The IP set top box market grew 55 percent in 2008, but such breakneck growth will not continue, reports In-Stat. Many telcos have already launched TV services, so there are fewer new customer prospects. In addition, the economic climate is sapping investment in new telco TV systems.

“Established telco TV providers like France Telecom, AT&T, Free, British Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, and China Telecom provided much of the subscriber growth that drives the demand for IP set top boxes,” says Michelle Abraham, In-Stat analyst. “We expect this situation to continue in 2009 and 2010. However with few new deployments, unit shipments of IP set top boxes will see only slight increases in 2009 and 2010.”

Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

• More than 50% of 2009 IP set top box unit shipments in Western Europe will have hard disk drives.
• Among the key technology trends are improved power management and support for 3D graphics, multiple codecs, and open software platforms.
• The average bill of materials for an HD IP set top box will fall below $50 in 2010.
• Among the semiconductor competitors providing solutions for the IP set top box market are Broadcom, CopperGate, Intel, NXP, Sigma Designs, and STMicroelectronics.
• Motorola held onto the top market share position in IP set top boxes in 2008, but its market share slipped from 2007 as Cisco ramped up shipments.

The research, “Worldwide IP Set Top Box Market”, covers the worldwide market for IP set top boxes. It includes:

• Unit, revenue, and ASP forecasts by set top type and by region through 2013.
• Analysis of feature and technology trends.
• Discussion of vendor strategies including ADB, Amino, Celrun, Cisco, EchoStar, Entone, Motorola, Pace, Samsung, Thomson, and UTStarcom.
• Market share analysis.
• Detailed Bill of Materials for HD IP Set Top Boxes, and additions for a DVB-T Tuner and DVR.