It’s not just mobile phones that are leading the wireless boom, even in a time of economic bust.

 

Cell phones and a growing number of other wirelessly connected devices – from laptops, netbooks and e-readers to portable navigation devices and mobile media players – that will account for the huge projected growth in the “mobile connections” device category.

 

New data reveals that these gadgets, which fall outside the usual range of products sold and supported by mobile operators, in four years will account for 1.5 billion of the 2.5 billion connected data-centric devices in use worldwide. And that’s just the first among many trends projected for 2014, in ABI’s “Mobile Data Device and Service Retail Trends” report.

 

Until then, we can expect OEMs and large retailers selling these products to emerge as major providers of the cellular connectivity they use, ABI Researchers reported. 

 

“Carriers tell us they view the wireless connectivity business model for these emerging devices as murky,” said senior analyst Mark Beccue. “They are quite prepared to sell connectivity wholesale, allowing retailers and OEMs to assume the role of primary service provider to their customers.”

 

ABI researchers said that the first signs of this “shift” are already visible: TomTom and Garmin (News - Alert) have both announced partnerships with AT&T, allowing them to sell the connectivity for their navigation devices. HP offers a netbook in Japan for which it is the wireless service provider.

 

The growth of mobile connected devices will be especially strong in North America, Beccue said. Consumers own multiple devices for multiple purposes and will account for 595 million mobile data connections in 2014.

 

ABI flagged the retailer Best Buy, which reportedly posts an annual turnover of $40 billion and a growing mobile business, as being in a prime position to become a wireless data connectivity MVNO.

 

“Data plans offered by retailers and OEMs will focus on pay-as-you-go services, or on models like that of Amazon’s Kindle, where the connectivity cost is built into the price of the content.” Beccue said.