Oyster Bay, NY -- Annual global sales of "dual-mode" mobile phones -- which can connect to either a conventional cellular service or a Wi-Fi network -- are likely to exceed 100 million by 2010, according to a new study by ABI Research.

Dual-mode handsets have been virtually unknown to consumers until recently, and have not penetrated the enterprise space to any degree either.

But according to ABI Research senior analyst Philip Solis, some of the giants of global telecommunications -- notably British Telecom and Korea Telecom -- plan to offer dual-mode services by the end of 2005. That could start a very large ball rolling.

"The advantages of dual mode handsets and services, when they arrive, can be summed up in two words: seamless and economical," Solis said. Though the full spectrum of capabilities won't appear in the first generation of products, when these services are mature you will be able to start a phone call at home (connecting to residential Wi-Fi network and then broadband VOIP phone service), continue it in your car (switching to your cellular provider's network) and wind it up at work (phone switches to 802.11 LAN, and VoIP). The handset would sense the available signals and switch automatically from one network mode to another.

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