14 DAY TRIAL // It looks like the happenings on the IT segment have led to a more or less strange evolution on the market for wide area network modems, in the way that what was once a niche market ended up growing much larger than was expected.
It is not really surprising, on today's IT market, for a certain product type to see its popularity and, by extension, sales, quickly escalate.
Verily, tablets are the most obvious example of this, what with the iPad and so many Android or Windows models being unveiled, as were netbooks a couple of years ago.
Still, while the attention of the general populace might be on these items, other, less hyped products have been selling very well, too.
In this case, it is discovered that USB WAN modems have exceeded the sales of their embedded counterparts by about three times.
As ABI Research has it, consumers are, understandably, not all that eager to buy entirely new systems/consumer electronics just so that they can have WAN support.
As such, sales of WAN USB dongles grew at a very quick rate, outselling embedded ones by a ratio of 3 to 1.
The main reason for this is probably the fact that embedded WAN modems are only now really becoming common on platforms, meaning that most consumers don't have one.
“Media tablets had a significant positive impact on embedded module shipments last year, with Apple coming out as the new leader for 3G modules,” said Jeff Orr, a senior practice director at ABI Research
“But embedded modules will likely falter this year as the tablet vendors look to drive prices down by foregoing add-ons including 3G/4G modems."
USB dongles are expected to stay ahead of embedded ones for about five years, although the ratio should drop to 1.2:1 by 2016.