In the fourth quarter of 2001, the 802.11b wireless LAN market saw product-shipment numbers rise dramatically over a year earlier, but price decreases resulted in negative revenue growth for the quarter compared to the fourth quarter of 2000. This information comes from Cahners In-Stat/MDR's (www.instat.com) report "4Q 2001 Wireless LAN Market Analysis," which says that rapidly decreasing prices, especially for network interface cards (NICs) and low-end access points contributed to the revenue decline.
"Although the economy remains troubled, and business budgets remain tight, unit shipments in both the home and business will grow throughout the next three quarters, albeit at a slower pace than in 2000 and the first half of 2001," says Gemma Paulo, an In-Stat/MDR industry analyst. "Falling prices for both 802.11b clients and infrastructure will contribute to this unit growth, although they will have a negative effect on expected revenue growth." In-Stat/MDR reports that 802.11b will remain the dominant wireless LAN technology throughout this year.
Other findings in the report indicate that the residential market for these product types grew at a rapid pace in the fourth quarter, as end users loaded up when prices dropped. Shipments grew 20% over the quarter, and revenue grew by 11%. Buffalo, Linksys, Apple, D-Link, Agere and Netgear led the total home-unit shipments market. Additionally, Cisco continues to dominate the market in terms of overall revenue, but Buffalo came on strongly in the fourth quarter. In-Stat/MDR says Buffalo is leveraging its dominant position in the Asia-Pacific, which is a hot market for wireless LANs.
The report contains market-share information and forecasts for NICs and access points by technology (802.11b and 802.11a included) and by market (business and consumer).