Sales of PC cards set to quadruple by 2011

Mobile data card sales will quadruple between 2007 and 2011 to reach $2.9 billion, according to predictions from Infonetics Research.
The report suggest mobile data cards could threaten the Wi-Fi hot spot market as HSDPA and EV-DO technologies become more available and affordable.
“The mobile data services market is becoming more competitive, as mobile operators try to recoup their investments in 3G networks and drive up flattening ARPU (average revenue per user),” said Richard Webb, directing analyst for WiMAX, Wi-Fi and mobile at Infonetics Research. “Currently, mobile data services are generally too expensive for mass market adoption, but that will change with the increasingly extensive rollout of high speed HSDPA, the launch of new data plans offering increased download limits, and better subsidies for mobile data cards. The [Apple Inc.] iPhone has proven that if the user experience is right, users will take advantage of mobile devices for Internet sessions.”
The report noted that customers are expected to use mobile data cards to download Internet-based content to mobile devices and for transferring user-generated content. Only a small portion of customers are expected to use mobile data plans as their primary means of broadband access.
The report also predicts worldwide mobile data subscribers will reach 144 million by 2011.