Wi-Fi indoor location revenue seen at $2.5 bn by 2020

abi research

Wi-Fi indoor location application revenues in the retail sector will reach $2.5 billion by 2020, latest ABI Research report, which considers the use of Wi-Fi indoor location in retail and public venues, showed.

“Wi-Fi, as an indoor location and analytics tool, is in a very precarious position,” says Patrick Connolly, Principal Analyst at ABI Research. “Apple continues to create roadblocks, while BLE beacons have not only taken mindshare but also budgets.

However, the report showed that Wi-Fi is available everywhere on smartphones and in over 50 percent of major retail stores in the US. That compares with the earlier situation where it was found as an expensive and inaccurate technology.

ABI Research said Wi-Fi access point vendors like Zebra and Cisco have all upped their game on retail analytics, while start-ups like Euclid have helped to drive adoption worldwide.

However, ABI Research believes that high accuracy standards like 802.11mc and Wi-Fi Aware are coming to market too late.

“The time for these was two years ago,” continues Connolly. “In the meantime, most access point vendors have developed their own high accuracy algorithms to compete with other indoor technologies.”

Connolly  said Wi-Fi Aware has long term potential in a lot of markets, but there is very little for retail technology vendors to hang their hats on today.

Arya MM

[email protected]

Related News

Latest News

Latest News