Cellular and mobile broadband PC modem shipments grew more than 55% to more than 72 million in 2009, compared to 46.4 million such modems in 2008, according to new market data released by ABI Research.
The research firm said that USB modems have gained popularity due to their low cost, flexibility and portability, as well as to subsidies frequently offered by network operators.
Of the two minority modem formats, the PC Card and the router, PC cards continue to decline in favour of USB and the research firm expects that except for a few specialised vertical markets they will largely disappear by 2013.
According to ABI research, the category of routers that connect Wi-Fi devices to a cellular or mobile broadband connection was reinvigorated last year with the introduction of Novatel’s MiFi product, while the the case for a “personal hot-spot” is still unclear.
ABI research said that though many people own several Wi-Fi-enabled devices, but they rarely want to use them all simultaneously, away from home. Nor do many consumers seem to want to add another subscription for the sake of that ability.
Jeff Orr, senior analyst at ABI Research, said: “The USB modem continues to flourish. They remain amazingly popular. 2009 was actually a good year considering we were in a recession: there was somewhat surprising year-over-year growth in both shipments and revenue. And at the end of 2009 there was a surge of consumer adoption. Business adoption was less robust.”
“Huawei is the market leader by a significant margin. In 2009 Huawei extended its market share of all PC modems and routers to almost 50%, and it supplied 54.3% of all USB modems.”
