TAITRA Industry Backgrounder:
WiFi Phone Market Prospects
Source：Topology Research Institute，2007/1
VoWLAN (Voice over WLAN) took off in 2006 due to relevant designs published by foreign chip makers – Atheros, Broadcom, Ti and Marvell. Since then Taiwanese businesses including Accton, WNC, Inventec, Gemtek and CCI have devoted significant resources into the development and manufacture of relevant terminal devices, and WiFi phones. Many new models of WiFi Phone were released into the market one after another in the third season of 2006. The emergence of Global Hot Spot, Wireless City and various promotions by such manufacturers as VoIP and SoftPhone all played a crucial role in promoting the growth of the WiFi Phone market.
According to findings of the Topology Research Institute, the preliminary demand in the first phase of the WiFi Phone market has already been surpassed. Its primary customers consist of upper leve l business executives, highly mobile sales representatives, engineers, storage managers and medical staff. When the unit price of WiFi Phone dropped below 50 US dollars, the second phase will stimulate business subscribers for a complete replacement of all of its old type telephones, and every staff will have the opportunity to own a WiFi Phone. The extensive appliances of WiFi Phone by businesses will accelerate the growth of the market. The third phase will take place when the concept of digital home is popularized. The WiFi Phone will then serve as a multi-functional device that’s used as a both a remote controller or a phone. It will replace former wireless phones to become a must for the home and as such manifest the dream of a true boundless (wireless) lifestyle. Personal consumers will at first resist the pure WiFi Phone market, opting instead for the WiFi/Cellular dual-mode cell phone market. That hesitancy will be caused by the inconvenience due to the absence of open exchange capability between mobile numbers. So consumers will select the dual-mode cell phone that is equipped with WiFi/Cellular capability.
Without doubt massive energy consumption is the largest barrier to WiFi Phone progress. But chip makers will soon overcome this challenge with their constant upgrades in power efficiency designs. After surmounting that hurdle it is expected VoIP and SoftPhone companies will spark a surge in WiFi Phone use by offering low cost telephone fees, establishing Global Hot Spots and Wireless Cities. These are all important driving forces in the development of WiFi Phone market. |
