Future Handset Connectivity Technologies

Tag : Bluetooth Handset

In a release, Research and Markets noted that report highlightsinclude:
Will WLAN, NFC and UWB join Bluetooth in future handsets? BergInsight forecasts that 25 percent of mobile handsets sold in 2012will feature wireless local area network connectivity. NFC and UWBare also predicted to gradually enter the high-end market segment.Find out more about these future handset connectivity technologiesin this 100+ page strategic research report from Berg Insight.
Numerous connectivity technologies are being integrated into mobilephones. These technologies are largely complementary, withdifferent use cases. The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG)drives the development of the Bluetooth standard. Bluetooth is aPersonal Area Networking (PAN) technology optimised for low powerconsumption. From the onset, Bluetooth was designed to enable easy,ad-hoc pairing and medium data rate communication for numerouselectronic devices. Today, the technology is available in countlessdevices, for instance handsets, headsets, consumer electronics andcomputers, medical equipment and cars. Since the introduction ofthe first Bluetooth-enabled handsets in 2000, the technology hasseen phenomenal growth. The number of handsets featuring Bluetoothhas surpassed 550 models and unit shipments exceeded 560 million in2007.
The IEEE 802.11 standards for wireless local area networks (WLAN)have been developed to standardise wireless LANs for computernetworking applications. The first mobile phones featuring WLANconnectivity became available in 2004, primarily intended forInternet access, corporate VoIP services and later, UMA fixedmobile convergence services. Moreover, the Bluetooth SIG isdeveloping a new radio substitution architecture that will enablethe use of the established Bluetooth protocols, profiles, securityand pairing mechanisms to be used by a secondary radio alreadypresent in a handset to achieve faster throughput. In February2008, the Bluetooth SIG added the IEEE 802.11 standard as aninterim solution for the Bluetooth "Alternate MAC/PHY" architecturebefore the WiMedia Alliance ultra wideband radio becomes morewidely available. The number of WLAN-enabled handset models hasexperienced rapid growth during 2007 and the first half of 2008.About 40 models had been announced at the end of 2006. In June2008, more than 110 models were available, or about to becomeavailable on the market. Meanwhile, shipments have grown fromslightly more than 5 million to 27 million in 2007.
Ultra wideband (UWB) is not a standard in itself, but refers to aradio technology using low energy, high bandwidth communication.The WiMedia UWB Common Radio Platform specification is beingadopted by numerous standard organisations for enabling short-rangeconnectivity with data rates up to 480 Mbps. The radio platform hasfor instance been adopted by the USB-IF for the Certified WirelessUSB standard and by the Bluetooth SIG as an alternative high-speedradio for the future Bluetooth specification. The first handsetswith UWB radios are likely to become commercially available in thelate 2009 to 2010 timeframe.
Near Field Communication (NFC) is a standard for short-rangewireless, point-to-point communication between devices overdistances of about 10 centimetres. When deployed in mobile phones,NFC can be used for countless applications, ranging frominformation exchange, electronic ticketing, electronic payment, todevice pairing for establishing data transfers using complementarytechnologies such as Bluetooth or WLAN. In Japan, contactlesspayment and authentication services using mobile phones wasintroduced in 2004 and has since been widely deployed there. Mobilepayment and ticketing services are likely to be the main driversfor NFC integration in handsets. Outside Japan, payment servicesusing NFC largely remains in the trial state and only a fewhandsets are commercially available. However, the technology andbusiness models are falling into place, thus enabling servicerollouts in the near future.
Companies Mentioned:
- Acer/E-TEN - Alereon - Apple - Artimi - ASUSTe - AtherosCommunications - BenQ - Broadcom - CSR - Fujitsu - Gemalto -Gigabyte - Hewlett Packard - HTC - i-mate - Infineon Technologies -Innovision - Inside Contactless - LG Electronics - Marvell - MioTechnology - Motorola - Nanoradio - NEC - Nokia - NXPSemiconductors - Palm - Panasonic - Qualcomm - Realtek - RedpineSignals - Research In Motion - Sagem - Samsung Electronics - Sharp- Sony - Sony Ericsson - Staccato Communications -STMicroelectronics and NXP wireless joint venture - TexasInstruments - Toshiba - WiQuest Communications - Wisair
Report information:http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/36f1be/future_handset_con
((Comments on this story may be sent to newsdesk@closeupmedia.com))
((Distributed via M2 Communications Ltd - http://www.m2.com))

http://www.10meters.com
Comments on this story may be sent to newsdesk@closeupmedia.com Morning Coffee with TradingMarkets -- Free Newsletter