Wi-Fi is becoming a must-have feature across a range of devices, as network connectivity migrates into the living room, reports In-Stat (http://www.in-stat.com).
Digital televisions, Blu-ray players, and portable media players (PMPs) are among the leading categories in terms of total volume and growth. Shipments of digital televisions with Wi-Fi will grow more than ten-fold, from under 5 million units in 2009, to more than 60 million units in 2014. Driving this shift is both unit growth of the digital TVs, as well as Wi-Fi attach rates that increase from just 4% in 2009 to 33% in 2014. Across all stationary consumer electronics, which includes set top boxes, game consoles, Blu-ray players, digital picture frames, among other devices, Wi-Fi-enabled devices will exceed 200 million units by 2014.
"Wi-Fi swept through the computing market, driven by the need to access and share broadband connectivity," says Frank Dickson, In-Stat?s Vice President of Research. "That same consumer desire is now resulting in Wi-Fi adoption across the entire range of connected consumer electronics, driving significant Wi-Fi volumes. The ubiquitous adoption of Wi-Fi in consumer electronics is Wi-Fi?s manifest destiny."
Recent research by In-Stat found the following:
- Mobile handsets will remain the highest volume Wi-Fi-enabled device throughout the forecast period.
- Internet Tablets with Wi-Fi, including Apple?s iPad, will grow to nearly 50 million unit shipments by 2014.
- The Wi-Fi device Total Available Market (TAM) will exceed 3 billion unit shipments by 2013.