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Devices/smartphones

Nokia Readies Bluetooth Buster

You know WiMax, you've heard of WiBro, now meet Wibree -- the new short-range wireless specification from Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK). The number one cellphone maker is hoping the new technology will supplant Bluetooth for personal-area networking (PAN) applications. (See Nokia Intros Wibree.)

Wibree shares many of the same characteristics of Bluetooth -- it has a range of 30 feet, transfers data at up to 1Mbit/s, and will operate in the 2.4GHz band. The Finnish giant says, however, that the new specification will use far less power than its predecessor. This could mean longer battery life for the types of devices in which this technology is typically implemented -- cellphones, laptops, and PDAs.

Nokia expects a commercial spec for Wibree to be ready by the second quarter of 2007. So far, the firm says, Broadcom Corp. (Nasdaq: BRCM), CSR plc (London: CSR), Epson, and Nordic Semiconductor have licensed the specification. It plans to make the technology more widely available via an industry forum.

Wibree, however, isn't the only technology out there that promises better short-range networking. Ultra-wideband (UWB), a.k.a. "Wireless USB" technology," is also laying claim to Bluetooth's faded crown. UWB's main claim to fame is that, unlike Wibree, it's much faster than Bluetooth, offering transmission speeds of 400 Mbit/s and up. (See Bluetooth, We Hardly Knew Ye and Bluetooth's Makeunder.)

There is also the question of backwards-compatibility with Bluetooth for any new technology on the scene. At the end of 2005, there were more than 272 million Bluetooth units on the market, according to Strategy Analytics Inc. Nokia says that since Wibree shares much of the same underlying technology with Bluetooth it will be easy and cost-effective for manufacturers to design dual-mode chips.

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) , of which Nokia is a member, adds that it sees Wibree as complimentary to the existing Bluetooth standard. "Wibree is built upon Bluetooth wireless technology," writes a spokesperson for the group. "Wibree consists of a small extension to a standard Bluetooth radio. As such, Wibree has the potential to enhance Bluetooth use cases in the phone by bringing sensor [network] type devices into the fold."

— Dan Jones, Site Editor, Unstrung

IPobserver 12/5/2012 | 3:38:55 AM
re: Nokia Readies Bluetooth Buster Dan is not known as a Bluetooth enthusiast GÇô something to do with those deeply unfashionable headsets people wear.

Are you one of those?

The other point is that although hundreds of millions of Bluetooth units ship, they donGÇÖt get used all that much GÇô so everyone is paying for something they donGÇÖt really want or need.

I like Bluetooth for sharing contacts, ring-tones, photos, and the like, between devices. I also like that it can be used to make my phone a PC peripheral.
lrmobile_RFGuy 12/5/2012 | 3:38:55 AM
re: Nokia Readies Bluetooth Buster All the press around Wibree have got it all wrong again. Wibree is a long battery life variant of Bluetooth with a slightly- tweaked modulation scheme and a MAC appropriate to its purpose. Because of the long periods of deep sleep required to save battery power, it will be unable to compete with Bluetooth for any of the real volume applications. The REAL target is ZigBee, not Bluetooth. And as for Bluetooth's "faded crown," perhaps the esteemed editor can come up with an alternative technology which has done much better than Bluetooth, which will see growth from 300 million units last year to over 500 million units this year -- so go on then, name me ONE wireless technology which has ever shown such unit growth.
nickhunn 12/5/2012 | 3:38:54 AM
re: Nokia Readies Bluetooth Buster It's interesting how this story has generated a host of reports along the lines of "Wibree will oust Bluetooth" and "A new rival for Bluetooth".

What seems to be missing from the knee-jerk analysis is the importance of the dual-mode option, where Wibree is likely to be embedded within a Bluetooth chipset. That will allow a Bluetooth enabled device such as a mobile phone or PDA to connect to a much wider range of low power peripherals. It also fills in an omission in almost every other wireless standard by providing a built in gateway to enable onward transfer of data. Where many other low power radio products have been struggling is the question of how to connect to other systems, as each is a proprietary solution. Wibree solves this and offer the real promise of enabling a host of personal lifestyle, telecare and assisted living products to connect. As a previous post identifies, the standard facing the biggest threat is ZigBee, as it now has the might of Nokia knocking at its customers' doors.

The corollary is that rather than competing, Wibree is likely to ensure that Bluetooth remains the pre-eminent short range wireless standard within mobile devices, complementing and increasing BluetoothGÇÖs current position.
joset01 12/5/2012 | 3:38:52 AM
re: Nokia Readies Bluetooth Buster Gabe has it right. I know how many shipped. I even put it in the story. But how many people even know its there? Nearly everyone I know has a Bluetooth phone now. I don't know anyone that actively uses it. Same is not true of WiFi.

Check the story links to see why I described it as faded. Also, I updated the story with comments from the Bluetooth SIG.

What I need to further check out is if Wibree still offers power benefits when used in a dual-mode situation with Bluetooth. If not then I don't see what the point is exactly, but I'll find out.

-- DJ
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