Wireless Technology

SuperSpeed USB technology, also known as USB 3.0, will see broad adoption across a range of PC and PC peripherals over the next several years, according to a new report.  Among peripherals, SuperSpeed USB will be targeted initially at devices requiring high data transfer rates and large data stores, such as external hard-disk drives and Flash Drives.  Other likely target devices include Portable Media Players (PMPs), LCD PC monitors, and digital still cameras.

Semiconductor revenue for WiMAX microcells, picocells, and femtocells is on course to a 46% compound annual growth rate from 2008 to 2013.  Cellular femtocell semiconductors will be another growth segment for chip vendors.  Worldwide cellular femtocell semiconductor revenue is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 260% between 2008 and 2013.

Announcements and investments made in the first half of this year provide plenty of evidence that companies are now ready to seriously back mobile money services.  This reinforces assumptions and forecasts of a research available at Electronics.ca Publications on the embryonic market for financial applications utilising mobile networks and handsets.  Last year the research projected a potential 900 million users for mobile banking and payment applications at the end of 2013 and these developments back these estimates.

WSTS (Worldwide Semiconductor Trade Statistics) classifies ICs into 29 distinct product categories. Only two of these segments - Telecom-Analog and Telecom-Special Purpose Logic/MPR - are forecast to show revenue growth in 2009 according to a just-released market forecast available at Electronics.ca Publications.

According to a new market research report, Global Markets for Smartphones and PDAs, the global market for smartphones and personal digital assistants (PDAs) generated $58.7 billion in 2008. This should increase to $153.3 billion in 2014, for a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.2%.

The global recession will make the next two years unusually difficult for the cellphone industry, according to a new market research report available at Electronics.ca Publications. Subscription growth is slowing, so roughly three quarters of handset unit sales are expected to be replacement models, a discretionary purchase that can be delayed in times of economic hardship. The market’s eventual recovery will be influenced by technical advances.

802.11n Wi-Fi technology will dominate the wireless HD video market, at least for the next several years, according to a new market research report available at Electronics.ca Publications. Three other technologies are competing in this space—Wireless Home Digital Interface (WHDI), WirelessHD, and Ultrawideband (UWB). However, the ubiquity of Wi-Fi technology is proving unstoppable.

Although cellular handset will continue to dominate shipments of devices with integrated GPS, the next growth spurt will come from mobile consumer electronics (CE) and mobile computing applications, according to a new market research report available now at Electronics.ca Publications. Mobile computing and CE devices will comprise over 100 million units in 2013.

In 4Q08, worldwide revenue for the overall WLAN market decreased by 2.4% year-over-year (YoY), down from $1.19 billion in 4Q07 to $1.16 billion in 4Q08. Despite the overall market decline in 4Q08, revenue and shipments of draft 11n products grew by over 80%.

While femtocells were virtually non-existent in 2006, and deployed by one operator in 2007, they will make up 61% of small cellular base station revenue by 2013, according to a market research report available at Electronics.ca Publications.  Microcells, picocells, and femtocells provide indoor cell phone coverage in a cost-effective manner.