Report: Half Billion Connected TVs sold by 2015

written by: Richard Kastelein

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Published on Thursday, 07 July 2011 01:46

According to Santa Clara, California-based firm DisplaySearch research, by the end of 2015, over 500M connected TVs will have shipped. Products launched by TV manufacturers in 2011 show how critical internet services are to the future of TV. In 2011, more than 25% of all flat panel TVs shipped are expected to have some form of internet connectivity. According to the DisplaySearch Q2’11 Quarterly TV Design and Features Report, this number is forecast to grow to 138M units in 2015, accounting for 47% of all flat panel TVs shipped.

“The adoption of connected TV is not just taking place in developed regions,” said Paul Gray, DisplaySearch Director of TV Electronics Research. “Emerging markets often have good broadband services, and there is a thirst from consumers to get the best content available.”

TVTechnology.com has more:

The uptick in sales of connected TVs is attributed to the continued worldwide growth in broadband adoption, particularly in developing countries, as well as the recent decision by the Indian government to switch off analog terrestrial signals and move to DVB-T2 by 2015.

WiFi technologies are the foundation of connected TVs and services like WiFi Direct, a new wireless broadband standard that simplifies the process of connecting TVs to the Internet, enable the TV to partner more readily with handheld devices in the home, such as smartphones and tablets, DisplaySearch said.

More than 98 million TV sets with 802.11 wireless networking built in will ship by 2015, the firm predicted. “We expect that in 2015, 35 percent of 46-inch or larger TV sets in North America will be smart TVs, defined as having the following capabilities: able to retrieve content from the Internet without the restrictions of a portal; intelligent search and recommendations; upgradeable by its owner; and able to network seamlessly with other devices in the home,” said Paul Gray, DisplaySearch Director of TV Electronics Research.

The DisplaySearch “Quarterly TV Design and Features Report” is a quarterly update of the issues and rapid shifts in feature development in TV sets.