Pre-N sales boost wireless market - report

Redwood City (CA) - Sales of draft 802.11n wireless access points boosted general wireless sales last quarter according to a recently released report by the Dell’Oro Group. The market research firm said 802.11n routers took 8 percent of the router market revenue during the 2nd quarter. Overall revenues were up 30% from the same quarter in 2005.

While the percentages are low, keep in mind that the draft 802.11n models became available in the middle of the quarter. Consumers bought the new routers despite them costing an average of $86 versus $36 for an 802.11g router, according to the Dell’Oro report.

Total revenue for the 2nd quarter was about 900 million dollars. Cisco/Linksys was the top vendor and had 19% growth. Alcatel had the highest jump in sales with 354% growth.