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Converged Wi-Fi/cellular handsets are expected to make a big splash, reports In-Stat. By 2010, shipments of cellular handsets containing Wi-Fi will exceed 132 million devices, the high-tech market research firm said. Carriers have been reluctant to offer Wi-Fi-capable handsets for several reasons, but Wi-Fi has spread so fast that carriers will not be able to resist much longer.

"In the end, most U.S. cellular carriers will embrace Wi-Fi in their handsets, as carriers know that if they don't, other carriers will, and these carriers will likely steal away some of their customers," said Allen Nogee, In-Stat analyst. “Combo handsets also offer carriers opportunities to provide services such as VoIP over Wi-Fi, lessening impact on their cellular data system.“

-- More than 20 cellular handset models have, or will soon be, released with embedded Wi-Fi access.
-- A few cellular carriers are planning to offer services that support voice calls over cellular and Wi-Fi, and some Wi-Fi/cellular handsets are incorporating VoIP clients for services like Skype.
-- It had been assumed that business customers would be first to adopt Wi-Fi/cellular handsets, but in fact, consumers are likely to be more receptive to early adoption of the technology.

The research, The Road to Convergence: Wi-Fi/cellular Handsets Get a Voice (No. IN0602924WH), covers Wi-Fi/cellular handsets and technology, and explores the motivation by cellular carriers to enter this market. The research contains five-year forecasts for Wi-Fi/cellular handsets broken out by voice/data and consumer/business. In addition, a forecast of the number of Wi-Fi voice users of these phones is included.