New reporting from NPD In-Stat says that the number of in-home wireless LAN-enabled video devices will approach 600 million in 2015, and the research firm says the model for residential wireless communication is shifting from network-to-device, to device-to-device (peer-to-peer).
"Increasingly, home video entertainment devcies such as digital TVs, Blu-ray players, game consoles and all versions of set-top boxes are coming to the market WiFi-connected," NPD In-Stat says, "so the devices can connect to the web and to each other."
NPD In-Stat's vice president of research Frank Dickson observed, "WiFi has moved from a nice-to-have feature to a must-have feature as it provides the connectivity necessary to support IP-based video content. it is important to note though that WiFi is growing from beign simply about getting content from a network to devices, to sharing content between devices, as WiFi evolves from being a network-centric connectivity standard to one that enables peer-to-peer connectivity. New innovations such as WiFi Display and WiFi Direct will fundamentally change the way content is moved and shared in the home."
The company added that its recent research turned up the following.
- Digital TVs will reach a 40-percent WLAN-attach rate by 2015
- In 2014, mobile hotspots will have an 802.11n attach rate of 98 percent
- More than 28 million WLAN-enabled Blu-ray players will ship in 2013
- The 802.11ac standard will achieve an attach rate in mini-notebooks of 23 percent in 2015
NPD In-Stat produces quarterly wireless LAN device forecasts and other reports based on research into the wireless LAN space. You can find more information on the company's WiFi-research offerings here.
