According to market research and analyst firm In-Stat, the number of WiFi-enabled devices will balloon from over 500 million in 2009 to nearly 2 billion in 2014. Blu-ray players/recorders, e-readers and digital televisions will lead the pace of adoption, the company says.
In-Stat's research VP Frank Dickson says for the most part, the technical hangups that previously kept WiFi from being adopted in video-based consumer elctronics devices have been dealt with. He notes that across what he calls "digital living room" electronics like set top boxes and game consoles, WiFi-enabled device shipments will pass 200 million by 2014.
A few interesting points from In-Stat's just-released report "Wireless LAN Market Estimates and Forecast by Device":
- Of the 29 million digital picture frames that will ship in 2014, more than half will be WiFi-enabled
- E-reader WiFi attach rates, which sat at 3% last year, will grow to 88% by 2014
The report provides a five-year forecast for WiFi CE devices, as well as CE device shipments and WiFi attach rates. Among the products segmented in the report are the following.
- Portable camcorders and IP network cameras
- Routers, residential gateways and standalone access points
- Media adapters
- Printers
- Gaming consoles
The report sells for $2,995 and can be purchased here.