* Research firm highlights potential of WLAN-based VoIP phones
Are we all destined to own wireless LAN-based VoIP phones? It would seem that way from a recent study by Infonetics Research, which found that such handsets are already gaining acceptance.
Worldwide sales of WLAN VoIP handsets reached $45 million last year, and 113,000 units were sold, the research firm says. Deployment of voice over WLANs is expected to steadily increase among enterprise firms through the next several years.
A brand-new segment of that market is dual-mode Wi-Fi/cellular handsets. Revenue in that area hit $6.6 million last year for more than 8,000 units shipped. Infonetics notes that the latter handsets were only available in the last few months of the year, so this number represents a strong start for a nascent market.
These dual-mode handsets are likely to become more common and prices are likely to come down, the firm says. The result will be that users will be able to roam across WLANs at home, at work and at public hot spots.
Infonetics says logistics and healthcare are the vertical markets where wireless VoIP handsets stand to gain the most ground early. But as VoIP expands across many more enterprises, wireless handsets are bound to follow.
Consumers could also gravitate toward VoIP over WLANs. Broadband service providers are looking to offer VoIP services and wireless access in a bundle with their broadband offerings.
Next up is wireless Internet calling. QoS issues, which have been discussed at length for years, will crop up – but Infonetics says that, despite those issues, adoption will start to pick up by the middle of next year.
