ABI Research Blog

Wi-Fi Tech of Yesterday

The rather surprising outcome of the UK referendum today has emotions running high: shock, glee, anger, fear. But perhaps the predominant feeling is uncertainty. After 43 years of inclusion, the UK is the first country to decide to leave the European Union definitively. As such, the blowout for the British government, the private sector and the population as a whole is as yet unknown. Many believe the departure will have negative repercussions, and a great deal will depend on the UK’s ability to negotiate new terms and conditions on numerous subjects with the EU and other countries around the world.

WiGig, or IEEE 802.11ad, is fully a part of Wi-Fi.  It is Wi-Fi in 60 GHz.  This year will be pivotal for WiGig with the first access points and devices incorporating the technology.  Next year will be a breakout year for WiGig.  Several flagship smartphones with WiGig will ship in higher volumes, along with more PCs, access points, VR headsets, and other products with WiGig.  Here’s why:

On 17 May 2016, the European Union Council formally adopted the new Network and Information Security (NIS) Directive. The legal act must still be approved by the European Parliament but it is expected to enter into force in August 2016.

The New York International Auto Show is the 1^st and largest in North America.  Over 1,000 vehicles were displayed this year.  Multiple Auto OEM’s from GM to Renault-Nissan acknowledge the industry disruption and expect greater changes over the following five years than the previous twenty.  Industry and regulatory focus continues on EV’s, although the US and Japan have not continued the sales surges of China and the EU in 2015.  The upcoming Tesla 3’s pre-orders and the Chevy Bolt excitement should impact sales, but not before ‘17/’18.

SXSW 2016 continues this week with a plethora of connected and autonomous car presentations.  

As part of their announcement chain for the Game Developer’s Conference, AMD released an interesting figure: AMD will power 83% of the total addressable market for Virtual Reality. Wording is key here, as total addressable market is far different from market share. In fact, there really isn’t a market to share just yet in tethered Virtual Reality, as all prior device releases have been development kits; the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive are releasing within the next few months, and Sony’s PlayStation VR is slated for mid-year.

There is no end in sight! That’s what mobile broadband operators tell me in the run up to 5G. All new traffic is wireless, a mix of cellular and Wi-Fi, and no one is going back to the wire. The only thing for sure is that mobile broadband gets faster, better, and cheaper. And that is the dog whistle for the never-ending drive for more data traffic.

Much like iBeacons, I have seen a lot lately on the “failure” retail apps, and how retailers should avoid them because their customers will not use them. Personally, I think this is both naïve and lacks vision on the retailer’s part. Everyone wants to do omnichannel now, so what makes you different?  It is how you engage customers through their smartphones that will differentiate your offering, not just the installation of beacons, Wi-Fi or a mobile app/web presence. A retailer who dismisses outright the possibility of a mobile app, doesn’t have the vision to see how smartphones and in-store retail technology can mark them out from their competitors.