Around the Net
Cisco: 10B Mobile Connections By 2016
- Engadget, Tuesday, February 14, 2012 12:15 PM
Aided by the popularity of tablets, worldwide mobile connections will approach 10 billion by 2016, according to new estimates from Cisco. The networking giant expects the bulk of these connections -- 8 billion -- to take the form of cell phones, while it also foresees a significant rise in tablets -- 5 billion -- “and that's not even counting all those WiFi-only models floating around,” Engadget notes.
Cisco tallies Wi-Fi traffic in a different forecast, which is expected to be released later in the year. “If the market does indeed swell to 5 billion cellular-connected tablets, that would represent a 25 percent jump over today's global figure,” Engadget notes. By 2016, Cisco also predicts that 21% of those 5 billion tablet owners will be relying solely on mobile data to get their internet fix. What’s Cisco’s track record with big industry predictions?
Three years ago, as Engadget recalls, the company accurately predicted a 66-fold increase in worldwide mobile data traffic -- a surge that was expected to dovetail with the spread of 4G networks. By 2016, meanwhile, Cisco expects 4G to account for only 6% of mobile connections, but be generating 36% of mobile data traffic.
