iPhone 4S Spurs New Bluetooth Standards

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has confirmed plans to rebrand Bluetooth 4.0. as “Bluetooth Smart Ready” and “Bluetooth Smart”. The goal is to create “awareness around compatibility” for new devices that support the standard, such as the new iPhone 4S.

The SIG officially announced two new brand extensions to its globally recognized logo “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.”

The group identifies these Bluetooth Smart Ready devices as “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.”

Sensor-type gizmos like heart-rate monitors or pedometers that employ button-cell batteries and are designed to collect a specific piece of information will be named “Bluetooth Smart” devices.

The group also outlines that Bluetooth Smart devices are defended by a single-mode low energy Bluetooth v4.0 radio.

“Here’s the truth of the matter: Bluetooth Smart and Bluetooth 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 Bluetooth Smart Ready marks. These new logos will help consumers manage compatibility, and encourage manufacturers to build their best Bluetooth devices yet,” said Foley.

The SIG cites a recent In-Stat report that estimates there will be over two billion Bluetooth device shipments in 2013 alone.

The surge will be largely triggered by the rapid introduction of Bluetooth Smart devices across many different industry segments, said the SIG.

Suke Jawanda, CMO of the Bluetooth SIG, chimed in to remark that “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.”

Speaking of Apple’s latest iPhone, Jawanda said, “Once consumers have a Bluetooth 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.”