Further evidence of Wi-Fi’s pervasive nature, new research from In-Stat reveals that Wi-Fi products “continue to proliferate across nearly all categories, including computing, networking, consumer electronics and mobile devices.” Released Sept. 1, more than 1,000 new Wi-Fi products were introduced in 2008, and that number is likely to be exceeded in 2009, according to In-Stat’s ‘1H09 Wi-Fi Products Tracker Database.’
Stationary Wi-Fi devices, digital photo frames and digital audio players high up on the list, were among the fastest growing types of Wi-Fi consumer electronics devices last year as compared to 2007, according to In-Stat’s report.
Other new product introduction leaders in new Wi-Fi product categories in 2008, according to In-Stat:
- Hewlett Packard had the most Wi-Fi new product introductions of all manufacturers, almost tripling the number introduced in 2007;
- Cisco is leading all companies when it comes to new 802.11n product introductions overall so far this year while Samsung is leading the market when it comes to 802.11n Wi-Fi consumer electronics product introductions;
- While 802.11 b/g devices remain the dominant Wi-Fi technology, the number of new draft 802.11n 2.0 devices is growing fast and are expected to become the most popular Wi-Fi technology across all categories by the end of 2009;
- Looking to establish a dominant position in the market for digital TV sets, Philips introduced more Wi-Fi television sets than the rest of the market combined last year.