Bluetooth Smart device information for manufacturers and developers
The Bluetooth ecosystem is exploding. Never before has there been a bigger opportunity for innovation of devices and applications using Bluetooth technology. To capture the imagination and attention of consumers, make sure your products connect the smart way.
Introducing the smart way to connect
Recent advancements in Bluetooth technology have expanded the market opportunity for manufacturers and application developers, giving companies the chance to differentiate themselves from their competitors by building Bluetooth Smart devices.
Bluetooth Smart Ready devices such as phones, PCs, tablets and TVs sit at the center of consumers' connected world.
Bluetooth Smart devices like heart-rate monitors, glucose meters, key fobs for cars and a wide variety of health and fitness sensors are ready to connect to Bluetooth Smart Ready devices and expand the consumer's digital experience.
At the center of the consumer's connected world—isn't that where you want to be?
Why Bluetooth Smart devices make sense
Analyst forecasts for the number of Bluetooth devices in the marketplace are staggering, providing limitless opportunities for manufacturers ready to start making Bluetooth Smart devices.
InStat predicts Bluetooth device shipments will exceed 2 billion in 2013, fueled largely by the rapid introduction of Bluetooth Smart devices across many different industry segments. More than 5 million Bluetooth devices already ship every day, ready to securely communicate with more than 4 billion other Bluetooth devices.
Forecasts by market sector
Consumer Electronics |
- 34.5 million Bluetooth enabled set-top boxes will ship in 2015
- Bluetooth technology attach rate for game consoles will reach 94% by 2015 (ABI)
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Health & Wellness |
- Use of Bluetooth technology in consumer health monitoring applications will increase from less than 40 million ICs in 2009 to over 200 million IC shipments in 2015
- Bluetooth Smart devices will account for almost half of all ICs shipped worldwide for health and fitness applications, estimated to exceed 100 million units (IMS Research)
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Mobile Telephony |
- Nearly all smartphones sold today are Bluetooth enabled (iSuppli)
- Bluetooth Smart Ready phones are already beginning, with the introduction of the Apple iPhone 4S in October 2011 and the inclusion of Bluetooth Smart Ready support in Windows 8 in 2012.
- Shipments of Bluetooth Smart Ready handsets will exceed 370 million units by the end of 2012, and 1.6 billion units by the end of 2015 (IMS Research)
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PC & Peripherals |
- 128 million Bluetooth Smart Ready laptops will ship in 2013 (ABI)
- Tablet sales will apprSach 250 million units by 2017, virtually all with Bluetooth technology (InStat)
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Sports & Fitness |
- Over 60 million Bluetooth enabled sports, fitness and health and monitoring devices will be shipped between 2010 and 2015 (IMS Research)
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With this explosion of the Bluetooth wireless world comes the need to better understand what works together. To define compatibility for the consumer, we've introduced the Bluetooth Smart marks.
Bluetooth Smart Ready devices are the most effective way to connect to billions of Bluetooth devices in market today, and the over 5 million Bluetooth enabled devices commercialized every single day. Examples include phones, tablets, PCs, TVs, even set-top boxes and game consoles that sit at the center of the consumers' connected world. These devices efficiently receive data sent from Classic Bluetooth devices and Bluetooth Smart devices and feed it into applications that turn the data into useful information.
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Bluetooth Smart Ready devices:
- are built to Bluetooth v4.0 specifications with GATT-based architecture
- feature a dual-mode low energy radio, and
- allow the device software to be updated by the consumer.
Manufacturers of Bluetooth Smart Ready devices should also provide a way for third parties to create and distribute applications that receive data from Bluetooth devices. |
| Bluetooth Smart devices are designed to gather a specific type of information—are all the windows on my house locked, what is my insulin level, how much do I weigh today?—and send it to a Bluetooth Smart Ready device. |
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Examples include heart-rate monitors, blood-glucose meters, smart watches, window and door security sensors, key fobs for your car, and blood-pressure cuffs—the opportunities are endless.
Bluetooth Smart devices:
- are built to Bluetooth v4.0 specifications with GATT-based architecture, and
- feature a single-mode low energy radio.
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Get started
For more information about how to design and manufacture Bluetooth Smart Ready and Bluetooth Smart devices, visit the Bluetooth Smart devices page on Bluetooth.org, our site for Bluetooth SIG members.