Wireless Technology

New study finds that billions of new users and billions more machines will drive the intelligent systems market to over 5 billion units and nearly $2.4 trillion in revenue by 2017. The market for intelligent systems – those enabled with high-performance microprocessors, IP connectivity, and high level operating systems – will grow from 3.5 billion units and $1.7 trillion in revenue this year to more than 5 billion units and nearly $2.4 trillion in revenue by 2017.

The gaming-optimized handheld (GOH) market category, typified by Nintendo's 3DS and Sony's PlayStation Vita, has recently been overshadowed by gaming-capable smartphones and tablets and this trend is likely to continue. This research shows, for example, that the number of paying smartphone and tablet gamers will surpass the number of paying GOH gamers worldwide in 2013 and rise at a rapid rate through 2017. The number of GOH bundles shipped, meanwhile, should fall at an average of nearly 7% per year over the next five years. The installed base of GOH's is being overwhelmed by smartphones and tablets that are used for (primarily casual) gaming. If there's a silver lining for devices like the 3DS and Vita it's that the GOH category should lead in a crucial metric through 2017: average revenue per user (ARPU). Total mobile/portable gaming revenue, including digital and packaged game software, GOH hardware bundles, and direct advertising revenue going to platform suppliers and game developers/publishers, is forecast to approach $23 billion in 2017. Android remains quite fragmented but the platform is on its way to becoming a massively popular gaming platform in Asia/Pacific in particular. In order for Nintendo's and Sony's gaming-optimized handhelds to remain ahead of smartphones and tablets on key metrics such as ARPU, these companies and their game card developer and publisher partners will have to redouble their efforts in a number of respects. Digital distribution has reached an inflection point in mobile and portable gaming, and future success will largely boil down to finding a unique balance of freemium business model excellence and that ability to deliver compelling social experiences.

The low range and narrow beam of millimeter waves have made it ideal for having little or no interference between neighboring links, even in urban environments. This has made the interception of the Millimeter waves signal very difficult or nearly impossible. Thus in telecommunications, MM Waves technology is an alternative to fiber-optics, in terms of speed and performance, but at a low cost. Today, mobile base-station industry is rapidly incorporating MM Waves technology in small-cell equipment, due to advanced features offered by millimeter waves, and this trend has taken a steep upward curve, with the global LTE boom in 2012-2013. The global millimeter wave technology market revenue is expected to reach $116 million by end of 2013 is expected to grow to $1.1 billion in 2018 at a CAGR of 59.10%. Similarly, volumes are estimated to grow from roughly 11.8 thousand units to more than 360 thousand units in 2018. This growth is heralded by the growing telecommunication applications market for millimeter wave technology, especially in the fields of small cell and macro-cell mobile backhaul. The millimeter wave scanners & imaging systems market is also expected to grow rapidly in the coming five years with shift of scanning & security industry towards MM Wave technology from competing technologies such as X-ray backscatter technology.

The global market for portable medical electronic products was valued at $49.3 billion in 2011 and should reach $51.9 billion in 2012. Total market value is expected to reach $77.4 billion in 2017 after increasing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.3%.

During 2012, the total worldwide total cost of goods sold (COGS) market for all wireless products (notebooks/ultrabooks, tablets, smartphones, traditional cell phones, and e‐readers) is estimated to reach $348 billion in assembly value, or almost one‐third the assembly value of all electronics products manufactured worldwide. Due to the ever increasing demand for these products and the staggering overall total unit shipments (over 2 billion), manufacturers have a powerful incentive to develop new technological innovations and product iterations on a regular basis.

Global Jumper Cable Market Declined 9.5% in Shipment Volumes and 4.3% in Revenues in 2011. Commscope Retains Top Ranking in Global Jumper Cable Revenues.

Handset-based Solutions markets. The global market for MRM Handset-based Solutions is forecast to reach US$21.3 billion by the year 2018, buoyed by need for close asset tracking, declining cost of equipment, ease of installation, availability of customized solutions, off-the-shelf software and advanced communication networks. In the near term, revenues from the portable GPS devices market will shore up wider profit margins in the MRM value chain. Rapid technological developments, wider adoption by underpenetrated developing markets and newer end-use markets will strengthen the MRM solutions market, taking it to the next level of development.

Worldwide smartphone markets continue to achieve significant growth as devices access the Internet, achieve almost universal penetration, and support machine to machine (M to M) communications. Feature sets continue to evolve. Over one-half of all smartphones in the global market are made by Apple and Samsung. Samsung supplies Apple with some of the components used in the iPhone and iPad, making Samsung a major market participant. Even as Apple defeated Samsung in a patent dispute, the smartphone vendors are not likely to see much change, as they both continue to lead the market. The study documents the 2011 and H1 2012 quarterly shipments in dollars and units. It provides regional shipment analysis by company, a far more granular look at the industry than is available anywhere else at any price.

The global market for Touch Screen Modules in Mobile Devices is projected to be 1.3 billion units by 2018, driven by the increasing adoption of smartphones worldwide. Asia-Pacific represents the largest and fastest growing market. Feature phones presently represent the largest application for Touch Screen Modules in Mobile Devices but smartphones are expected to register the fastest growth. Projected Capacitive Touch Screens represent the largest market for Touch Screen Modules in Mobile Devices, and are expected to increase their share in future.

The global market for RFID in Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals is forecast to reach US$1.7 billion by the year 2018. Major factors driving growth in the market include additional functionality offered by RFID as against conventional technologies, technological advances, and rising issues of counterfeiting and re-labeling of expired drugs in the pharmaceutical industry. Growth in the market is also being fuelled by increasing adoption of the technology in countries such as the US and South Korea and the drive to minimize operational losses.