Bluetooth SIG unveils Smart Marks, explains v4.0 compatibility with unnecessary complexity
Bluetooth has been through bevy of official versions to date, and now its eponymous Special Interest Group is announcing Smart Marks to differentiate device types in v4.0. Products will now fall under three brands including Bluetooth Smart Ready, Bluetooth Smart and the original itself. According to Bluetooth SIG, the new visuals are intended to help gauge device compatibility and also denote what form of radios they have. Essentially, Smart Ready refers to any electronics that feature Bluetooth v4.0 with a dual radio, like the iPhone 4S, while the Smart tag covers "devices like heart-rate monitors or pedometers that run on button-cell batteries and were built to collect a specific piece of information." In terms of compatibility, Smart Ready devices can interface with themselves and both of the others, while standard Bluetooth lacks compatibility with Smart, which can only hookup with Smart Ready-enabled gadgets. If you ask us, it's all a bit confusing at the moment, but at least there's a chart for memorizing it all. Hit the source link below for all the details.
Show full PR text
BLUETOOTH SIG EXTENDS BLUETOOTH BRAND, INTRODUCES BLUETOOTH SMART MARKS
Market and Use Case Expansion Create Need to Denote Compatible Bluetooth v4.0 Devices
KIRKLAND, WA – Oct. 24, 2011 – The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) announced two new brand extensions to its globally recognized logo today in an effort to create consumer awareness around compatibility for new devices implementing Bluetooth v4.0 – the Bluetooth Smart Ready trademark and the Bluetooth Smart trademark. Bluetooth Smart Ready devices are phones, tablets, PCs and TVs that sit at the center of a consumer's connected world and implement a Bluetooth v4.0 dual mode radio. Bluetooth Smart devices are sensor-type devices like heart-rate monitors or pedometers that run on button-cell batteries and were built to collect a specific piece of information. Bluetooth Smart devices include only a single-mode low energy Bluetooth v4.0 radio.
Bluetooth Smart Ready devices can connect to the billions of Bluetooth devices already in use today and also to new Bluetooth Smart devices just starting to enter the market. Bluetooth Smart devices, due to their revolutionary low power consumption, will only connect with products denoted with the Bluetooth Smart Ready mark, plus those designated specifically by product manufacturers.
"Here's the truth of the matter: Bluetooth Smart and Smart Ready devices will revolutionize the way we collect, share and use information," said Michael Foley, Ph.D., executive director of the Bluetooth SIG. "In order to ensure consumers know what these extraordinary devices have to offer, we created the Bluetooth Smart and Smart Ready marks. These new logos will help consumers manage compatibility, and encourage manufacturers to build their best Bluetooth devices yet."
A recent In-Stat report forecasts Bluetooth device shipments will exceed two billion in 2013 alone, fueled largely by the rapid introduction of Bluetooth Smart devices across many different industry segments.
"Consumers can look at new Bluetooth Smart Ready devices the same way they would a 3D ready TV – having the TV is just the first part of the puzzle, you need glasses and content in order to really experience 3D," said Suke Jawanda, CMO of the Bluetooth SIG. "Once consumers have a Smart Ready device, like the new iPhone 4S, they can continue connecting to existing Bluetooth devices and are also ready to experience the new world of Bluetooth Smart peripheral devices that will carry the Bluetooth smart logo."
More information on how a device qualifies to bear the new Bluetooth Smart designation, as well as detailed compatibility explanations and a general FAQ can be found at www.bluetooth.com/smartdevices.
