Wi-Fi Direct-Enabled Digital TVs to Approach 80 Million by 2015

The first applications to adopt Wi-Fi Direct include mobile PCs, mobile phones, and digital televisions (DTVs). These devices share a trait: they are the respective centers of the PC,CE, and mobile device clusters, and they ship in the hundreds of millions of devices annually. Wireless display of images and video is a major aim of Wi-Fi Direct, so the main display in most homes will be a key target and according to a new In-Stat research report, nearly 80 million DTVs are forecast to be Wi-Fi Direct-enabled by 2015.

“One significant question surrounding to Wi-Fi Direct is will it ultimately help to increase the penetration of Wi-Fi? The answer is, marginally if at all,” says Brian O’Rourke, Research Director. “Wi-Fi is already doing very well, with increasing penetration rates throughout PCs, PC peripherals, CE devices, and mobile phones. As a peer-to-peer networking technology, Wi-Fi Direct may be the most help in CE, where Wi-Fi’s impact has been more modest than in the PC world. It is in the CE market, particularly portable CE devices, where Wi-Fi Direct may have the most added value.”

Other details from the report include:
• Mobile PCs will adopt Wi-Fi Direct more quickly than any other application.
• Every PC, CE device and mobile phone that ships in 2014 with Wi-Fi silicon will be Wi-Fi Direct-enabled.
• Wi-Fi Direct-enabled device shipments will reach 173 million by 2011.

In-Stat