CSR claims to be the first to have integrated all the Bluetooth components onto a single chip of industry-standard silicon, greatly reducing manufacturing costs. The first to market clearly has an advantage here. The other important factor, interoperability, got a boost late last year with the formulation of version 1.1 of the Bluetooth specification, according to Dennis. The spec is due for final approval early this year. In order for it to work and work right, the spec has to be standardised.
Every product has to work with every other product.
Dennis expects more Bluetooth chip manufacturers to begin volume production in the second or third quarters. But even after the silicon is out on the market, don't expect the world to be Bluetooth-ised right away. For one thing, there's still the software to be ironed out. Soon all your digital devices could be talking to one another, without wires. Find out how with the Bluetooth special Have your say instantly, and see what others have said.