With expectations of 50 billion connected devices by 2020, it’s only a matter of time before web-enabled consumer electronics devices sales surpass those of personal computers. That should happen by 2013, iSuppli said Tuesday. The research firm is basing its prediction on the growing range of connected products, such as televisions, game consoles, e-readers and cameras, just to name a few. As more consumer devices for sale gain Wi-Fi and mobile broadband radios, computer sales are slowing; the web is moving beyond traditional use of the Internet.
Some data predictions from iSuppli to put this in perspective:
- Connected consumer electronics sells will top 503.6 million units in 2013, up from 161 million in 2010.
- PC shipments during the same period will amount to 253.3 million, up from 222.3 million.
- By 2015, connected consumer devices will top sales of three-quarters of a billion units compared to PC shipments of 479.1 million.
- Media tablets will show the most growth among connected devices, surpassing game consoles as the top seller in 2011.
- More than 300 million tablets will ship by 2015, 15 times greater than in 2010, for a five-year compound annual growth rate of 73.3 percent.
- Blu-ray players will follow tablets with the second highest compound annual growth rate of 37.9 percent.
Tablets may drive this growth, but I’d also include smartphones as a key driver even though iSuppli is omitting them from the consumer electronics category. The smartphone has already begun to outsell PCs, and there’s plenty of room for further growth; smartphones only accounted for 29.5 percent of global handset sales last quarter.
Regardless, while we can debate over which devices will be connected, they’ll all be putting a strain on the wired and wireless networks around the world for years to come. Given the current heat wave where I live, I know my web-connected home thermostat is using far more bandwidth than it did a few months ago!
Thumbnail image courtesy of Flickr user pitzyper
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