By Erik Sherman, published in industry.bnet


The year was 2009; the month, October. News came of the end of the last specialized consumer electronics device. The GPS, which had seemed destined to continue its existence, passed on at the announcement of the Google Maps navigation feature on Android 2.0. OK, a bit exaggerated, but not by much. The current stock of smartphones is showing how many categories of consumer electronics are simply going to disappear, because virtually no one will need them — particularly when the feature set is so much richer. The vision of device “convergence,” long touted as something to desire, will suddenly bite a lot of vendors on their rear ends when they realize that it also means a tumbling opportunity to sell product and, ultimately, a shrinking consumer electronics market.

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The WiFi Alliance’s certification program for peer-to-peer device connectivity won’t launch until next summer, but the organization is nearing completion of a new specification to enable this hot spot-free WiFi connectivity. Products that achieve certification based on the new standard will be dubbed WiFi Certified WiFi Direct.

Previously code-named ‘WiFi peer-to-peer,’ the specification can be implemented in any WiFi device and allows it to connect to most legacy WiFi certified devices already in use. The specification enables quick connections between devices for transferring content or P2P communication between devices without joining a home, office or hot spot network. Connections can be one-to-one or between a group of several devices connecting simultaneously.

The Alliance is targeting both consumer electronics and enterprise applications with management features for enterprises and WPA2 security. A WiFi device that supports the specification will be able to discover another certified device within range and advertise its available services. Companies including Ozmo Devices, which provides low-power WiFi personal area networks, are already getting behind the specification. Ozmo announced today its plans to support WiFi Direct in its products. Other WiFi Alliance members include Cisco, Apple, Intel and nearly 300 others.

The WiFi Direct specs have a good chance of making a dent on the competition, which now includes Bluetooth, routers and alternative home networking standards. According to ABI Research, wireless connections in CE devices will remain the dominant technology even with home network technologies like coax and powerline making inroads. Wi-Fi connections in CE devices will rise from 113 million in 2008 to more than 285 million by 2012, including digital TVs, the firm found.

Ericsson today unveiled its new mobile broadband module specifically designed to bring high-speed wireless connections to a new generation of consumer electronic devices. As demand increases for the freedom and mobility which embedded broadband enables, Ericsson's new consumer electronics (CE) module signifies a great leap towards an all-communicating world.
 
Intended for immediate implementation in e-book readers, GPS navigators, and other popular portable consumer electronics, the CE module has the potential to be integrated into media players, durable goods and more, as embedded mobile broadband becomes part of everyday life. Already with commercial wins in the consumer electronics space, Ericsson's modules are enabling manufacturers to embrace and capitalize on the connected lifestyle.
 
The new Ericsson CE module, named C3607w, gives device manufacturers the flexible, self-contained connectivity solution needed to create the next generation of intuitive and innovative consumer electronics by decoupling the processor and connectivity design. At only a third of the size of previous Ericsson modules, the C3607w is packaged with an extensive operator approval program and outstanding IPR protection which eases integration and shortens time to market.
 
Unveiled at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF), the C3607w module highlights progress in Ericsson's collaboration with Intel announced last year to bring HSPA mobile data solutions to Intel's "Moorestown" platform-based MIDs. Although compatible with multiple platforms, the CE module represents progress in Ericsson's and Intel's aim to bring together the telecom and computing industries and extend the mobile broadband ecosystem to consumer electronics.
 
The C3607w is Ericsson's smallest, lightest and fastest mobile broadband module to date, capable of reaching uplink speeds of 5.76 Mbps with up to 40% less power consumption than previous modules. Equipped with Ericsson's wake-on-wireless feature, enabling remote wake-up commands from sleep mode, the CE module will also enable a new set of applications for security and messaging.

Wi-Fi chipset vendors will ship one billion units in 2011. Wi-Fi is penetrating an ever-widening array of devices, notes ABI. Wi-Fi chipset shipments are forecast to total well over 100 million just for smartphones this year, while netbooks, and a variety of consumer electronics devices such as portable media players, TVs, and cameras equipped with the wireless networking technology will become increasingly important market segments.

In the near term, says ABI research practice director Philip Solis, “802.11n will be the dominant protocol shipped during 2010, and there will be no looking back as single stream 11n chipsets (those not employing MIMO technologies) increasingly replace 802.11g products.”

 

Source; Telematics Update

 

The app revolution that started with the iPhone could spread far and wide to all of consumer electronics. That’s one of the lessons that Sony Electronics executives say they have learned from Apple’s success with the AppStore.

You could, for instance, access online stores to download just about any app you want for your consumer electronics devices, from TVs to clock radios. At a press dinner in San Francisco Tuesday night, Sony executives said it’s conceivable that a variety of devices could access downloadable apps from a single online store.

That’s a pretty big acknowledgement. Sony is a proud company that once dominated consumer electronics. But it now faces threats from everywhere, even computer makers such as Apple that are increasingly muscling in on consumer electronics turf. The idea that Sony could learn from Apple is a pretty foreign concept.

“A clock radio could be more than a clock radio through app downloads,” said Stan Glasgow, president of Sony Electronics in the U.S. “A company like Sony has to do a product like that and you will see us doing some of those products in the near future. We don’t have an app store at this point, but it is very possible.”

This consumer electronics app revolution is already starting through widgets, or small programs that can be embedded in web-enabled devices to add new applications. The Yahoo Widget Engine (above) is being adopted by Sony and a number of other TV makers. With it, web widgets can be embedded in TVs. With a remote control, you can click on the widgets and surf web sites from YouTube to Hulu.com. Glasgow said Sony’s newest TVs will have something like 29 different web services available as widgets, accessible via simple clicks.

That could eventually evolve into the notion of thousands of apps, where you could use the web to shop at an online store and then click to download apps that are stored on your consumer electronics device. That means the device will need some kind of storage and computing power. On top of that, consumer electronics companies like Sony will have to convince makers of third-party apps that it’s worth making apps for the devices.

Source Venturebeat.com

As the worldwide PMP/MP3 market matures, with shipment growth of only 5% in 2009, competitors are scrambling to add features such as touchscreens and Wi-Fi connectivity to re-ignite demand reports In-Stat. Just a few years ago, the PMP/MP3 player market was among the strongest growth segments in the portable consumer electronic (CE) industry. Today, the market is stalled due to a perfect storm of weak consumer demand, a poor economic environment, a stalled replacement market, and competition from the iPhone and other audio/video-capable smartphones.

“Among the lone bright spots in the PMP market is Wi-Fi enabled PMPs,” says Stephanie Ethier, In-Stat analyst. “Unit shipments of Wi-Fi-enabled PMPs will grow more than four-fold by 2013 from the 14 million units shipped in 2008.”

Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

• Total worldwide shipments of PMP players will reach 225 million in 2009, with Asia Pacific representing the largest geographic market.
• The market is decidedly shifting to video-enabled devices. By 2013, only 15% of PMP players will be audio-only devices. 
• Among the key PMP competitors are: Apple, Archos, Creative Technology, iRiver, ZVUE Corporation, Microsoft, SanDisk, Samsung, and Toshiba. 
• The total semiconductor opportunity for PMP/MP3 player suppliers has peaked and will decline below $5 billion by 2013. NAND Flash and Video processors make up the majority of semiconductor revenue. 
• Among the key PMP Semiconductor competitors are: Actions Semiconductor, NVIDIA, Texas Instruments, Toshiba Semiconductor, Freescale Semiconductor (SigmaTel).
  

An interesting article in uselog.com, which is useful for all those people involved in development and marketing of new consumer technology.

In this article in the Journal of Applied Ergonomics, entitled 'From telephones to iPhones: Applying systems thinking to networked, interoperable products' the authors point out that consumer electronics have turned into complex, networked platforms for services, as opposed to the 'as is' stand alone consumer electronics of twenty years ago. Designing these products, they argue, requires a systems thinking design approach. In the insightful, but sometimes a bit fuzzily worded article, the authors use the iPhone as a case study to illustrate their point. Below I've listed a number of trends they identify, emphasizing what I consider the most important ones, and supplemented here and there with my own examples.

 

Read the full article

2Wire, Huawei and Thomson captured major market share gains in the 2008 broadband customer premise equipment (CPE) segments, according to In-Stat. The broadband CPE segments include cable and DSL modems, routers, Wi-Fi Aggregators, and residential gateways, with each company demonstrating unique gains.

2Wire stood out for their significant market share gains across the key residential gateway segment. 2Wire gained almost six percentage points in market share in the worldwide residential gateway market. In the home Wi-Fi aggregator segment, which overlaps total broadband routers and gateways, 2Wire took over the number two position from Netgear, gaining 4.8 percentage points of share.

Huawei’s major accomplishment was in the worldwide DSL Modem Market, where it gained over ten percentage points. Huawei achieved an impressive unit growth rate of over 68%, compared to market-wide growth of just under 2%.

Meanwhile, Thomson saw the most broad-based share gains. They performed strongly across nearly all the segments that they compete in, making moderate market share gains in the total and E-MTA cable modems, Wi-Fi aggregators, and residential gateway segments. In addition, Thomson maintained their #1 market share position in the residential gateway market.

The recent research by In-Stat found the following:

• Annual growth of residential gateway shipments plummeted in 2008 to only 0.5%, down from 2007’s heady growth of nearly 32%.
• Unit shipments of cable modems with an embedded multimedia terminal adapter (E-MTA) dropped to 15.2 million units in 2008.
  

Digital divides in developed economies are less about limited broadband availability and more about a lack of broadband demand and complex interfaces. These are some of the key conclusions to drawn in the latest report from global advisory and consulting firm Ovum, titled “Bridging the broadband divide: challenges and solutions”.
 
“There has been significant focus on the limited availability of broadband as the main factor in creating digital divides” says Charlie Davies, senior analyst with Ovum’s Consumer Practice and author of the report. In fact, Ovum, as well as other consumer surveys and studies, have shown other factors such as a lack of demand as being a more significant barrier”.
 
Globally, overwhelming evidence that broadband is ‘good for the economy and good for the nation’, has made connecting society via broadband Internet a major government goal. In many developed markets, broadband penetration is now well over 50%; however, overall broadband growth is slowing despite the fact that broadband availability is at an all-time high. This, according to Ovum is due to either a significant minority of people not being interested in taking up broadband or them facing significant barriers in doing so.
Ovum’s report outlines a number of different strategies that will help to bridge the digital divides:
 
Less tech- more everyday. Many people without broadband or the Internet are put off by overly complex devices and interfaces that cater to the technically literate. In addition, users with disabilities are largely under-served. Inclusive design needs to play a much greater role; this is achievable through widespread adoption of successful design standards and principles, shared R&D and increased collaboration between commercial companies, not-for-profit organisations and public agencies.
Embed broadband into other social and economic programmes. Strategies to promote Internet usage need to work as part of wider inclusions effort: embedding broadband into education, employment, care and other programmes designed to empower the socially excluded.
Community relevance: from marketing to grassroots activity. In most cases, operators will play a key role in broadband inclusion activity, but this will be in partnership with other commercial companies, public agencies, NGOs and user groups. For example, efforts to target elderly people can involve old-age charities, targeted media coverage, local care agencies and companies specialising in solutions designed for elderly users.
 
Companies in the ICT sector, including broadband providers and consumer electronic companies, face the double challenge of reduced consumer spending and saturation of their core customer bases (early adopters and the mass market). “The growth opportunities that lie in serving this “last 10–30%” of the market globally are there; nonetheless, they are the most challenging segments to sell to, with higher acquisition costs and lower returns”, concludes Davies. “However, those who have the finances, acumen and resources to pursue these segments in partnership with others, can reap benefits that go beyond additional incremental revenue and Corporate Social Responsibility fulfilment, including building strength in inclusive design and additional brand value.”

Although cellular handset will continue to dominate shipments of devices with integrated GPS, the next growth spurt will come from mobile consumer electronics (CE) and mobile computing applications, reports In-Stat.

Mobile computing and CE devices will comprise over 100 million units in 2013.

"With growing attach rates and market maturity, GPS chipset providers must carefully evaluate which technologies to integrate into single chip solutions," says Jim McGregor, In-Stat’s Chief Technology Strategist. "Integration of the RF front-end and base band processor may not be enough. For example, which radio makes the most sense to integrate with, given the single mini-card slot of PC-based platforms?"

Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

• Although the number of devices shipping with integrated GPS is increasing, the attach rates and the devices shipments have been hampered by the faltering economy.
• By 2012, there will be more CE devices with integrated GPS shipping than there are stand alone personal navigation devices.
• Mobile computing holds a lot of promise for GPS with 26 million GPS enabled units shipping in 2013, but there are barriers. In the netbook segment for example, cost, integrating yet another antenna, only one mini-card slot will inhibit adoption.
• CPUs must be integrated (ARM, x86, Mips, etc.) to manage the host processor load.
• Infrastructure radios (802.11, Wi-Max, LTE etc.) are likely candidates for integration.

Interesting to see that the in-Stat guys are overlooking CAT-iq as a possible infrastructure radio, as mentioned in the last bullet.

And what sort of CE products do they mean?