The Internet of Things is an increasingly burgeoning market, and tech companies are scrambling to capture a major chunk of it. Most notable among these firms is Qualcomm, which has been struggling to push through its intellectual property rights business.
Now the company is pushing its AllJoyn connectivity platform into the multi-billion dollar IoT market. At the same time, Atheros – a Qualcomm company – has introduced new chipsets for connected devices that make up the IoT universe.
Just recently, Qualcomm introduced new features to AllPlay – the company’s AllJoyn implementation for home media application – such as Bluetooth-to-WiFi re-streaming, platform synchronization, customizable audio settings and WiFi speakers. All these additions come from various providers, thus expanding Qualcomm’s ecosystem.
With these enhancements, AllPlay users will be able to listen to audio with their speakers, no matter if the speakers support WiFi or Bluetooth communication. Qualcomm is planning to make AllJoyn the selling factor for its new WiFi chips from being merely the software that powers AllPlay. Currently, AllPlay is the main thing that attracts users.
Also, seeing that WiFi alone could not stand to power an entire smart home, Qualcomm wants to buy CSR, a Bluetooth service provider that has helped to set the standard for this kind of connectivity. Qualcomm sees Bluetooth as another required protocol to run a smart house.
Qualcomm intends for the CSR acquisition to address the need for stacking the AllJoyn platform into non-WiFi devices, or those that only have Bluetooth for connectivity.
More options are also coming for developers. Qualcomm is integrating client software from six vendors – namely Ayla Networks, Exosite, Kii, Proximetry , Temboo and LogMeIn’s Xively – into its IoT chip in order to widen interoperability with various IoT ecosystems. For all these, AllJoyn will serve to connect the end-devices.
Users who would purchase new chips from Atheros can have plenty of options for security services, analytics, mobile and cloud application develop, and user interface design.
All these to bolster what Qualcomm claims as its current market standing, in which President Derek Aberle said the company already powers about 20 million connected vehicles using its processors and modems installed in cars. Add to that the 120 million smart homes running Qualcomm’s IoT platform.
As in other tech markets, the competition will be tough here, Samsung being the closest of a rival. In order to push its way through this market competition, Qualcomm must strengthen its research and development efforts in various areas such as cognitive computing, according to Aberle.
Indeed, users of connected devices will be more engaged with a gadget that predicts what you need.
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