This IDC study presents our first forecast of the U.S. residential voice over IP (VoIP) handset market. The forecast concentrates on devices that are aimed at the consumer market in the United States and whose primary function is VoIP. As IP-based voice services mature, the market for telephone handsets optimized for VoIP is also emerging. IDC believes that as VoIP extends beyond its low-cost value proposition into digitally optimized voice applications, handsets dedicated to VoIP will find a larger market willing to pay a premium above a simple handset.

"The VoIP handset market is poised to take its place alongside portable digital music players, digital cameras, and digital video recorders in the pantheon of devices that have helped the transition from analog to digital and, in doing so, changed the way users approach those devices. Just as music, images, and videos have been enhanced by digitization, so will voice communications and the devices that enable them," said Jonathan Gaw, research manager for IDC's Consumer Markets: Home Networking program.