It seems every writer out there loves writing predictions, so I can only assume it's because readers love reading them. Or perhaps it's just because writers want to be right and say "I told you so". Well in that same spirit, I thought I would take a stab at some CES 2007 predictions. I realize some of these may be obvious, or no-brainers, but I think I've stuck my neck out on a couple as well. These are in no particular order...

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On the wireless side, 802.11n is being abandoned by most of the big CE companies in favor of a new wirelessHD spec. That spec is due this Spring with deployment later in the year, so expect some annoncements or additional information at CES. Perhaps even products incorporating it later this year.

802.11n = 200 Mbps theoretical estimate
wirelessHD - 5 Gbps theoretical estimate

The .n standard suffers from too much infighting amongst the players trying to finalize it and many are not happy with the influence being peddled by Intel. It's taken too long from it's original proposal and still no firm ratification date in sight.

Companies are now looking to the Gbps barrier and beyond with available or soon to be available chipsets to support it.

Bob

I am aware of WirelessHD, and we did have a bulletin back in October about it: http://www.hdtvmagazine.com/news/2006/10/wirelesshd_standard_coming_in_spring_2007.php

But I do not see that as a competitor to the proposed 802.11n-based solutions. WirelessHD is for in-room, point-to-point, non line-of-sight (NLOS) at up to 10 meters. In other words, a replacement for system cabling, not longer range (room to room) communications.

- Shane