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5th May 2004 - Although Bluetooth-enabled devices
haven't quite entered the true mainstream yet,
they are poised to take that next step, finds
In-Stat/MDR. With Mobile phones, PDAs, and headsets
making significant strides over the last year,
the automotive market beginning to make an impact,
and PMG (Personal Mobile Gateway) products expected
to emerge, shipments of Bluetooth-enabled manufactured
equipment will experience a 60% CAGR between 2003
and 2008.
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Most of the end-use markets for this technology seem
to be making significant headway. HandsFree regulations
and auto manufacturers are helping to drive the movement
toward the safety and convenience of cordless headsets,
and consumers will be able to use them with a multitude
of products, from mobile phones to telematics systems,
digital audio players and game devices, PCs, office
phones, and emerging stereo systems and wireless speakers.
In addition, Putscher believes that Since CDMA is a
large factor in the US, getting embedded Bluetooth-enabled
mobile phones into that market is integral for Bluetooth
growth in the US. Bluetooth-enabled CDMA phones are
beginning to emerge onto the market, with Sprint PCS
carrying a Sony Ericsson CDMA/AMPS Bluetooth-enabled
phone.
The automotive market is also beginning to make an
impact on Bluetooth demand, from a technology awareness
aspect, in addition to the functionality benefits of
HandsFree operation. The automotive market will provide
a driver for many handsets, headsets, embedded auto
solutions, and aftermarket car kits. In addition, demand
for PMG products, and their associated capabilities
and services, will provide another driver for Bluetooth-enabled
products. A number of wireless operators see PMGs as
an opportunity to increase their Average Revenue Per
Unit (ARPU) and to offer service differentiation. However,
the successful emergence of PMGs will depend on the
willingness of operators to embrace this new breed of
devices. PMG handsets and companion devices, such as
cameras and messaging devices, will jump start deployments.
In-Stat/MDR has also found that:
- Products that are compliant with the Bluetooth 1.2
version that includes the Adaptive Frequency Hopping
(AFH) profile will emerge this year. Not only for
notebooks, this coexistence profile is desirable for
headsets, and other applications as well.
- In 2008, manufactured Bluetooth-enabled equipment
will still be led by mobile phones.
- The Bluetooth semiconductor market made concrete
progress last year, with final 2003 worldwide chipset
shipments just about doubling, from those in 2002,
to 69 million units.
- Unlike Ultra-Wideband or 802.15.4, Bluetooth supports
voice. That is one of the reasons In-Stat/MDR does
not consider these technologies as major competition
for Bluetooth in the near future.
This Market Alert is drawn from the In-Stat/MDR report,
"Bluetooth
2004: Poised for the Mainstream",which provides
forecasts for manufactured Bluetooth-enabled equipment
and semiconductor shipments by detailed application.
The forecast for radio, baseband, and host-supported
silicon solutions is presented, as well as semiconductor
shipments by HCI breakout, geographic region shipments
and design wins, shipments by Class 1 vs. Class 2/3,
and application segmentations for Class 1. Years 2001
- 2008 are provided. This year, In-Stat/MDR's Personal
Mobile Gateway forecast has been added.
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