A new report claims that USB 3 will not see “widespread adoption” until at least late 2011 due to Intel’s lack of “direct” support.
“The current USB standard, which is found on almost all mainstream gadgets today, has been around a long time. USB 2.0 was first available as far back as 2001 and Intel laid the groundwork for widespread use on PCs and devices in spring 2002 when it put the technology in its silicon,” explained CNET’s Brooke Crothers.
“Eight years later, the advantages of moving to a faster standard, USB 3.0, are clear: transfer rates jump from 480 megabits per second to 5 gigabits per second – which is more than a 10-fold increase in speed.”
However, Crothers noted that Intel’s “direct lack” of silicon support has created a “chicken-and-egg” scenario, which has inevitably delayed the mass adoption of USB 3 by PC manufacturers.
Brian O’Rourke, an analyst at In-Stat, expressed similar sentiments in a recent blog post entitled “Transition to SuperSpeed USB Will Be Slow.”
“The real sweet spot of a new version of USB comes when it is integrated into the chipset of the PC,” wrote O’Rourke.
“That’s when USB becomes mainstream…By integrating it into its chipsets, Intel essentially allows PC OEMs to offer that new flavor of USB for free. [But] In this go-round, it’s going to be about two and a half years instead of a year.”
