In-Stat: WiFi/cellular handsets reached 247M units in 2010

New research from In-Stat indicates shipments of Wi-Fi/cellular handsets reached some 247 million units in 2010. "In the past, cellular operators earning their revenue from a per-minute service plan would not support a handset that would use Wi-Fi to move those minutes off of the cellular network, without getting something in return," said Norm Bogen, vice president of research with In-Stat. "Over the past few years, cellular operators have yielded to consumer demand for VoIP services on their cellphones and have formed partnerships with VoIP vendors, such as Skype, to keep traffic on their network." In-Stat said business Wi-Fi/cellular phone shipments grew by nearly 40 percent in 2010 over 2009. Among the leading handset OEMs in the dual-mode segment, HTC saw the biggest share gain. Release