Telecom Lead America: Emerging markets that require low
power wireless connections and interoperability with other devices will become
battle grounds for technologies like Bluetooth Smart and ZigBee, according to
ABI Research.
Both technologies will be competing to get hold on
markets including connected home devices (remote controls, TVs and STBs) and
wireless sensors (medical, health, sports and home automation).
The study expects that both technologies will see rapid
growth from 2013 onwards, with Bluetooth Smart enabled device shipments
reaching over 1 billion annual shipments by 2016, far exceeding those for
ZigBee.
The study anticipates that the success of Bluetooth Smart
will be largely driven by the substantial ecosystem of Bluetooth Smart Ready
devices such as smartphones, TVs, laptops, etc.
Although, the study expects that ZigBee devices shipments
will be reaching over 350 million by 2016.
For simple point-to-point control, Bluetooth Smart is
the obvious choice due to its massive ecosystem of interoperable devices, but
for more complex systems with high node counts then ZigBee/RF4CE is expected to
be more successful as Bluetooth has a limited node count in practice,” said
Peter Cooney, ABI Research practice director.
The market study says that CSR and Nordic Semiconductor
are among those that are pursuing the Bluetooth Smart market, while Freescale
Semiconductor and GreenPeak Technologies are targeting the ZigBee market.
The growth of both the Bluetooth Smart and ZigBee markets
will bring many rewards to companies like Texas Instruments.
Texas Instruments is the only company to have developed
ICs for both markets, as well as ANT and proprietary RF products, which puts it
in an enviable position,” Cooney added.
Bluetooth and ZigBee to spur RF remote control market to 217
million by 2016
Earlier, ABI research predicted that RF remote controls
will cross 217 million devices in 2016, mainly driven by standards including
Bluetooth and ZigBee (RF4CE), plus proprietary solutions.
