In-Stat/MDR reports that 22.7 million Wi-Fi adapters (NICs) and access points (APs) sold in 2003: That marks a 214 percent increase over 2002 and amounts to $1.7 billion in hardware revenues. The year was also notable for indicating the start of the sale of devices that connect various home electronics such as stereos, the report notes.
In-Stat also reported that Europe offered the most notable geographic growth, moving from 9 percent of total Wi-Fi home shipments in 2002 to 15 percent. That may be good news to authors of another report who bemoaned the slow growth of Wi-Fi in Europe. Researchers at BroadGroup found that Europe and Eastern Europe combined have a lower hot spot population than South Korea. They also found that 71 percent of European hot spots are in five countries.