Experts: Handheld devices, other developments spur worldwide growth of Internet.

The boom of the Internet will be further fueled by newer, cheaper browsing devices appearing on the market as well as by industry investments that will greatly expand transmission capacity, government and business leaders said Sunday. Wu Jichuan, Chinese minister of information industry, told the global meeting that China had made great strides in expanding its telecommunications networks, but that much work remains to be done to give more Chinese access to the Internet and other services. Industry leaders at the United Nations-sponsored Telecom 99, the biggest gathering yet of information technology industries, noted that products such as the new WAP-based mobile phone may be part of the solution for China and other developing countries.The cellular phone, using the ``Wireless Application Protocol,' allows the user to see information from the World Wide Web in the phone_s small display window. IBM chief executive officer Louis Gerstner said the new devices and other handheld ``networked' products -- personal digital assistants and pagers - were helping to shift the focus from the personal computers made by IBM and others. ``The PC itself isn_t dead, but it_s no longer occupying center stage,' Gerstner said. He noted predictions that there will be 600 million PCs in the world by 2003, but said they would be joined by more than 2 billion handheld devices and many billions of cars, TVs, tools, appliances and vending machines all on the Internet. ``In short, we_re seeing a proliferation of millions and millions of new -- and much lower-cost, much easier to use -- access points, putting the Net within reach of masses of people who could never afford a PC,' Gerstner said. Senior officials of the Finnish cellphone manufacturer Nokia Corp. told reporters their new WAP-based mobile 7110 handset should be available to some consumers in Europe within the next few weeks.