19 mln digital radios will be sold in 2007

The worldwide digital radio market, both satellite and terrestrial, will grow to over 19 million unit shipments in 2007, reports In-Stat/MDR. The high-tech market research firm believes that new content (stations that only exist in digital) and data services will drive consumer demand for radios. These factors are already at work in the digital satellite radio arena in the US and the digital terrestrial market in the UK.

Several hundred million analog radios are sold worldwide each year, in the form of stereo receivers, CD boom boxes, portable devices, alarm clocks, and car stereo systems. Reductions in the cost of digital tuners will convert the more expensive of the analog radios to digital by the end of 2007.