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August 26, 2009

ABI Confirms Earlier Wi-Fi Handset Annual Doubling Prediction

By Vivek Naik, TMCnet Contributor

A recent report from ABI Research (News - Alert), titled “Report: Wi-Fi Enabled Handsets To Double Every two Years”, reported that Wi-Fi enabled handsets will double every two years through 2013, and found that another relevant trend category emerging was, “Wi-Fi enabled Smartphones,” since 75 percent of iPhone owners use Wi-Fi, and 80 percent of HTC (News - Alert) Smartphones have Wi-Fi even though only 10 percent consumers use this facility.



ABI has reportedly announced that it in its latest market research analysis titled, “Wi-Fi Capable Handsets,” it more or less agrees with its earlier mentioned prediction that Wi-Fi enabled handsets would double every two years though 2013, and now adds that the numbers may even significantly increase for the period from 2009 to 2011.
“Wi-Fi’s penetration into handsets has more momentum than the bad economy,” said Michael Morgan, an industry analyst. “It has become a must have item much as Bluetooth did earlier. But just having Wi-Fi in the handset isn’t enough. You have to have a reason for customers to use it. Until now it has been predominantly for data use, with voice struggling to find its niche.”
Research analysts at ABI claim that this year, the world should witness 144 million Wi-Fi enabled handsets shipped, and predicts that stats strongly indicate more than 300 million Wi-Fi enabled handsets will be sold in 2011 – a bi-annual increase of more than 108 percent.
ABI claimed that initially telecom operators were apprehensive about Wi-Fi taking traffic off their networks, resulting in lost revenue, but now have realized that the network may actually get freed and therefore inadvertently provide more bandwidth from which additional revenues can be leveraged.
Wi-Fi works in the uncluttered and open frequency range of 2.5 to 5 GHz. This enables it to steer clear of induced and conduced interferences, including when telecomm towers are transmitting just a few yards away. Wi-Fi handsets can download and upload a lot of data. Somewhere between 23 Mega bits per sec (Mbps) and 54 Mbps, with some reports claiming even 140 Mbps.
Since Smartphones sales appear assured in 2009, and with Wi-Fi on firm footing, it makes marketing sense to supply Wi-Fi enabled Smartphones.
“Verizon (News - Alert) has not enthusiastically embraced Wi-Fi in its handsets, while AT&T has,” said Morgan. “AT&T was thrown into the pool by the iPhone. Previously people did access data, but the iPhone (News - Alert) led people to use Wi-Fi to a degree never seen before. Traditionally cautious Verizon hasn’t been thrown into that situation yet, but they are warming up to Wi-Fi.”
Verizon has, however, embraced a different kind of portable Wi-Fi device called the Novatel Wireless’ MiFi 2200 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot. The device was debuted for sales on May 17. MiFi stands for ‘My Wi-Fi’ and is a portable Wi-B device with a small footprint that magically combines the functions of a wireless modem, access point and router, and has built in CDMA and Wi-Fi antennas. It accesses, or intercepts, wireless transmission and distributes it within a radius of 30 feet, which translates to a staggering 2,828 square foot area, to a maximum of 5 devices that may be as varied as Wi-Fi enabled laptops, mobiles, IP cameras, printers, MP3 players, and gaming consoles. With measurements of 3.5" x 2.3" x 0.4", it is slightly wider and longer, and 4 times thicker than a credit card.
Incidentally, Wi-Fi enabled access points (WAPs) also support a host technologies and networks such as long term evolution, GSM and UMTS, thus providing flexible coverage. Since WAP’s do not have license issues these can be physically transferred around without the consumer having to shell out extra cash.
ABI emphasized the fact that Wi-Fi’s benefits also depend on a carrier’s circumstances. For example, take the case of T-Mobile, which owns no landline assets, but used WAPs (T-Mobile refers to them as Wi-Fi ‘Hotspot at Home’ access points) to deliver an improved in-home service that could never be achieved before. In contrast, AT&T does have landline assets, and in this case, Wi-Fi’s benefit is to take a load off AT&T’s cellular network, said officials.
“The picture may be unique to each carrier,” Morgan concludes, “but in the end Wi-Fi can offer most operators those two key benefits: extended reach and/or network load reduction.”
The NPD Group, formerly known as National Purchase Diary, in its latest market research for the second quarter of 2009 (Q209) based on sales of mobile handset devices in the U.S. via its Mobile Phone Track information system said that Wi-Fi capability increased by 300 percent Year over Year now that 20 percent of all new handsets are equipped with this feature.
Mutualink recently introduced its Smartphone powered Wi-Fi enabled interoperable gateway device for the safety industry, called it Smartphone Commander and claimed that it is the first such gizmo in its category.

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Vivek Naik is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Vivek's articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Tim Gray


 







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