The new millennium saw an expanding use of Web-enabled mobile
handsets. This was especially true in Scandinavian and Asian countries.
While banner adverts appeared on cell phones as early as the year 2000
on the Pacific Rim, it did not immediately catch on in other areas because
major carriers in the US and Europe feared it would not be acceptable
to their customers. A recent study ( Katsukura et al., 2005 ) reported that
in the early 2000s, for example, roughly 55% of people in Japan had
signed up for Internet access on their cell phones compared with only
12% in the US. But by the mid-2000s, major cell phone networks in the
US (Sprint Nextel and Verizon) and the UK (Vodafone Group) had introduced
advertising on their wireless information and entertainment services
( Yuan and Bryan-Low, 2006 ). This was encouraged by advances in
phone technology. Early cell phones were designed solely for calling, not
downloading. But cell phones now offer large colour screens and data
connections making them much like small computers.