London, UK -- (ReleaseWire) -- 10/30/2014 --Industry analyst and consulting firm Disruptive Analysis has published the 2nd Edition of its WebRTC Market Status & Forecasts report. WebRTC is a fast-emerging standard which allows voice and video communications to be added to websites and mobile apps, without a standalone phone or videoconferencing service. The study predicts that by 2019, there will be 2-2.5 billion active users of “embedded” communications worldwide, spanning consumer, enterprise and even “Internet of Things” applications.

Already supported by numerous major web, telecoms and IT firms, the recent announcement by Microsoft, about integrating the related ORTC technology with Internet Explorer and Skype, gives it even wider reach. Existing well-known services which use WebRTC include Google Hangouts, SnapChat and Amazon’s Mayday help button. Other “live” deployed use-cases include corporate conferencing and collaboration platforms, as well as contact centres.

According to the report’s author, Disruptive Analysis director Dean Bubley, “WebRTC is the most important new communications technology of the decade. It is already enabling developers to create a broad array of communications-enabled consumer and business applications. More than 6 billion devices will be WebRTC-capable within 5 years”.

By the end of 2019, more than a billion people will be regular users of WebRTC, through their day-to-day calling, social network or enterprise applications. Another billion or more will use the technology occasionally, for example when using online help on websites, or if invited to collaborate with clients as a “guest” on their communications systems. In other words, more than half of all Internet users will encounter WebRTC in some fashion.

The telecoms operator sector is also embracing WebRTC in several ways. Some telcos and vendors have focused on integrating it with traditional core systems and services like IMS and VoLTE. Others are pursuing more Internet and IT-type business models, aiming to compete in a much wider marketplace. Overall, carrier-driven WebRTC services could have as many as 500 million users by 2019.

About WebRTC Market Status & Forecasts Report
The 2014 WebRTC Market Status & Forecasts report is the product of an ongoing research effort by Disruptive Analysis – the only research firm which has continually covered WebRTC, since its inception in mid-2011. Authored by Dean Bubley (@disruptivedean), who was recognised with a “WebRTC Pioneer” award in June 2014, it is the most comprehensive analysis available of this emerging technology. Details about the study are available at www.disruptive-analysis.com