Report: UWB on the brink

The difficult economy has had an effect on the Ultra Wideband market, with 2008 marking the exit of four UWB chip makers from the market, according to a report from research firm In-Stat.
The company noted Focus Semiconductor declared bankruptcy, WiQuest went out of business, Intel Corp. halted UWB activities and Artimi and Staccato Communications merged.
“This consolidation has been expected, but in combination with continued slow UWB device shipments, it raises the specter of the failure of UWB technology in the marketplace,” says Brian O’Rourke, In-Stat analyst. “On the bright side, UWB-enabled mobile PCs showed impressive percentage growth, albeit from a very low starting point. Another positive development in 2008 was the settling of the worldwide regulatory structure and the consequent development of worldwide UWB chip stock keeping units from a number of chip makers.”