The worldwide retail value of all Digital Terrestrial TV (DTT) Set Top Boxes (STBs) will "blast off" during 2006, and power drive up to more than $10 Billion during 2009, reports In-Stat. In a surprising twist, Australia currently leads the world for consumption of High Definition TV (HDTV) Digital Terrestrial Set Top boxes, with North America running in second place. Europe has been the unit shipment and market value leader for several years, and is poised to become the long-term dominating force if the 2006 World Cup Football matches drive strong uptake for new Digital Terrestrial products. Japan and China have emerging markets for DTT STBs that support High Definition. The study also found a greater number of countries are turning on local Digital Terrestrial TV broadcasts, and this trend is beginning to accelerate. In the U.S., US Digital TV (USDTV) is tying together the bit streams of up to six local Digital Terrestrial TV stations, and offering a low-cost alternative to Cable TV services. The next phase of development is focused on advanced set top boxes that support new video Coder/Decoders (Codecs) and include hard disk drives and support for PVRs. China is expected to turn on their local Digital Terrestrial TV services during 2007, and this will drive large unit shipments of entry-level HDTV set top boxes in 2008 and 2009.
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...