The market for wireless USB, which is beginning to see commercially available products, could reach $1 billion by 2013 with chip prices down to $2, said IMS Research.
But 2008 is a make-or-break year, research director Fiona Thomson said in her new report, “The World Market for UWB.”
“Wireless USB really has to succeed this year. The industry has been building the hype, they’ve been saying since 2006, ‘It’s here, it’s here, it’s here.’,” Thomson said.
Target speeds are 480 Mbps at 3 meters and 110 Mbps at 10 meters, according to the USB Implementers Forum. However, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group’s recent decision to use Wi-Fi for personal networking instead of UWB was a major setback for UWB advocates.
Despite laptop UWB support from Dell, Lenovo and Toshiba, chips are still above $10, Thomson said. The big question is whether chip prices will dip low enough for handsets and accessories to be viable before the technology’s window closes.