LONDON — ARM rather than Intel is expected to win out in the short term amongst designers of Mobile Internet Devices in a market that will take off gradually because of high prices but for which global demand will eventually build towards annual sales of 69 million units, exceeding $17 billion by 2014.

That is the conclusion of market research group Strategy Analytics (Milton Keynes, England and Boston MA) in a report on the sector that predicts sales of one million units this year, and growth at an average annual rate of 102 percent over the next five years.

MIDs are classified by Strategy Analytics as handheld gadgets that support the complete range of Internet applications familiar to PC users.

"Intel's Moorestown system-on-a-chip will be critical to the company's MID strategy," says Peter King, Director, Connected Home Devices. "But until this arrives in 2009 or 2010, ARM-based vendors will use this window of opportunity to establish market leadership positions."

King suggests the proven advantages of the ARM ecosystem in mobile devices will eventually outweigh those of the Intel platform and that ARM devices will comprise the majority of MID sales though 2014.

Other platform developers vying for a share of the emerging market will be Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, AMD, and Via, the market researchers suggest.

Strategy Analytics expects most MIDs will feature multiple wireless radios, including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and cellular 3G. The report also identifies WiMAX and GPS (Global Positioning System) as features that will prove increasingly popular.