Austin, Texas - December 3, 2007 - Wi-Fi chipset sales are poised toreach 300 million units this year, according to new data released today by theWi-Fi Alliance® and In-Stat. Driven byongoing strength in the PC networking market and new growth in consumerelectronics and handsets, this milestone represents a 41% growth rate from2006, in which 213 million chipsets were shipped.
"Consumers have come to expect Wi-Fi as a feature in manymore devices than notebook computers, and manufacturers have respondedaccordingly," said Jonathan Gruber, research analyst at In-Stat. "Wi-Fi connectivity was included on virtually all gaming devices and anincreasing number of handsets and music players this year, and we expect theoverall proportion of consumer devices incorporating Wi-Fi to continue to growfor 2008."
In-Stat further predicts that by 2011, about 700 milliondevices will ship with Wi-Fi on board, and that by that time, Wi-Fi-enabled consumerelectronics and phones will begin to exceed notebook computers in the totalnumber of shipments.
Inclusion of Wi-Fi in consumer electronics became morewidespread this year, with the 802.11g standard wirelessly connecting some ofthe most popular consumer gadgets, including phones, music players, and gamingdevices. The June 2007 introduction ofcertification for products based upon 802.11n draft 2.0 helped boost sales ofnew higher-throughput products to 9% of the total shipments.
"This was truly a banner year for the Wi-Fi industry, and weexpect to see the strong growth continue," said Wi-Fi Alliance senior director Karen Hanley. "With the launch of 802.11n draft 2.0 certification and Wi-Fi ProtectedSetup™ to make it easier than ever to set up a protected Wi-Fi network, we lookforward to continued growth of Wi-Fi in a wide variety of devices."
With up to five times the throughput and twice the range ofprevious-generation products, Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 802.11n draft 2.0 readies Wi-Fifor connected home applications such as home theater, audio, gaming, andcomputing systems. Wi-Fi Protected Setup, a new ease-of-use enhancementlaunched in early 2007, helps consumers and small businesses easily set upsecurity-protected networks. All Wi-Fi CERTIFIED devices have passed rigorousinteroperability tests and meet WPA2™ security requirements.
The Wi-Fi Alliance, which coined the term Wi-Fi, providestesting and certification programs to help deliver the best user experiencewith Wi-Fi technology. To date, morethan 4,100 products have been Wi-Fi CERTIFIED. Consumers and enterprise users of Wi-Fi products can find acomprehensive list of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED products, as well as detailed informationabout 802.11n draft 2.0 and Wi-Fi Protected Setup, at www.wi-fi.org.
About theWi-Fi Alliance
TheWi-Fi Alliance is a global, non-profit industry association of morethan 300 member companies devoted to promoting the growth of wirelessLocal Area Networks (WLANs). With the aim of enhancing the user experience formobile wireless devices, the Wi-Fi Alliance's testing and certificationprograms ensure the interoperability of WLAN products based on the IEEE 802.11specification. Since the introduction of the Wi-Fi Alliance'scertification program in March 2000, more than 4,000 productshave been designated as Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™, encouraging the expanded useof Wi-Fi products and services across the consumer and enterprise markets.
Mediacontact:
Edelmanfor Wi-Fi Alliance: Michael Diamond, michael.diamond@edelman.com, +1650-429-2772.