Okay, that may not be the sexiest rallying cry ever uttered, but In-Stat insists that the early adopter crowd in the U.S. wants Wi-Fi on board whatever device replaces their current phone. The impetus behind the demand? Techies want to be able to take advantage of VoIP services. Do businesses fall into that mix?Nearly 50% of U.S. early adopters are planning to replace their phones with Wi-Fi enabled devices. And they plan to do more than use the Wi-Fi simply to avoid using their network operator's wireless data networks. It's all about VoIP, baby! VoIP will be gi-normous. The number of converged handsets shipped with some form of SIP voice support is forecasted to exceed 50 million by 2011, according to In-Stat.

"In the years ahead, dual-mode VoIP-capable phone systems will have increasing competition from other technologies, like femtocells for cellular coverage, but widespread Wi-Fi deployment and the variety of Wi-Fi/Cellular handsets offers Wi-Fi/Cellular-based systems a significant head start in the market," said Allen Nogee, In-Stat principal analyst in a prepared statement. "Other technologies, such as WiMAX and Ultra Wideband, are also poised to enter the handset market, but Wi-Fi fills a unique niche that WiMAX and UWB cannot match."

I wasn't part of the In-Stat survey, but I agree wholeheartedly with the results. My next phone will have Wi-Fi. Period. There's just no compromising on that spec. The problem right now is that my choices are severely limited. That's all set to change, though, according to In-Stat. The number of Wi-Fi-enabled handsets on the market will surpass 100 models by the end of the year. The survey is mum on the breakdown of enterprise early adopters, but I would bet a nice chunk of the early adopter set would be using their devices for business purposes. As evidenced by the large trade shows earlier this year, smartphones are going to represent a larger and larger portion of the overall phone market. And smartphones are the most likely candidates to include Wi-Fi. That means business users, as well as prosumers, will be leading the charge.