Wi-Fi phone sales up 327 per cent

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Wi-Fi phones proved the favourite dish in 2006 with sales worth $535 million, a 327 per cent increase in sales over the year before, according to new research from analyst Infonetics Research.

Shipment figures for single and dual-mode Wi-Fi handsets jumped a massive 489 per cent between 2005 and 2006, claims the analyst's Mobile and Wi-Fi Phones and Subscribers report.

And demand for such handsets isn't likely to quieten down any time soon as continuing price cuts for mobile and Wi-Fi voice over IP (VoIP) handsets will remain a hit with users in 2007.

Wi-Fi handset shipment volumes are set to increase by nearly 1,300 per cent over the next four years, according to the analyst.

In terms of which vendors are lapping up the lion's share of this healthy market, Cisco is king of single-mode handsets, while Samsung, followed by Nokia are the dual-mode leaders.

The overall mobile phone market also enjoyed a healthy 2006, with sales topping $115.5 billion, a year-on-year increase of 13 per cent. Total handset shipments soared by 27 per cent between 2005 and 2006 and are set to grow by around 26 per cent between now and 2010.

"Unlicensed mobile access (UMA) is a good example of early fixed-mobile convergence (FMC), prior to the eventual shift to IMS in the long-term," said Richard Webb, directing analyst for wireless at Infonetics Research.

"More operators are transforming into integrated multimedia service providers, creating converged mobile, wireless LAN, and VoIP solutions that support voice and data services across enterprise, public, and home networks."

Webb concluded: "The appeal of such converged services is driving Wi-Fi phone adoption - especially in dual-mode Wi-Fi/cellular handsets."

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