[foldr]

>Modules such as the PTR5518 can be pretty cheap

Those are $8 each! That's way too expensive if they want to sell this thing for < $100. I'd think you'd probably want the total cost for making these to be ~$15 max.

I've also been looking into wireless connectivity options for consumer devices, and the options do not look too good for small companies or individuals. You can get NRF51822 chips for around $3 each in bulk, but then you are greatly increasing the difficulty level and making FCC certification potentially much more painful. (I mean, say you get it working but then it fails the emissions test. If you're not an Real Electronic Engineer, how are you realistically going to fix that?)

Also, not everything supports bluetooth LE, and consumers just know that their device has "Bluetooth" (if they even know that), and are going to get pissed if their Bluetooth device can't connect to your (ahem) dildo.

MicroUSB connectors aren't super expensive (less than $1 each in bulk).

Anyway, none of the frustration there is directed at you -- just ranting a bit.