Death Knell for Wi-Fi Phones?
Wi-Fi-only phones will have been almost wiped from the market within five years, according to a report from Juniper Research. The company predicts that the world-wide market for voice-over-Wi-Fi handsets will grow to almost US$70 billion by 2012, but that only two percent of this will be WLAN-only handsets. The vast bulk will be dual-mode handsets, able to operate as both WLAN and cellular phones. “The handset market is moving to a stage where no one wants to carry two or three devices in their pocket, so the ability to have a single device for all calls is a compelling proposition,” said Basharat Hamid Ashai, the report’s author. This could change the Wi-Fi map considerably, as networking suppliers who have invested in developing WLAN phones must now develop cellular phones or get shouldered aside by the mobile phone developers — and of course it is the latter who have the expertise, the brand recognition and the connections to operators. “Most single mode VOIP over Wi-Fi handset man
