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BLUETOOTH BITES BACK: SONY ERICSSON AND NOKIA LEAD THE WAY BUT
AVAILABILITY AND COST STILL A CONCERN
Posted by WirelessDevNet Jan. 23, 2003
Bluetooth is here and it's here to stay according to a report just
published by Berlin based market research firm Metrinomics.
Berlin, 22 January 2003 -- 91% of those who took part in the online study currently use or intend
to use Bluetooth - the remaining 9% are currently developing or intend
to develop applications and products for Bluetooth. Further Bluetooth
cheer is provided by the overwhelming consensus amongst respondents that
Bluetooth will survive and succeed in the market. 87% of Bluetooth
Developers contend that Bluetooth's technological future is assured.
Ordinary Bluetooth users are less certain in their belief that Bluetooth
is now "safe", but still constitute a majority of the sample (56%).
79% of those questioned concur that Bluetooth will become a widespread
wireless standard (this despite the fact that 88% consider Wi-Fi to be a
potential Bluetooth threat). Bluetooth manufacturers shouldnt be in too
much of a rush to put up the bunting though. Price, applications/device
availability and poor levels of technical support for developers remain
nagging areas of concern for a number of Bluetooth users. Not enough
devices ship with Bluetooth onboard, and Bluetooth has yet to achieve a
level of market presence which will sink prices below current Bluetooth
addition costs according to the report.
Sony Ericsson has established a clear lead over Nokia as both Best
Bluetooth Provider and Main Bluetooth Provider. TDK Systems, who signed
a global agreement to develop new Bluetooth applications and products
with Sony Ericsson last year, took the third and fourth spots in the
best provider and current provider categories respectively. Future
synergies between TDK Systems and Sony Ericsson should see the former
consolidate its position and growing reputation further still. Sony
Ericsson also tops the Main Bluetooth Provider rankings 29.6% compared
to second placed Nokia's 17.6%.
"Sony Ericcson and Nokia apart, the results do point to a very
fragmented market with not much to choose between Bluetooth providers.
The results show that more and more people are getting behind Bluetooth
despite abiding price and developer technical support reservations. More
importantly, the threat faced by Bluetooth from rival technologies, more
specifically Wi-Fi, does seem to have diminished quite significantly.
The prospect of Bluetooth becoming the Betamax of the wireless world now
seems less than remote" said Metrinomics Research Projects Manager Matt
Slater.
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