Skip to main content

Anticipating 4G Mobile Network Subscriber Adoption

Wireless fourth-generation (4G) mobile network subscriber adoption will escalate in 2012 -- as a variety of 4G-enabled mobile devices, such as USB dongles, smartphones, media tablets, 4G portable hotspots, and wireless broadband CPE modems, are shipping this year.

"4G devices are expected to generate 87 million in unit sales in 2012, that's up 294 percent year-on-year,” states Jake Saunders, vice president of forecasting at ABI Research.

According to their latest market assessment, the lion’s share of the global market is now backing LTE as service provider and vendor support has fallen away from the WiMAX fourth generation wireless network standard.

Observing the success of 3G cellular services, ABI analysts believes that it is clear there is a natural evolutionary demand from end-users, both business and consumer, to jump onto the 4G data bandwagon.

However, there are still some teething issues that will need to be resolved. Some operators in Western Europe have stated that while customers do recognize 4G offers higher speeds, they're not subscribing in large numbers, as many say they won't pay the premium for 4G handsets and 4G service tariffs.

High definition, from video streaming to richer, more interactive or immersive social networking and gaming experiences, should coax 3G customers to migrate to 4G.

Furthermore, mobile device vendors are experiencing intense competitive pressure, which is expected to bring down LTE handset prices -- estimated at a 10 to 20 percent reduction over the next two years.

"As evidenced by the Australian iPad 3 promotion fiasco, when iPad 3s were being promoted as being ‘LTE-ready,’ even though the modem is unable to access the Australian LTE spectrum band, the number of LTE spectrum bands will hamper initial pricing and product roll-out," says Philip Solis, research director, mobile devices at ABI Research.

Regardless, in addition to 61 million 4G handsets being shipped in 2012, ABI estimates 26 million 4G non-handset products will be shipped.

In the short-term, most of that will reflect customers purchasing USB dongles for legacy laptops and netbooks, followed by customer premise equipment, or home modem, purchases.

Popular posts from this blog

Demand for Quantum Computing as a Service

The enterprise demand for quantum computing is still in its early stages, growing slowly. As the technology becomes more usable, we may see demand evolve beyond scientific applications. The global quantum computing market is forecast to grow from $1.1 billion in 2022 to $7.6 billion in 2027, according to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). That's a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 48.1 percent. The forecast includes base Quantum Computing as a Service, as well as enabling and adjacent Quantum Computing as a Service. However, this updated forecast is considerably lower than IDC's previous quantum computing forecast, which was published in 2021, due to lower demand globally. Quantum Computing Market Development In the interim, customer spend for quantum computing has been negatively impacted by several factors, including: slower than expected advances in quantum hardware development, which have delayed potential return on inve

AI Semiconductor Revenue will Reach $119.4B

The Chief Information Officer (CIO) and/or the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) will guide Generative AI initiatives within the large enterprise C-Suite. They may already have the technical expertise and experience to understand the capabilities and limitations of Gen AI. They also have the authority and budget to make the necessary investments in infrastructure and talent to support Gen AI initiatives. Enterprise AI infrastructure is proven to be expensive to build, operate and maintain. That's why public cloud service provider solutions are often used for new AI use cases. AI Semiconductor Market Development Semiconductors designed to execute Artificial Intelligence (AI) workloads will represent a $53.4 billion revenue opportunity for the global semiconductor industry in 2023, an increase of 20.9 percent from 2022, according to the latest worldwide market study by Gartner. "The developments in generative AI and the increasing use of a wide range AI-based applications in data c

Global Public Cloud Spending to Reach $1.35T

Most digital transformation is enabled by cloud solutions. Worldwide spending on public cloud services is forecast to reach $1.35 trillion in 2027, according to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). Although annual spending growth is expected to slow slightly over the 2023-2027 forecast period, the market is forecast to achieve a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.9 percent. "Cloud now dominates tech spending across infrastructure, platforms, and applications," said Eileen Smith, vice president at IDC . Public Cloud Services Market Development IDC believes that most organizations have adopted the public cloud as a cost-effective platform for hosting enterprise applications, and for developing and deploying customer-facing solutions. Looking forward, the cloud computing model remains well positioned to serve customer needs for innovation in application development and deployment -- including as data, artificial intelligence