E-News

The Medium goes Mainstream
Backbone Magazine
May 2002

Internet users may once have had a standard porfile, but that's no longer the case according to a study on the "Internet mosaic" from IDC.

Whekl net heads used to be affluent or techie types, they now include people around the world of all ages, educations levels, and occupations. However, the bulk of those are in North America and Western Europe (see table). Other key findings include:

• 80 per cent of Canadians will access the Internet by 2006

• worldwide e-commerce spending grew 68 per cent between 2000 and 2001, totalling more than US$600 billion.

• forecasts indidicate worldwide e-com spending will exceed US$1 trillion in 2002

• by the end of 2002 more than 600 million people worldwide will access the internet

Percentage of Internet Users
North America	33%
Western Europe	30%
Asia Pacific	19%
Japan	10%
Rest of world	8%

Total number of Internet users:500 million