Some wireless HID products may employ other communication methods such as Bluetooth, but according to research director Stuart Carlaw, “Bluetooth still does not have price points low enough to allow it to penetrate much outside of its present territory: products aimed at smartphones, and mice for use with Bluetooth-enabled laptops. The narrowing cost differential between 2.4GHz and 27MHz ICs and the improved range of 2.4GHz mean that 2.4GHz products are well positioned to take advantage of the growing need to support media center PCs with rich navigational solutions such as Vista’s Side Show.”
A new ABI Research Brief, “Wireless PAN Technologies in PC and Mobile HID” forecasts the total market for wireless HID to grow from just over 100 million units in 2005 to over 168 million units in 2012, at a CAGR of 8%. A respectable share of that growth may be claimed by companies such as Nordic Semiconductor and TI, which stand to profit from the shift to 2.4GHz products.
According to Carlaw, a wildcard in the development and growth of this market is Wibree, the new low-power wireless local area network technology. “While Wibree is interesting and may have significant potential,” he says, “it is still very new, and the jury remains out on the question of whether it can make significant inroads in the wireless HID market.”
“Wireless PAN Technologies in PC and Mobile HID” (http://www.abiresearch.com/products/research_brief/Short-Range_Wirele ss_Market_Update/104) profiles market trends affecting the uptake of wireless HID in both mobile and computing environments. It addresses issues including the market mix of 27MHz and 2.4GHz products, the impact of standardized products such as Bluetooth and Wibree, and rich navigation scenarios stemming from Media Center and Vista uptake. It forms part of two ABI Research Services: Short Range Wireless (http://www.abiresearch.com/products/service/Short_Range_Wireless_Rese arch_Service), and Home Networking (http://www.abiresearch.com/products/service/Home_Networking_Research_ Service). (Due to the length of the above URLs, it may be necessary to copy and paste these hyperlinks into your Internet browser's URL address field.)
Founded in 1990 and headquartered in New York, ABI Research maintains global operations supporting annual research programs, intelligence services and market reports in broadband and multimedia, RFID & contactless, M2M, wireless connectivity, mobile wireless, transportation, and emerging technologies. For information visit www.abiresearch.com, or call +1.516.624.2500.
