According to a new study from ABI Research (out today) all you’ll want for Christmas this year is a Wi-Fi-enabled television.
The research firm forecasts that in 2011, 20 million televisions offering wireless connectivity will be shipped worldwide. Networked TVs are not a novelty everywhere—they are already widespread in techno-trendsetter nation Japan—but in the U.S., it’s a trend that’s set to take off.
“North America, Western Europe, and select Asian countries are seen as the next growth markets, and the 2009 holiday season and 2010 will be the watershed periods when vendors will see whether networked TV should trickle down to mainstream models and really take off there,” said industry analyst Michael Inouye in an ABI press release today.
In the battle for in-home networking market share, if wireless prevails over wired (Ethernet), the most likely technology to win the crown is Wi-Fi, thanks to the soon-to-(finally)-be-ratified 802.11n standard, says ABI.
“Many current TV models are nearly capable of being networked, at least for basic functions,” said Inouye. “Basic networking often only entails additional memory, Ethernet support at the chip level (and active port), and software—the hardware component being relatively inexpensive.”
There are, of course, other hurdles beyond just the technological. “At the end of the day, if the content holders don’t let their content go to this platform in a timely manner, it’s just not going to get anywhere,” said Inouye.
View the full report, entitled “Internet and Web-Enabled HD TVs,” here.
Naomi Graychase is Managing Editor at Wi-Fi Planet.