As consumers get more and more interested in wireless devices, so it is expected that gobal wireless chip sales will continue to surge. WLAN semiconductor revenue is expected to increase from 1.2 billion US dollars in 2004 to 3 billion dollars by 2009, with sales of WLAN chips set to soar to 487 million units by 2009. Many new devices are expected to incorporate WLAN features, including gaming consoles, set-top boxes, and digital TVs. It would certainly be really nice to be able to move my cable modem or cable TV box anywhere in the house I wanted, and know that connectivity would still be maintained. Perhaps in the future, just about everything will be wireless in some fashion.
"Increased competition and advanced chip integration will continue to create intense pricing pressure in the WLAN market, however, opportunities still exist for vendors to differentiate themselves from the pack," said Celeste Crystal, senior research analyst at IDC. "Low power consumption as a result of single-chip designs, increasingly robust quality of service (QoS) mechanisms, and the role of WLAN in consumer VoIP all provide opportunities to build loyalty."