Wi-Fi is maintaining its lead across nearly all Wi-Fi product categories, including computing, networking, consumer electronics and mobile devices. Manufacturers launched over 1,000 new Wi-Fi-enabled products in 2008 and 2009 promises to surpass 2008 in new product introductions, according to market research firm In-Stat.

Among the growth areas will be consumer electronics (CE) devices with Wi-Fi. In 2008, manufacturers introduced nearly 100 new Wi-Fi enabled stationary CE products, up from 22 in 2007. Introductions are increasing in 2009, with over 55 in the first half of 2009.

Digital photo frames and digital audio players with Wi-Fi were among the key device types to see a surge in product introductions in 2008 compared to 2007.

In 2009, Wi-Fi enabled digital televisions are among the highest growth of new product introductions for stationary CE devices. Philips Consumer Electronics fielded an array of new Wi-Fi-enabled digital audio players and digital TVs. In the digital photo frame category, adoption of Wi-Fi in 2008 new product introductions was broad-based across 17 different competitors.

Although 802.11 b/g solutions still dominate, 802.11 Draft n 2.0 solutions are gaining rapidly, and are expected to become the most popular Wi-F technology across most product categories by the end of 2009.

In-Stat also reported that Cisco is leading the market in first half of 2009 with 802.11n-enabled product introductions overall. Samsung electronics leads market in 802.11n consumer electronics.