The Bluetooth Special Interest Group once again made an ally out of a competing technology, agreeing to take the Wibree Forum under its umbrella.
Wibree addresses devices with very low battery capacity such as watches, heart-rate monitors and pedometers, allowing them to communicate with Bluetooth-enabled handsets. The technology was developed by Nokia Corp. six years ago, and the manufacturer announced Wibree last fall in an effort to push widespread adoption.
Now, with the Bluetooth SIG’s embrace of Wibree, the technology’s chances in the market appear much more positive, according to IMS Research.
“Before now it has been almost impossible to forecast Wibree; however, IMS is confident that shipments of Wibree ICs (integrated circuits) will go from zero to tens of millions very quickly,” said Fiona Thomson, an analyst with IMS Research. “We expect to see shipments of Bluetooth-Wibree, dual-mode ICs exceed 120 million units in 2011.”
The news marks at least the second time the powerful Bluetooth SIG has joined forces with a rival technology. The group last year adopted the WiMedia Alliance version of ultra-wideband as its future standard over a variant proposed by the UWB Forum.