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ABI Research’s findings suggest that the cellular modems for laptops and netbooks reached more than 35 million shipments last year. Of that total, the majority were the external USB modems mobile operators have been pushing for some time. In addition, the growth has been also bolstered as mobile operators bundled USB modems with netbooks in subsidized price plans.
There were also about 3.5 million embedded modems, built into the computers. Philip Solis, ABI’s principal analyst, says that after years of slow growth, the embedded cellular modem market is starting to show signs of life. “ABI Research expects that, building on a good showing of 3.5 million units in 2008, shipments of embedded modems will more than double in 2009,” he added.
Qualcomm and Ericsson have been targeting the embedded modem market directly, positioning their products very competitively against each other. Operators around the world, especially in Western Europe, are subsidizing USB modems and offering premium data plans that include free netbook or laptop offering equipped with embedded modems.
However, the global recession is set to have an impact on the market. In that sense, ABI Research has lowered its overall forecasts for the cellular modem market for 2009. This doesn’t mean shipment rates won’t keep growing, quite the contrary — it’s the slower pace we’ll see this year.
More information about ABI’s report titled “Cellular PC Card Market Data” is available from their website.
About The Author
Dusan Belic
Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.
