Bluetooth Awareness on the Rise

Posted By: Ryan Tuesday, March 8, 2005 12:20:52 PM

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) just commissioned an independent study on consumer awareness, attitude and usage of Bluetooth wireless technology compared to other wireless technologies. The study shows increasing rate of Bluetooth awareness and deployment among consumers consistent with rapid overall growth of Bluetooth products on the market.

The study, done by research firm Millward Brown, polled 1300 consumers between age 18-70 in the United States, United Kingdom (UK) and Japan during the fall of 2003 and again in the fall of 2004. Between the two surveys, consumer recognition and awareness of Bluetooth wireless technology showed significant growth.

When asked to select which technology allows mobile devices to connect wirelessly, consumers increasingly chose Bluetooth wireless technology across all regions in 2004 as compared to the study in 2003. In the UK, this awareness increased from 47 percent to an impressive 77 percent. In Japan, it increased from 43 percent to 61 percent. And in the US, it almost doubled from 22 percent to 41 percent. Compared to awareness of Wi-Fi which was also part of the survey, awareness of Bluetooth technology was more than double in the UK and Japan, while on par in the US.

“It is encouraging to see consumer awareness mirror the rise in volumes of Bluetooth products we have seen over the last year,” said Dr. Michael Foley, executive director of the Bluetooth SIG. “The volumes have doubled from 2003 to 2004 to an installed base of over 250 million units and we see a continued growth likely reaching 450 million units by the close of 2005. In order for any technology to succeed, it must be recognized and understood by the consumer.”

The study also shows that the Bluetooth SIG and its members own a strong consumer logo. In the UK and in Japan, almost half of the consumers surveyed recognized the Bluetooth logo in 2004. This was a significant increase from 2003. In the UK, the recognition increased from 31 percent to 50 percent. In the US and Japan, recognition increased from 15 percent to 25 percent and 30 to 45 percent respectively.

Information collected in the study also showed that the consumer is increasingly more aware of Bluetooth enabled products. Across all three regions, the consumer is most aware of Bluetooth wireless technology in the mobile phone, PDA and computer. The UK continues to have the most informed Bluetooth consumer among those surveyed with a consumer awareness of headset utilization as high as 40 percent. Though less in the other regions, awareness still increased significantly from 5 to 11 percent in the US and from 4 to 10 percent in Japan.

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Profiles

RhinoSteve @ 3/8/2005 4:28:14 PM #

While this is a good report. I'd like to know what the distribution of the various Bluetooth profiles are used. My guess is that the largest profiles used are Serial Port and Headphone.

RE: Profiles

mikecane @ 3/8/2005 6:03:08 PM #

I think if you could see what associations popped up in the general public's mind when you mentioned the single word "Bluetooth" to them, you'd find: drill and rinse.

More propaganda from the BT SIG.

AdamaDBrown @ 3/8/2005 4:53:14 PM #

I don't for one second believe that 41% of average consumers in the US know what Bluetooth is. The way they describe it implies a multiple-choice question on the order of "Which of these is the short-range wireless communication standard?" Were the other options "Bleach" and "Wheaties"?

The Bluetooth SIG has a bad habit of producing these stories a couple times a year. In times past it was the 'Bluetooth shipments rising, about to hit critical mass' story. Now it seems that it's the 'Bluetooth as big as WiFi' story. If this were true, they wouldn't have to push a marketing piece on it, since people would already know. And if they spent as much time and effort on producing newer and better applications of BT as they do on hype, the marketing would take care of itself.

Don't get me wrong, Bluetooth is very useful. But I really don't like deceptive marketing tactics like this.

RE: More propaganda from the BT SIG.

The_Voice_of_Reason @ 3/8/2005 5:54:46 PM #

VERY well said.

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RE: More propaganda from the BT SIG.

mikecane @ 3/8/2005 6:00:34 PM #

Listen, you BT cargo cultists (not the above posters): The *only* damned way most of the unwashed public would know WTF BT was is if it suddenly turned up in an *iPod*.

"iPod: Now with Bluetooth."

Riiiiight. Keep dreaming.

RE: More propaganda from the BT SIG.

RhinoSteve @ 3/9/2005 3:01:43 PM #

Actually an iPod with a Bluetooth stereo headphone profile built in is not a bad idea at all. I can see the market for stereo Bluetooth headphone take off if this is done.

Think of it, no wires as your run and work out in the guy! Once again, a piece of sarcasm becomes a feature!

RE: More propaganda from the BT SIG.

The_Voice_of_Reason @ 3/9/2005 4:30:55 PM #

What is this strange language you speak, BubbaSteve? It sure isn't English. More likely remnants of your Eastern European mother tongue?

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Sony CLIE UX100: 128 MB real RAM, OLED screen. All the PDA anyone really ever wanted.

RE: More propaganda from the BT SIG.

AdamaDBrown @ 3/9/2005 4:33:17 PM #

Think of it, no wires as your run and work out in the guy!

That sentence not sense made on the windows. Like poorly translated Japanese manual it feel in the braining.

Mike, something to remember is that the iPod isn't exactly ubiquitous. As of mid-January this year they had only sold about 10 million iPods total, which is less than the one-year sales of handheld computers.