Five Key Factors that OEMs Consider When Choosing a Bluetooth Software Vendor

ABI: As the Bluetooth market for silicon goes from strength to strength, the Bluetooth software market is undergoing a subtle change in direction. As more and more manufacturers embrace Bluetooth, they must balance their needs against vendor offerings in five key categories: relationship, price, features, reliability and reputation, and technical dependencies. At face value these look like the same old factors seen in other markets, but if we look just below the surface, interesting irregularities appear. Both OEMs and silicon providers are increasingly focused on differentiating offerings at the software level by tailoring stack products to meet the specific needs of diverse end-use equipment markets. The importance attributed to each of the factors varies greatly between applications. For automotive vendors, the ability to customize solutions, and to own and port code as well as having a highly robust and stable stack, are paramount. This stems from the need to avoid costly recalls and to integrate Bluetooth into what is rather a niche/specialist application, and indicates that technical dependencies, reliability and reputation, and features are the paramount concerns. This is in stark contrast to the high-volume cellular handset market in which price and relationship are key. Silicon vendors such as Broadcom and CSR have a huge share of design wins in the sector, and a correspondingly huge mindshare. Their immense income from the Bluetooth sector also allows them to price very competitively for both silicon and software. However, few OEMs are willing to compromise too much on quality and features in the interest of cost savings. As the Bluetooth market becomes commoditized, the door opens for ODMs and ASSP manufacturers to make a quick buck with their own products. These companies will look to develop their own software stacks with the aid of development houses, or to purchase IP from third parties. This trend could start a virtual gold rush for a growing band of third party specialist developers that have the flexibility to invest time into highly customized solutions that meet an individual company's requirements, at the price points only a streamlined business model can achieve. These issues are covered at great length in ABI Research's studies, Automotive Bluetooth and Bluetooth: The global Outlook

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