This week I saw an advertisement for a potential processor.   The Cypres PSoC 4 BLE line of processors

Advantages:

Built in BLE radio (Bluetooth LE connection to many modern cell phones)

Very powerful ARM core processor

highly configurable IO

Wide operating voltage range 1.7 – 5.5 V

$50 dev Kit (CY8CKIT-042-BLE)

very robust library of hardware features

Disadvantages:

No Built in antenna (requires FCC licensing for commercial products)

High Price tag for for chips around $4 each in quantities of 1K

no USB for firmware update

No Linux support for PSoC creator