The line graph illustrated the percentage of global use of five distinct types of information and information technology in the 1998 to 2008 period.
Overall, every type of technology witnessed an upward trend over the 10-year period. In addition, besides a noticeable change of mobile phone, while users prefer landline at the start, internet overtakes it, becoming the most popular technology.
In terms of landline and cell phones, in 1998, the former and the latter commenced at around 8% and 5% respectively. The landline’s figure remained almost the same until 2003, after which it increased slightly to 15% in 2005 before ending with 20% at the end of the period. The percentage use of mobile phone witnessed dramatic growth over a 9-year period, peaking at 45% in 2007, which was the highest percentage ever recorded. However, after that success, this kind of technology experienced a significant downfall to 0% at the end of the period.
Turning to two other categories, Internet started at around 2% in 1998, this proportion remained unchanged in the next year, after which this figure rose steadily to 21%, overtaking landline to become the most popular technology. While fixed broadband also showed an upward trend, rising from approximately 1% to 14% in 2008, Wi-Fi was not used until 2003, after which increased continuously to 16% in 2008.