Bad news today for Freescale Semiconductor, and great news for lots of ultrawideband (UWB) startups -- the Bluetooth SIG has chosen the WiMedia Alliance's MB-OFDM UWB technology for integration with Bluetooth.

The combined solution will be capable of synchronizing and transferring large amounts of data, as well as enabling high quality video and audio applications for portable devices, multimedia projectors and television sets -- while also catering to the needs of very low power applications such as mice, keyboards and mono headsets. If all goes well, it should be the best of both worlds.

Michael Foley, Executive Director of the Bluetooth SIG, effectively passed the buck on the decision by stating, "As a member-driven organization, it is the Bluetooth SIG's responsibility to ensure it's attentive to its members' needs. Having considered the UWB technology options, the decision ultimately came down to what our members want."

ExtremeTech's Mark Hachman says this might just force a resolution of the battle of UWB standards between WiMedia's MB-OFDM and Freescale's DS-UWB -- if not simply the end of DS-UWB. "Whether or not Freescale and its partners will leave the consortium is an open question," he writes. "Politically, Foley said the answer is no; he said he spoke with several members prior to last week's all-hands SIG meeting, and that UWB Forum members had indicated that they intended to work with the SIG to craft the best UWB system they could."

And ABI Research analyst Stuart Carlaw notes that this makes things a little more difficult for Bluetooth developers. "From the manufacturers' perspective, this announcement means that Bluetooth vendors will have to develop or purchase robust and viable WiMedia solutions to remain competitive," he says. "It poses added design demands for manufacturers and requires a totally different skill set, compared to the comparatively simple Bluetooth design process."

The first combined Bluetooth/UWB chipset prototypes are expected in Q2 2007.

The Bluetooth SIG's press release is here, and there's more analysis on this from Eric Griffith at Wi-Fi Planet, and from Glenn Fleishman at Wi-Fi Networking News.