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ABI Research Forecasts over 100 Million Cellular / VoWi-Fi Phones in 2010 |
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Written by Leon D. Zetekoff, NCE
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Tuesday, 10 May 2005 |
From WirelessIQ Daily Newsletter:
According to a new study from ABI Research, annual global sales of "dual-mode" mobile phones — which can connect to either a conventional cellular service or a Wi-Fi network — are likely to exceed 100 million during the final year of this decade.
Such dual-mode handsets have been virtually unknown to consumers until now, and have not penetrated the enterprise space to any degree either.
But according to ABI Research senior analyst Philip Solis, some of the giants of global telecommunications — notably British Telecom and Korea Telecom — plan to offer dual-mode services by the end of 2005. That could start a very large ball rolling.
"The advantages of dual mode handsets and services, when they arrive, can be summed up in two words: seamless and economical," he said.
Though the full spectrum of capabilities won't appear in the first generation of products, when these services are mature you will be able to start a phone call at home (where your phone connects to your residential Wi-Fi network and then to your broadband Voice over IP phone service), continue it in your car (where the phone switches to your cellular provider's network), and wind it up at work, where the phone once more switches to your organization's 802.11 LAN, and VoIP. Through all this, the handset would sense the available signals and switch automatically from one network mode to another, keeping you connected and saving you (and your company) money.
The arrival of voice over Wi-Fi (VoWi-Fi) technologies and dual-mode handsets is described in detail in ABI Research's new study, "http://Voice over Wi-Fi", which examines the whole industry, from chipset providers to service providers. (All up and down the food chain, consumer VoWi-Fi will fuel accelerated market growth.) It discusses the technologies involved, the consortia driving these handsets and the competitive business environment. A number of forecasts are also included.
Founded in 1990 and headquartered in New York, ABI Research maintains global operations that support annual research programs, intelligence services and market reports in automotive, wireless, semiconductors, broadband, and energy. For more information please visit http://www.abiresearch.com, or call +1.516.624.2500.
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