Infonetics Research: WiFi Phone Market Jumps 76% to $102.5M in 2005,Will Double in 2006

Infonetics Research has issued a new report that finds the "worldwide WiFi phone market jumped 76% between 2004 and 2005 to $102.5 million, and is projected to more than double in 2006 as enterprises slowly but steadily continue deploying voice over wireless LANs." Infonetics is predicting healthy VoWLAN growth through 2009, "when WiFi phone revenue will hit almost $1.9 billion."

Richard Webb at Infonetics Research said, "The enterprise telephony market is undergoing a transition from circuit-based to packet switching, because organizations have extensive data networks that can potentially be used for telephony, eliminating the need for separate voice and data networks. Voice makes wireless LANs more desirable and mobility makes VoIP more valuable; it is natural that they are converging into a powerful enterprise mobile voice solution."

Highlights of the report include:

• WiFi phone units grew 112% between 2004 and 2005 and will grow 158% in 2006
• Roughly 2/3 of WiFi phone revenue came from single-mode WiFi VoIP handsets in 2005, about a third from dual-mode handsets; by 2009, dual-mode handsets make up 3/4 of total revenue
• 52% of dual-mode WiFi/cellular handset revenue came from Asia Pacific in 2005, 25% from North America, 21% EMEA, 2% CALA
• 802.11e QoS was standardized in late 2005, and will generate a new round of product releases and renewed promotion of real-time applications such as voice and video over wireless LANs