transactions, according to the study, is security. Because wireless technology uses radio waves, it is susceptible to information piracy in a way that wired networks are not.

"If you dial into that frequency," Modi said, "you can get in."

But Brian Grimm disagrees with that assessment. Grimm is the marketing director of the Wi-Fi Alliance, an association of technology companies that certifies products based on specifications to ensure compatibility.

Grimm said the group introduced a security mechanism in April 2003 and plans to introduce an updated version later this year.

"The biggest issue is for consumers to turn it on," Grimm said. He said the group frequently works to communicate the importance of security to wireless users.

Modi said security will always be a concern. "There's always a new virus threat," he said, referring to the problems that have plagued wired Pcs. "People recognize the drawbacks of technology, but [those drawbacks] are diminished by the advantages."

Wi-Fi, short for wireless fidelity, is the industry standard for wireless technology. It is, in fact, a brand name developed by the Wi-Fi Alliance to ensure compatibility among products. Before the alliance was founded in August of 1999, "Different vendors' products would not work together out of the box," Grimm said.

The Wi-Fi alliance currently has more than 200 member companies and has certified more than 1,000 products. As a result, one in four people surveyed for the Ipsos study have heard of Wi-Fi technology.

The study cites the importance of Wi-Fi to the growth of the wireless revolution. As more transmission antennae, or hotspots, are installed, and more people buy devices with Wi-Fi capabilities, the shape of communications will continue to change.

"There is obviously a need," Modi said. "As wired Internet usage increases, people are finding they have a need for wireless usage."

Grimm said that wireless technology makes users more aware of those times when they are not connected.

"It's having a profound change on people's expectations," Grimm said of the wireless movement. As more people experience the mobility of wireless technology, the greater the demand becomes for complete freedom from the 20th century constraints of laptops and modem cables, he said.

Researchers at Ipsos-Insight interviewed 7,100 adults for the 2003 study, 3,250 of which were current Internet users. The Face of the Web study was first conducted in 1999.

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