According to our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service, the global Bluetooth headset market will generate several hundred million dollars of wholesale revenues in 2013. Stereo growth will outstrip mono growth. We forecast Plantronics, Jabra, Samsung and Motorola to be the big four Bluetooth headset players worldwide this year, due to their broad product portfolios, recognized brands, and sizeable distribution networks. Additional analysis can be viewed by clients here.

According to our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service, the global Bluetooth headset market will generate several hundred million dollars of wholesale revenues in 2013. Stereo growth will outstrip mono growth. We forecast Plantronics, Jabra, Samsung and Motorola to be the big four Bluetooth headset players worldwide this year, due to their broad product portfolios, recognized brands, and sizeable distribution networks. Additional analysis can be viewed by clients here.

According to our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service, the global Bluetooth headset market will generate several hundred million dollars of wholesale revenues in 2013. Stereo growth will outstrip mono growth. We forecast Plantronics, Jabra, Samsung and Motorola to be the big four Bluetooth headset players worldwide this year, due to their broad product portfolios, recognized brands, and sizeable distribution networks. Additional analysis can be viewed by clients here.

According to our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service, global Bluetooth headset revenue growth will be broadly flat in 2013. Lower pricing and growing competition from car-kits are among some of the challenges facing the industry. One bright spot can be found in the stereo headphones market, which we forecast to grow at an above-average rate of +23% in 2013, as model diversity improves, distribution expands, and prices become more affordable. Key players to watch in stereo Bluetooth include Plantronics, Monster, Nokia, Motorola, Jabra, Jaybird and others.

This published report, available to download by clients,  forecasts worldwide Bluetooth headset wholesale revenues and pricing for mono and stereo, in-box and aftermarket, by price-tier segment, from 2001 to 2017.

According to our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service, global Bluetooth headset and speakerphone sales combined will grow 16% over the next five years. Mono headset players are now introducing richer services and context-aware features to add extra value to their product portfolios. Despite fierce rivalry and market fragmentation, Plantronics, Motorola, Jabra and others will continue to dominate the global Bluetooth headset industry in 2013. This published report, available to clients, forecasts worldwide Bluetooth headset sales by region, for mono and stereo, in-box and after-market, from 2001 to 2017. It also contains global Bluetooth headset marketshare for the world's 7 largest vendors in 2005 to 2017. The report goes on to forecast global Bluetooth speakerphone sales by region and attach-rate from 2008 to 2017.

We estimate Bluetooth will be found in almost three quarters of all mobile handsets sold globally in 2012. Asia, North America and Western Europe will be the world's three largest regions for Bluetooth handset sales in 2013. Major countries for Bluetooth devices will include China, USA, UK and Germany. Key buyers and users of Bluetooth handsets include male smartphone prosumers and connected youth. For example, road warriors with smartphones use Bluetooth for handsfree voice calls while driving between jobs.

Global Bluetooth phone sales will reach well over 1 billion units in 2013. Bluetooth is one of the most popular wireless technologies found in smartphones and feature phones today. However, selecting an appropriate profile remains very complex for companies such as Audi, BMW, Citroen, Ford, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes Daimler, Nissan, VW, Delphi, Cisco, Nokia and Apple. This report forecasts global Bluetooth phone sales by 12 of the most important Bluetooth profiles from 2006 to 2017. Profiles covered include A2DP, DUN, PAN and PBAP. The report also includes forecasts for Bluetooth smartphone and Bluetooth feature phone sales. The report is a valuable tool for car manufacturers, component makers, software developers, operators and other stakeholders who want to track the development of specific Bluetooth profiles on a worldwide basis.

The full report: Global Bluetooth Phone Sales Forecast by 12 Bluetooth Profiles: 2006 to 2017 can by downloaded by clients here.

Samsung, the world's largest handset vendor, has acquired the mobile division of CSR, a UK-based chipset maker. CSR's portfolio includes key technologies for mobile device connectivity, such as Bluetooth and WiFi, including the emerging 802.11ac standard. The US$310 million purchase brings two primary benefits to Samsung:

1. The vertical integration of components to improve its supply chain, optimize BOM costs, and introduce a point of differentiation. Samsung already makes many of its own components, such as displays, flash memory, and application processors;
2. The strengthening of the device vendor's patent portfolio to help with IPR battles. Samsung and rivals like Apple have been in courts around the world over patent infringement issues.

Samsung is strengthening its component assets for Bluetooth, GPS and WiFi, which should eventually strengthen its handset designs. If Samsung has great displays and great chips in-house, then that’s going to be a solid basis for technology differentiation and supply chain control that can give Samsung devices a competitive edge. Of course, in the longer term, Samsung may end up juggling too many component balls at once, and a sprawling components portfolio could potentially become a negative rather than a positive if they don’t keep things under control.

The impending avalanche of NFC phones, which our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service projects to grow at an average of 67% per year over the next five years, has everybody thinking about contactless payments. With all the buzz around Google's soft-launched Wallet service and the US carrier joint venture ISIS, which should roll out in 2012, it makes sense. Indeed, the simple fact that money is directly involved in this particular application of NFC rightfully encourages the whole wireless value chain to think about potential revenue opportunities.

However, there is one often overlooked application for NFC -- intelligent device pairing. The idea is simple: instead of inputting PINs, passkeys, or even 26 hexadecimal digits to pair two wireless devices, the user simply "taps" two NFC devices together. The concept can be applied for any pairing event, regardless of which enabling technology, such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, is used to make the actual connection.

So far, only one handset vendor has actively promoted NFC for this application. Nokia's latest NFC-enabled handsets and Bluetooth headsets can be paired together using this very concept. Unfortunately, the latest Windows Lumia devices are not yet in this category, as Microsoft has not yet added NFC support to its platform. Nevertheless, Nokia's attention to NFC tech is a positive sign for the vendor's future portfolio. Nokia's strategy holds two key benefits: it future-proofs handsets, getting them ready for mobile contactless payment services once they eventually roll out, and it improves the usability of a typically cumbersome process.

Chip supplier Broadcom, whose interests span Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and NFC has also recognized this useful application of the emerging tech, and we expect its chipsets and middleware to help device vendors think beyond mobile payments as they develop their NFC smartphones and tablets.

Alex Spektor
Wireless Device Strategies