Monday Interview: CSR chief Joep van Beurden We've licensed to Samsung the intellectual property for using the phones and we've kept the revenue. We're supporting all existing customers but not developing any new chips in this business. Samsung paid us $310m in cash for a business that was not at the heart of our strategy. We've monetised this. Why has CSR rid itself of its best-known business? Van Beurden opens his phone and points to the baseband and computer chips inside. "These two chips are now being developed by huge companies like Intel, Samsung and Qualcomm," he says. Qualcomm alone spends $2.5bn every year on research and development just for the baseband chip. We're a $1bn company. That's very difficult for us to do. Given our scale, we're better off competing in the many markets around our platforms rather than in the cut-throat competition against these phenomenally large companies and trying to get a little piece of that puzzle. The former Shell and Phillips executive, who took over at CSR in 2007, says he identified from the outset that the company was financially strong but strategically unviable long-term. "We could see that just selling Bluetooth chips in predominantly handsets, with the technology lead shrinking and the Bluetooth market tailing off, was strategically a very risky place to be," he recalls. Van Beurden broadened CSR, buying companies with GPS and imaging technology, developing wi-fi and audio technology and combining them into what it calls its platforms in three divisions: voice and music, automotive information and entertainment and chips for cameras, printers and consumer businesses. He's most excited about Bluetooth Smart, a low-energy new Bluetooth standard that allows devices to be connected via a small long-life battery. "It allows you to connect things that today are not connected," he says, reaching into his bag for a trainer. It turns out to be a Nike + Hyperdunk basketball shoe and in the sole there's a CSR Bluetooth smart chip. Hooked up to an iPhone, it can transmit information on how fast athletes run and how many calories they burn. Basketball players apparently use it to measure how high they can jump. "It's a perfect example of things you can now connect with Bluetooth Smart," says van Beurden. There are also lots of diabetics who use insulin pumps and it's important they keep track of blood sugar levels so we're now designing Bluetooth Smart centres in these little pumps that continuously stream this medical information to your phone so you have it on record and is there's an issue you can immediately email to a GP. So what else is going to be possible with tomorrow's connectivity technology? Van Beurden doesn't need much prompting. "If you start to dream a little, people are talking now about how you could have every single light bulb fitted with a Bluetooth Smart device," he says. You could in a very intelligent and direct way control the intensity and colour of the lights, switching them on and off from your phone, PC or television. In every home, there's a cable to every light bulb to switch it on and off. That's a very expensive cable that really does nothing except switch on and off. You don't really need that. You need a power cable but you don't need a special cable through a switch in the wall. You can do that through Bluetooth Smart. Another transformative trend, he believes, will be "deep indoor-location technology," enabling accurate mapping of buildings" interiors. "We live 90pc of our life indoors," says van Beurden. Location GPS is very useful but location tracking could be just as useful to find your way if you're indoors in a shopping mall or hospitals, airport or train station. By 2016, 300,000 maps of public buildings will be available and we're working on a technology that will take advantage of wi-fi access points and cell towers to keep track of movement in buildings. You superimpose that on the map to know exactly where you are. Commercial possibilities, he says, include asset tracking in hospitals with expensive diagnostic equipment, and for online security. "You could have an iPad with a document on it and if you move the iPad out of the room it will lock the document," he says. You'll be able to geo-fence a room. "The 'internet of things" is going to be very sizeable. The next wave is going to be connecting all sorts of devices that are today not connected, allowing people to interact with things and gadgets in a completely novel way. It will make things more fun, effective and energy-efficient. The Bluetooth Smart market currently has only three main players: CSR, American giant Texas Instruments and Norway's Nordic Semiconductor. CSR claims the leading position, with a 90pc market share in chips for stereo headsets, such as Beats by Dr Dre. "There are quite a few companies with Bluetooth and quite a few companies with this audio technology but nobody else has the ability to integrate them," says van Beurden Voice and music, he says, is a $300m market that's expected to grow 26pc a year over the next five years. What he calls automotive "infotainment" is a $2bn market growing at 9pc annually and CSR has a 12pc share. CSR still employs 2,000 people and Van Beurden says the $650m of turnover in its core business will grow to about $720m this year, with gross margins of between 55pc-60pc in the platforms business, compared to 35pc in the legacy business. CSR is number one or two in most of the platform markets. The hope is that the shares take notice. They are trading at 387p, valuing the company at £765m, compared to a peak of more than £15 in 2006. "The company was actually much smaller than it is now," explains van Beurden, "but this enormous Bluetooth trajectory was in the price. We aspire to grow the company and improve profitability and the share price will follow.