ABI Research today published a study entitled Wi-Fi in Consumer Electronics, which says the growth of 802.11n Wi-Fi will outpace all other networking technologies for consumer devices. The firm expects 216 802.11n chipsets to be sold by for consumer electronics devices by 2011.

"As consumers increasingly source video content on the Internet and look towards multi-room distribution, older Wi-Fi technologies don't have the bandwidth to deliver this content, particularly over longer ranges," says ABI analyst Michael wolf. "802.11n, in particular 5 GHz solutions using 40 MHz-wide channels, will help alleviate these constraints."

The firm says the progression will be pretty straightforward. "Growth in 802.11n in consumer electronics devices is a natural evolution of the market for faster Wi-Fi from the PC and router markets," the company states. "As laptop OEMs make 802.11n standard on their high-end laptops, ABI Research believes this will have a natural pull-through effect on 802.11n-enabled home routers. The wider installed base of 802.11n routers and gateways, combined with increased demand for IP-delivered content on consumer electronics, will push large consumer electronics brands to integrate Wi-Fi in their devices."

More here from Gearlog ... and the press release is here.