News

27 September 2006

 

Shipments of Wi-Fi enabled consumer electronics devices to hit 249m by 2011

”Wi-Fi in Consumer Electronics”, a new study from ABI Research, forecasts that the total number of Wi-Fi-enabled consumer electronics devices will grow from the 40m expected shipments in 2006 to almost 249m shipments by 2011.

Today’s market is led by the portable gaming industry, with consoles from both Nintendo and Sony equipped with Wi-Fi for multiplayer and online gaming. Microsoft’s new Zune signals the start of a large scale movement towards embedded Wi-Fi in portable media players, while camera vendors such as Nikon, Kodak and Canon have all embraced Wi-Fi in their products, says the study, which concludes that line-powered devices such as gaming consoles, DVD players and audio receivers will all see high attach rates for Wi-Fi during the forecast period.

"From the enormous interest in online gaming to the rapid emergence of new Internet distribution channels for top-tier movie and TV content, the need for connectivity in mainstream consumer electronics is growing rapidly," said research director Michael Wolf. "While the consumer Wi-Fi market has previously consisted largely of routers, gateways and adapters, ABI Research believes that as the market evolves towards digital distribution, its growth will be fueled by the inclusion of embedded Wi-Fi in consumer electronics."

Senior analyst Philip Solis adds: "The development of a market for Wi-Fi-enabled consumer electronics has been hampered by technology limitations such as power consumption, but it has also been delayed by consumer electronics vendors' hesitation as they waited to see what would happen with 802.11n. With the 802.11n standard set to be ratified in a little over a year, the Wi-Fi Alliance's decision to certify solutions based on a draft 2.0 for 802.11n, and vendors' intentions to release products based on the current Wi-Fi protocols, this market is set for growth."

See related item.

Visit: http://www.abiresearch.com