The wireless human interface device (HID) market -- which includes wireless mice, keyboards, and remote controls -- has historically been dominated by products operating in the 27MHz band but 2008 looks set to be a crossover year in which shipments of 2.4GHz-based products outstrip those running at 27MHz, thanks to wholesale product changes by major OEMs, according to market researchers at ABI Research.
The firm expects that by 2011, 2.4GHz products will account for triple the number of 27MHz products shipped.
While some wireless HID products may use other communication methods such as Bluetooth, ABI Research director Stuart Carlaw notes that Bluetooth still does not have price points low enough to allow it to penetrate much outside of its present territory: products aimed at smartphones, and mice for use with Bluetooth-enabled laptops.
“The narrowing cost differential between 2.4GHz and 27MHz ICs and the improved range of 2.4GHz mean that 2.4GHz products are well positioned to take advantage of the growing need to support media center PCs with rich navigational solutions such as Vista's Side Show,” Carlaw explained in a statement.
The firm forecasts the total market for wireless HID to grow from just more than 100 million units in 2005 to more than 168 million units in 2012, at a compound annual growth rate of 8 percent with a respectable share of that growth claimed by companies such as Nordic Semiconductor and TI, which stand to profit from the shift to 2.4GHz products.
At the same time, a wildcard in the development and growth of this market is Wibree, the new low-power wireless local area network technology.
“While Wibree is interesting and may have significant potential, it is still very new, and the jury remains out on the question of whether it can make significant inroads in the wireless HID market,” Carlaw concluded.
