Bluetooth SIG EPL

[gaminn]

We are a small start-up developing low volume product and paying 2500 USD to Bluetooth SIG for listing our BLE device in their EPL is too expensive for us. Is there any option how we can incorporate BLE in our product without the obligation of paying 2500 USD to Bluetooth SIG?

Basically what we need is to send/receive data over BLE from our BLE device to our proprietary mobile application. It is not important what GATT service will be used to accomplish that.

[Øyvind Karlsen]

Hi,

If you want to use BLE in your product, you need to be registered with Bluetooth SIG. There is no way around this.

Best regards,

Øyvind

[gaminn]

OK, thanks, I understand that 2500 - 8000 USD fee is inevitable to do EPL. We have a BLE device which will use BLE qualified module but the device can't use any recognized GATT profile (it's not heart rate monitor, thermometer or so). It just needs to send some arbitrary data to a central. Is there a Bluetooth qualified stack enabling us to send the data (something like BLE serial port will be useful) so when we do Bluetooth EPL we just say that we used this qualified module and this qualified BLE stack and they approve it? Developing our own GATT profile is out of our scope as we think passing Bluetooth qualification will be difficult and too expensive for us as our device will be produced in very limited quantity. Or, to reformulate my question, what is the easiest and cheapest way to implement BLE to a product produced in limited quantity (tens of pieces)? Is it even feasible, when we expect the product will sell for only few hundred of USDs? That's a question....