What's So different about the mobile Internet? MINHEE CHAE AND JINWOO KIM The mobile Internet, defined as wireless access to the digitized contents of the inter- et via mobile devices, has advanced significantly, both in terms of its user popula tion and its technology. Recent research suggests that the number of mobile Internet users in the world will grow 18-fold between 2000 and 2005, to about 729 million [5]. The number of people using the mobile Internet already exceeds those using the stationary Internet in Japan [3]. In South Korea, the number of people owning a mobile phone is 29 million(64%of the total population), the e number Internet subscribers is estimated to be about 18 million(39% of the total popula tion), and more than 3.5 million people are already using a 2. 5G mobile Internet service,CDMA-1x, with a speed of 2. 4Mbps [8] The rapid growth of the mobile Internet has significant implications for e-busi- nesses. However, we cannot simply transfer the rules of the stationary Internet to the mobile Internet game" because the mobile Internet differs significantly in various pects from the stationary Internet. Hence we need to analyze the characteristics of the mobile Internet and their impact on e-business This study investigates the business implications of the mobile Internet from the user's perspective. In three consecutive large-scale surveys conducted in Korea, the effects of the characteristics of the mobile Internet on business users were identified The business implications of the mobile Internet were then compared with those of the stationary Internet, and their divergences analyzed according to the characteris ics of mobile Internet systems Characteristics of the mobile internet The characteristics of the mobile Internet can be understood from three different per- spectives: user, environment, and system [4] First, from the user's perspective, mobile Internet devices are usually more personal and individual than stationary Internet devices [9]. It is not uncommon for people to share their desktop computers, whereas it is very rare for them to share mobile Internet phones. Therefore, the mobile device always carries its user identity. MINHEECHAE(minichae@hotmail.com)isagraduatestudentatYonseiUniversityinSeoul,Korea JINwoo KIM (inwoo@yonsei ac kr) is a professor and director of the Internet Business Research Center at Yonsei niversity in Seoul, Korea. THIS WORK WAS SUPPORTED BY THE ASAN FOUNDATION GRANT TO THE SECOND AUTHOR OF THIS PAPER Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies re not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. D 2003 ACM 240 December 2003/ol. 46. No 12ve COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACMWhat’s So Different About the Mobile Internet? Minhee Chae and Jinwoo Kim The mobile Internet, defined as wireless access to the digitized contents of the Inter￾net via mobile devices, has advanced significantly, both in terms of its user popula￾tion and its technology. Recent research suggests that the number of mobile Internet users in the world will grow 18-fold between 2000 and 2005, to about 729 million [5]. The number of people using the mobile Internet already exceeds those using the stationary Internet in Japan [3]. In South Korea, the number of people owning a mobile phone is 29 million (64% of the total population), the number of mobile Internet subscribers is estimated to be about 18 million (39% of the total popula￾tion), and more than 3.5 million people are already using a 2.5G mobile Internet service, CDMA-1x, with a speed of 2.4Mbps [8]. The rapid growth of the mobile Internet has significant implications for e-busi￾nesses. However, we cannot simply transfer the rules of the stationary Internet to the mobile Internet “game” because the mobile Internet differs significantly in various aspects from the stationary Internet. Hence we need to analyze the characteristics of the mobile Internet and their impact on e-business. This study investigates the business implications of the mobile Internet from the user’s perspective. In three consecutive large-scale surveys conducted in Korea, the effects of the characteristics of the mobile Internet on business users were identified. The business implications of the mobile Internet were then compared with those of the stationary Internet, and their divergences analyzed according to the characteris￾tics of mobile Internet systems. Characteristics of the Mobile Internet The characteristics of the mobile Internet can be understood from three different per￾spectives: user, environment, and system [4]. First, from the user’s perspective, mobile Internet devices are usually more personal and individual than stationary Internet devices [9]. It is not uncommon for people to share their desktop computers, whereas it is very rare for them to share mobile Internet phones. Therefore, the mobile device always carries its user identity. 240 December 2003/Vol. 46, No. 12ve COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM Minhee Chae (minichae@hotmail.com) is a graduate student at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea. Jinwoo Kim (jinwoo@yonsei.ac.kr) is a professor and director of the Internet Business Research Center at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea. This work was supported by the ASAN foundation grant to the second author of this paper. Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. © 2003 ACM