Reuters' Tarmo Virki reports that Nokia today unveiled a new short-range wireless technology called Wibree, intended to both complement and compete with Bluetooth.

"It's up to 10 times more energy efficient than Bluetooth," said Bob Iannucci, head of Nokia Research Center.

Making the announcement along with Nokia were Broadcom, CSR, Epson, Nordic Semiconductor, Taiyo Yuden and Amer Sports unit Suunto.

"Nokia said it had worked for five years to develop the technology and would put it through a standardisation process along with a number of other wireless technology firms," Virki writes. "When Wibree has become a standard, the technology would be available to anyone at the same reasonable terms."

Thanks to Wibree's higher energy efficiency, the company says the technology can be placed in low-power watches, sports sensors, health monitors and similar devices that haven't been able to use Bluetooth due to its power demands.

ZDNet's David Berlind calls the announcement "an incredibly bold move that has all the makings of a gauntlet," saying, "If the solution truly represents a breakthrough that ameliorates the downsides of Bluetooth, the technology might be hard to resist."

According to PC Magazine's Mark Hachman, ABI Research analyst Stuart Carlaw says Wibree's low power demands are an attractive proposition. "Bluetooth power consumption for watches, and that type of thing, has not been all that well adopted, and hasn't fit that well," Carlaw says. "This will be interesting to extend the reach outside of Bluetooth's core competence, and markets. It could be pretty pervasive."

And in a moment of pure tech geek bliss, Silicon.com's David Meyer reports, "It is rumoured the name derives from a combination of 'wireless' and the fictional village Bree from The Lord of the Rings, which served as a notable crossroads in the story."

The first commercial version of Wibree is expected in the second quarter of 2007.