Intel seems to be all but for developing the new transfer standard. An update to USB has been needed for some time, as the aging standard maxes out at 480Mbps - just not enough in a world increasingly dependent on non-disc-based attached storage. According to a recent EETimes article, it would seem that Intel prefers to put their considerable backing behind a new wireless standard, despite the fact that the recent Wireless USB implemention could charitably be called a complete and utter failure.
Desktop manufacturers and their respective board partners have a way around this; recent efforts like ASUS' and Gigabyte's new boards use alternate chipsets to provide users access to the new high-speed standard. That approach has its problems, however, as typically only a couple of the several USB ports on an individual board will be USB 3.0 capable. Moreover, it's much, much more difficult to add these additional chipsets to laptops, meaning that adoption of the new standard will be slowed even further. Will it be enough to cause widespread damage to the new spec, or will consumers' ever increasing need for speed win out? Only time can tell, but given some of the products we see on the horizon, it can't get here fast enough.
USB 3.0 Being Pushed Back Thanks to Intel
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