A recent consumer survey demonstrate that while respondents with existing home networks are fairly evenly split between Ethernet and Wi-Fi, future home network deployments are largely planned as Wi-Fi networks. The 640 tech-savvy consumers who participated in the survey still chose data-networking applications over consumer electronics applications as the applications for which they were most interested in using Wi-Fi connectivity.
"Consumer electronics vendors have a challenge to educate consumers about Wi-Fi and to overcome the perception that Wi-Fi is simply a data networking technology," says Norm Bogen, In-Stat analyst. "Nevertheless, Wi-Fi silicon vendors have fully committed to this market segment, and In-Stat believes the benefits to consumers of Wi-Fi connectivity in consumer electronics devices are significant enough to build a major market segment over the next five years."
A recent report by In-Stat found the following:
- The challenges that Wi-Fi faces, in terms of range, bandwidth, security, and Quality-of-Service (QoS), are being addressed by new standards that have either recently been ratified or are set to be ratified over the next several years.
- The prevalence of wireless network availability, especially in home networks, makes it increasingly likely that any consumer electronics device would benefit from Wi-Fi connectivity.
- More PCs in a respondentâs household was positively correlated with a greater likelihood of having heard of Wi-Fi being used in various devices.
The report, "Untethered Fun: WLAN in Consumer Electronics Consumer Survey" covers the results and analysis of a survey conducted in June 2005 of 640 consumers. The survey examined consumersâ knowledge, attitudes and actions regarding Wi-Fi as a home networking technology in general, and as a means for wirelessly connecting consumer electronics devices, in particular. This report is useful for product managers and marketing directors in Wi-Fi and consumer electronics equipment and semiconductor vendor companies, financial analysts covering these markets, and consultants advising clients in these markets.
