According to the latest research from the Strategy Analytics Connected Home Devices service, manufacturers sold 49.3 million digital TV receivers worldwide in 2004, a 50 percent increase on the previous year and an all-time record. Revenue growth was even higher, at 70 percent, because of the growing importance of higher value integrated digital TVs. Global demand will continue to soar in 2005 and beyond as new services are launched and the user base expands. New digital terrestrial television and IPTV services will be key drivers of device sales over the next five years. Strategy Analytics predicts that 2005 sales of digital TV receivers (set-top boxes and integrated digital TVs) will grow a further 38 percent to reach 68.2 million units. By 2010 annual sales will have reached 181.3 million units, worth $39.1 billion in retail revenues. Because of the strength of its integrated digital TV market, North America will account for 65 percent of revenues in 2010. Asia-Pacific will account for 19 percent and Europe 14 percent.
Ultra-Wideband (UWB) is quietly becoming one of the most strategic short-range wireless technologies in the market, moving from niche deployments into the mainstream of smartphones, cars, and smart spaces. As the ecosystem matures and next-generation implementations arrive, UWB is shifting from nice-to-have to a foundational capability for secure access, sensing, and high-performance device-to-device connectivity. UWB Technology Market Development Unlike Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, or legacy IEEE 802.15.4 implementations, UWB combines three powerful attributes in a single radio: secure ranging, radar-like sensing, and low-latency, high-throughput short-range data. This allows networking and IT vendors to architect experiences that blend precise location, context awareness, and rich interaction in ways traditional connectivity stacks cannot easily match. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, UWB is expected to be one of the fastest-growing wireless connectivity...