Wireless Syncing coming to future iPhones and iPod Touch via Bluetooth 3.0

Posted by:Aaron Besson
April 22nd, 2009

The next version of the Bluetooth short-range wireless protocol officially launched this week, promising an eightfold speed increase that will help device makers like Apple offer true wireless syncing on their handheld products in about a year’s time.

Presenting at its annual All Hands Meeting in Tokyo this week, the Bluetooth SIG — the special interest group that oversees the development of Bluetooth standards and licensing — formally adopted Bluetooth Core Specification Version 3.0 High Speed (HS), or Bluetooth 3.0.

In addition to better power savings and unicast connectionless data, the new specification features an 802.11 Protocol Adaptation Layer (PAL) that will increase throughput of Bluetooth data transfers to approximately 24 Mbps, up from 3Mbps in the current 2.1 EDR version.

Put more simply, any two devices that feature both Bluetooth 3.0 and an 802.11 wireless chip will pair with each other over Bluetooth but then perform the bulk of their data transfers over the faster WiFi protocol using a specialized 802.11 connection. When the speed of a transfer becomes overkill, the connection will drop down to normal operation on a Bluetooth radio for optimal power management and performance.

“Like Ricky Bobby in Talladega Nights, this latest version was ‘born to go fast,’” he said. “Utilizing the 802.11 radio was a natural choice as it provides efficiencies for both our members and consumers — members get more function out of the two radios they are already including in devices, and consumers with Bluetooth v3.0 HS products will get faster exchange of information without changing how they connect.”

Read the full article over on AppleInsider