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Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are evolving separately, firm claims

Global markets for both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi communication technologies continue to display strong growth and will remain the leading technologies in the near future, but prices and market developments are causing them to evolve in separate directions.

That is according to a new short-range wireless communications forecast from ABI Research which revealed that, although Bluetooth and Wi-FI are increasingly being integrated into the same chipsets (to provide high speed Bluetooth services), each technology has its own specific areas of focus.

Doug McEuen, senior analyst at ABI Research, said: "Bluetooth and Wi-Fi equipment and chipset numbers continue to increase. But with IC (integrated circuit) prices continuing to fall due to technology evolution and greater IC production efficiency, revenues aren't rising as dramatically."

He explained that this is particularly the case for Wi-Fi, but added that the falling price of chipsets is allowing the attach rate of Wi-Fi to increase drastically in products such as laptops, something that will create opportunities for the technology in new market segments.

According to the analyst, nearly 2.4 billion units of Bluetooth-enabled equipment will ship worldwide in 2013, with mobile handsets accounting for over half, followed by headsets and notebook computers.

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