Wireless USB

Wireless USB (often abbreviated as 'WUSB') is a wireless information protocol which was created by the Wireless USB promoter group. In simpler terms it's an emerging technology that looks set to change how we look at wires connecting our computers together just like Bluetooth did all those years ago. But for such an amazing technology remarkably few consumers seem to have heard of it and it doesn't seem to be appearing on many new products that could use it. It came around in 2006 and 4 years is a long time in technology.

An Example

There is a great vision here from the Wireless USB promoter group. Imagine a computer in the not so distant future that has no wires whatsoever. You can walk around with your wireless keyboard, mouse and even place speaker anywhere within the hubs radius to listen to music. They are even developing the hardware necessary for wireless charging Sometimes a product doesn't need to be a necessity for it to sell well and this is mostly a luxury. Or is it? I wouldn't mind paying to get rid of the awkward speaker wires around my computer. Whenever I remove them, it's so awkward to get them out.

The Competition

The main competition here is obviously Bluetooth. It's the wireless data transfer known to most people and came around shortly after infra-red on mobile phones. WUSB has one huge main advantage here though. It runs at speeds of 480Mbps compared to just 2Mbps for Bluetooth. That's 240 times larger, but Bluetooth has the advantage that it's already well established.

With devices like PDAs people would enjoy syncing wirelessly because it could be totally automatic. Imagine how great it would be to update your calendar whilst on the move and then as soon as you are within 10 metres of your laptop, it sync to your computer calendar. Many businessmen would love this.

On the other hand, everyone else can just use the USB lead that comes with their device and they are unlikely to buy wireless products because they have no Wireless hub. They probably haven't even heard of one!

Why It's Not Sticking

There's a large feeling in the tech community that people simply don't need 480Mbps transfer speed by air because the type of products that you need to transfer data on don't need that huge speed. Bluetooth products like phones and laptops are fine just the way they are. This has been said for all major inventions in the past though - cars, televisions, the Internet. All were successful. Only time will tell if the WUSB will become part of our every day lives and wires will become a thing of the past.