Apple has become a Promoter Member of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), a non-profit industry organization that oversees the development of Bluetooth standards and the licensing of the Bluetooth technologies and trademarks to manufacturers.
As one of the biggest proponents of Bluetooth, the iPhone maker now holds a continual seat on the SIG Board of Directors and can influence future development of the standard even more than before.
As Promoter Member is the highest level within the Bluetooth SIG organization, Apple now has voting rights and joins existing Promoter Members such as Intel, Ericsson, Lenovo, Microsoft, Nokia and Toshiba.
“Since 2011, the company has provided guidance and knowledge to the Bluetooth SIG through its participation as an Associate Board Member,” said Toby Nixon, chairman of the Bluetooth SIG Board of Directors. “We’re excited to welcome Apple to its new role in the organization and on the SIG board.”
As mentioned before, Apple has long been a key participant in the Bluetooth ecosystem. Earlier in the year, an Apple employee was appointed as Secretary of the Board with the Bluetooth SIG.
The organization is comprised of ten board companies, over 26,000 member companies and a professional staff who collaborate to build the next generation of Bluetooth technology.
Since the release of the iPhone 4s back in 2011, iOS devices have implemented Bluetooth 4.0 as it consumes very little energy in idle state while helping conserve power when active due to its power friendliness.
Bluetooth is especially crucial as the preferred form of wireless networking between the Apple Watch and its paired iPhone. Bluetooth is also an enabling technology for a number of Continuity features and AirDrop, a file transfer protocol for wireless data exchange between iPhones, iPads, iPods and Macs.
Source: Bluetooth SIG