apt-X Wins Bluetooth SIG “BEST OF CES”

14/01/2010

From the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2010 in Las Vegas, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, Inc. (SIG) announced Creative and apt-X Creative Inspire S2 Wireless Speakers as the winner of its 5th Annual Best of CES 2010 Awards, an event held during CES to highlight the innovative and user friendly Bluetooth enabled products that will be making their mark on the consumer electronics industry in the coming year.

“As the industry prepares for a groundbreaking year in wireless technology, certain products stand above all others as outstanding Bluetooth enabled devices, bringing together functionality, innovative design, and a positive user-friendly experience,” said Michael Foley, Ph.D., executive director of the Bluetooth SIG. “The Creative Inspire S2 Wireless Speakers, the winner of the 5th annual awards program, exemplifies all these characteristics and more, capturing the best in the evolution of Bluetooth technology.”

Mike Canevaro, VP Licensing for APTX said, “Winning the Bluetooth SIG Best of CES Award is a fantastic endorsement of apt-X. It is considered by many to be the saviour of Stereo Bluetooth Audio and as such no product should go to market without apt-X.”

Fifty-four devices were submitted for consideration and were carefully tested and inspected by the Bluetooth SIG based on a variety of criteria including interoperability testing, containing expected profiles, and ease of use. Bonus points were awarded to those products that included Experience Icons on the product packaging or the product website, and also for products utilizing the newly adopted Bluetooth V3.0 specification. After ten finalists were selected, one overall winner was chosen.

Back this year was the category of User’s Choice where visitors to www.bluetooth.com/userschoice were given the chance to vote for their top pick from ten previously selected finalists and enter to win one of the finalist products. Voting opened December 8 and remained open until January 3. Over 300 votes were received and one winner was chosen as the fan favorite in addition to the overall Best of CES 2010 winner. The User’s Choice winner for 2010 was the Microsoft Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard 6000.