Unit shipments of entertainment-orientated consumer electronics products that have built-in networking technology are set to expand by a factor of more than seven between 2005 and 2009, iSuppli Corp predicts. This development will herald a fundamental change in both the consumer electronics area and in the associated video and audio content markets, as networking technology alters the nature of entertainment-orientated devices-and how people use them.
Shipments of consumer electronics products with built-in networking capabilities are expected to rise to 154.5 million units in 2009, expanding at compound annual growth rate of 64.4 per cent from 21.2 million in 2005, according to iSuppli. By 2009, products with networking technology will represent a significant portion of overall consumer-electronics shipments.
Entertainment-orientated consumer electronics products that incorporate networking technology include cable and satellite Set-Top Boxes, Internet Protocol TV STBs, televisions, DVD players, video game consoles, Digital Media Adaptors and home media servers.
To be included in this category, such products must include integrated IP-based home network connections, either wired or wireless. They also must support direct communication with commonly-networked PCs, servers, network-attached storage and remote Internet content.
An emerging consumer application for such equipment is networked video, which entails the sharing of digital video recorder capabilities across multiple rooms and across different home-entertainment devices.

For more information, visit www.isuppli.com