Wireless USB killed the Bluetooth star

Or will, starting within the next 12 months. The wireless USB protocol will be finished by the end of March, and products for the retail sector will start rolling out within a year's time. Designed to operate at a range of 10 meters or less, data transfer speeds will top off at 480 Mbps. At Intel's Developer Forum this week, senior fellow Kevin Kahn demonstrated a USB dongle that fits a standard USB 2.0 port and would allow any device with a USB port to send its signals wirelessly. The key advantage of this technology over Bluetooth is ease of use - so many users have been burned by compatibility and setup issues when trying to get Bluetooth devices to talk to each other. For the average consumer, if it isn't dead easy to set up, it just ain't gonna fly. With over 200 companies already slated to release wireless USB devices in the coming year, it won't be long before Bluetooth could very well find itself grounded.