Wi-Fi gets into mobiles too

Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA) managing director Frank Hanzlik has reason to be satisfied. The regulatory body that oversees the way standards are being implemented for Wi-Fi devices, has since the year 2000 issued over 3,000 certificates to devices that "comply with the standards set by the Alliance".

But there is a powerful symbolism in the 3000th certificate that the alliance issued. It was given to a Motorola-converged (A910) mobile phone featuring GSM cellular and Wi-Fi technology. This indicates that Wi-Fi is no more confined to the PC market, but getting adopted in other areas as well.

Wi-Fi, a staple in PCs, "is rapidly moving into consumer electronics and mobile phones. This augurs well for the industry," Hanzlik added. A person with a Wi-Fi device, such as a computer, telephone, or personal digital assistant (PDA) can connect to the Internet when within about 100 meters of an access point.

"More than 98 per cent of hardware companies are our members out of which almost 90 per cent of members do some kind of manufacturing. In India, Wipro is the only indigenous company which is a member of WFA, even though many MNCs who are members of WFA are operating out of the country.

"We are expanding the number of India-centric companies as our members and we are even looking at start-up companies or telecos who are into chip making, designing or services, to be our members," said Hanzlik.

Gartner estimates that more than 60,000 hotels, airports and other locations around the globe offer Wi-Fi hot spots. There are approximately Wi-Fi 400 hot spots in India at present. "India is one of the growing market for us, and since the future is said to be in consumer electronics and Wi-Fi capable mobile devices spaces, India with more than 100 million mobile subscriber, can certainly not be ignored," said Karen A Hanley, senior director, WFA.

According to a study by In-Stat, in 2005 alone, about 125 million units of Wi-Fi devices (chipsets) were sold globally. This figure is expected to be surged up to 450 million units by 2009, out of which more than 100 million units will be mobile phones (ABI Research). Out of the 3000 products that were certified by Wi-Fi Alliance so far, 16 include mobile devices, while many other products are like printers, cameras, television sets and gaming consoles. Industry sources say that about 90 per cent laptops that are being used globally or are being shipped at present are Wi-Fi capable.