Apple's iPhone 4S, Mac mini & MacBook Air are 'Bluetooth Smart Ready'
Apple's latest products, including the iPhone 4S and updated Mac mini and MacBook Air, are among a group of low-power Bluetooth devices now branded as "Bluetooth Smart Ready."
Bluetooth Smart is a new brand extension given by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group to devices that implement Bluetooth 4.0. Compatible devices include phones, tablets, PCs and TVs.
"Bluetooth Smart and Bluetooth Smart Ready devices will revolutionize the way we collect, share and use information," said Michael Foley, Ph.D., executive director of the Bluetooth SIG. "In order to ensure consumers know what these extraordinary devices have to offer, we created the Bluetooth Smart and Bluetooth Smart Ready marks. These new logos will help consumers manage compatibility, and encourage manufacturers to build their best Bluetooth devices yet."
Bluetooth Smart devices are sensor-type devices like heart-rate monitors or pedometers. They run on button-cell batteries and were created to collect only a specific piece of information.
Bluetooth Smart Ready devices can connect to traditional Bluetooth devices, as well as new Bluetooth Smart devices that are just starting to enter the market. But Bluetooth Smart devices, because of their lower power consumption, will only connect with products labeled as Bluetooth Smart Ready.
Packages will now carry three potential logos created by the Bluetooth SIG to help consumers identify what their device offers, whether it be traditional Bluetooth, Bluetooth Smart, or Bluetooth Smart Ready.
"Consumers can look at new Bluetooth Smart Ready devices the same way they would a 3D ready TV -- having the TV is just the first part of the puzzle, you need glasses and content in order to really experience 3D," said Suke Jawanda, CMO of the Bluetooth SIG. "Once consumers have a Bluetooth Smart Ready device, like the new iPhone 4S, they can continue connecting to existing Bluetooth devices and are also ready to experience the new world of Bluetooth Smart peripheral devices that will carry the Bluetooth Smart logo."
Bluetooth 4.0 support first appeared in Apple's products in July, when the MacBook Air lineup and Mac mini were refreshed. Other Macs released this year -- new iMacs and MacBook Pros -- only support Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate), but Bluetooth 4.0 also came to the new iPhone 4S released earlier this month.
Apple joined the Bluetooth SIG board of directors in June, and now takes part in overseeing the development of standards and licensing for the short-range wireless technology. When Apple joined, the special interest group said the iPhone maker would provide insight on platform development, as the company understands that technology is now driven by "hub devices" that capture data, utilize data at the application layer, and even upload it to the cloud.
Bluetooth Smart is a new brand extension given by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group to devices that implement Bluetooth 4.0. Compatible devices include phones, tablets, PCs and TVs.
"Bluetooth Smart and Bluetooth Smart Ready devices will revolutionize the way we collect, share and use information," said Michael Foley, Ph.D., executive director of the Bluetooth SIG. "In order to ensure consumers know what these extraordinary devices have to offer, we created the Bluetooth Smart and Bluetooth Smart Ready marks. These new logos will help consumers manage compatibility, and encourage manufacturers to build their best Bluetooth devices yet."
Bluetooth Smart devices are sensor-type devices like heart-rate monitors or pedometers. They run on button-cell batteries and were created to collect only a specific piece of information.
Bluetooth Smart Ready devices can connect to traditional Bluetooth devices, as well as new Bluetooth Smart devices that are just starting to enter the market. But Bluetooth Smart devices, because of their lower power consumption, will only connect with products labeled as Bluetooth Smart Ready.
Packages will now carry three potential logos created by the Bluetooth SIG to help consumers identify what their device offers, whether it be traditional Bluetooth, Bluetooth Smart, or Bluetooth Smart Ready.
"Consumers can look at new Bluetooth Smart Ready devices the same way they would a 3D ready TV -- having the TV is just the first part of the puzzle, you need glasses and content in order to really experience 3D," said Suke Jawanda, CMO of the Bluetooth SIG. "Once consumers have a Bluetooth Smart Ready device, like the new iPhone 4S, they can continue connecting to existing Bluetooth devices and are also ready to experience the new world of Bluetooth Smart peripheral devices that will carry the Bluetooth Smart logo."
Bluetooth 4.0 support first appeared in Apple's products in July, when the MacBook Air lineup and Mac mini were refreshed. Other Macs released this year -- new iMacs and MacBook Pros -- only support Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate), but Bluetooth 4.0 also came to the new iPhone 4S released earlier this month.
Apple joined the Bluetooth SIG board of directors in June, and now takes part in overseeing the development of standards and licensing for the short-range wireless technology. When Apple joined, the special interest group said the iPhone maker would provide insight on platform development, as the company understands that technology is now driven by "hub devices" that capture data, utilize data at the application layer, and even upload it to the cloud.
Comments
Screw you and your worthless naming conventions. One spec. One standard. One new chip. Period.
WHO WANTS TO MEMORIZE THIS?!
"Bluetooth Smart and Bluetooth Smart Ready devices will revolutionize the way we collect, share and use information," said Michael Foley, Ph.D., executive director of the Bluetooth SIG.
Such odd phrasing for a technology that is supposed to be the wireless equivalent of a wire. Anybody else concerned? Who is this "we" we're talking about?
Or am I just being more paranoid than usual?
Apple's latest products, including the iPhone 4S and updated Mac mini and MacBook Air, are among a group of low-power Bluetooth devices now branded as "Bluetooth Smart Ready."...
The "Smart Ready" moniker is horrible. "Ready" in the tech world is most often used to refer to devices that aren't actually ready to do anything at all.
"Vista Ready" for instance, basically just meant that the device technically *could* support Vista even though in many cases they didn't.
I was really hoping that the iPod nano (7th Gen) would have incorporated this, as it would have allowed it to share information with the iP4s. There are many exciting opportunities when this happens using the iPn7 as a remote (think watch band) control/activation screen for SIRI commands, streaming content and data, etc..
Branding confusion at its worst. Do I have smart or smart-ready? Or do I have 4.0? And what will they call future generations of Bluetooth - "really smart?" "even smarter?"
The recent upgrades to i)S5 on phones are giving rise to numerous reports of Bluetooth problems that were working fine prior to the iOS5 upgrade. I have a 3GS that was upgraded and now my Bluetooth never finds anything, cannot work in my car and all it does is run down the battery such that I had to turn it off. In iOS4.3, I had no issues with bluetooth. So if Apple did add new features to Bluetooth in iOS5, they broke it for legacy devices. The Apple support fourms are reporting more and more issues with Bluetooth. I wish Apple Insider would look into and report on the issue. Someone needs to get Apple's attention.
Just make sure you have initialized your device to search for bluetooth devices. I had the problem with my aviation headset, until I was advised by Bose how to re-initialize it. Same happened with my Parrot in-car system - had to reset it to search, and it connects just fine now.
I agree with all the comments above! Daft!
I concur. I'm not even a fan of the 'point 0' at the end of a brand if it's not likely to get minor update along the way. I'd just call it Bluetooth 4.
As far as iPhone is concerned, Bluetooth Smart Ready means ready to connect to Apple approved accessories only.
That wasn?t true before, so it won?t be now. I have plenty of non-Apple-approved accessories for my iPods and iPhone. Bluetooth and wired alike. Apple has an approval program for putting Apple badging on the package, but not for the very existence of the accessory product.
As far as iPhone is concerned, Bluetooth Smart Ready means ready to connect to Apple approved accessories only.
Indeed. That and the lack of Flash are the two biggest peeves concerning the iPhone. Hopefully they will be resolved soon. I mean, it's clear that Apple lost its 'Flash-war,' and wouldn't it be nice to be able to simply transfer files to and from other devices like everybody else can?
As far as iPhone is concerned, Bluetooth Smart Ready means ready to connect to Apple approved accessories only.
As far as I recall it's only Nokia who tried doing that, around ten years ago when Ericsson first introduced Bluetooth.
No matter how many times some people try to deny it APPLE DOES SUPPORT MANY OPEN STANDARDS.
Indeed. That and the lack of Flash are the two biggest peeves concerning the iPhone. Hopefully they will be resolved soon.
The Flash "problem" will be resolved soon, as it is systematically being replaced by standards such as HTML 5.
No matter how many times some people try to deny it APPLE DOES SUPPORT MANY OPEN STANDARDS.
Right. I can't think of any open standards that Apple doesn't support.
Right. I can't think of any open standards that Apple doesn't support.
Blu-ray.