The Bluetooth Blues
Caution: Some language used in this article may be offensive to viewers.
by Nicki Hayes, August 08, 2001
Last week saw the official rubber stamping of the wireless networking standard 802.11b. This occasion
gave Microsoft a platform to partake in a bit of Bluetooth bashing - an increasingly popular pastime.
Nicki Hayes, WDN’s European correspondent explores such activity and finds it far too convenient to
join such organizations in their cynicism-albeit for a different reason.
“They’re sweaty, they’re cumbersome, they make you look like a twat.”
So said a sales assistant in a London branch of the clothes outlet Gap to a Guardian journalist (see
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4209596,00.html). He is, of course, referring to the latest
addition to his corporate uniform -Ericsson’s Bluetooth enabled headphone.
Amusing and insightful though this article is, it’s just another example of the kind of Bluetooth bashing
I’ve been witnessing recently. Another memorable example was in response to last week’s formal rubber
stamping of the wireless networking standard 802.11b. Microsoft’s Jawad Khaki chose the occasion to
practically read Bluetooth’s obituary, advising Reuters that “Microsoft has worked very hard in being ready
for when Bluetooth matures. But we’re disappointed that the progress has not been as fast as the industry
said it would.”
Even though Microsoft’s Khaki is right - Bluetooth’s progress has been overpromised and underdelivered
- it would be all too easy to take issue with him from very high ground, that is if I didn’t suffer from
moral vertigo. After all, it just can’t be right to allow an organization that was so late to join in the
Bluetooth standards process to publicly malign its progress can it? Especially when such an organization
stands to loose rather than gain from the type of interoperability between wireless devices, smartphones and
PDAs that Bluetooth promises. Such Bluetooth cynicism seems a little too convenient don’t you think?
One organization that would, I’m sure, take such issue is Frost & Sullivan, an international marketing
consulting company that monitors a comprehensive spectrum of wireless markets. According to this
company Bluetooth still has strong growth potential, despite its slow start. In fact, in a report published last
week the company forecasts 4.2 million Bluetooth enabled devices with total revenues exceeding $1.8
billion by the end of this year and 1.01 billion devices ($330 billion in revenues) by the end of 2006.
Even so, the report acknowledges a slower than expected start, putting this down to a range of technical and
marketing related issues- including device interoperability, interference from other radio technologies,
fears over the security of the technology, market confusion and the global economic downturn. Such issues
will be addressed though and we could finally be entering the last mile of the Bluetooth race, according to
the report:
“Despite teething problems the technology remains fundamentally an excellent concept, with more and
more digital and mobile communications devices entering the everyday lives of the world population,” says
wireless research analyst and author of the report Michael Wall.
“A new realism has begun to emerge within the Bluetooth industry acknowledging that the technology is in
its infancy, and that major technological breakthroughs do not occur overnight. Bluetooth as an industry
standard only emerged in 1998. In comparison to other technologies that took a decade or more to develop,
the progress of Bluetooth has been spectacular,” he added.
He has a good point, one which the 2,500 plus organizations in the Bluetooth Special Interest Group seem
to agree with (http://www.bluetooth.com). But what is it that Bluetooth promises that inspires such a
mixture of confidence and cynicism?
In short, Bluetooth delivers an alternative to infrared. It uses short range radio frequency to allow
compatible devices to communicate with each other over distances of ten to 30 metres (whereas infrared’s
range is just ?? metres). It is not just in these extra ? metres that Bluetooth adds value though. Its true value
is in the convenience it provides through allowing interoperability without the need for devices to be within
each other’s line of vision, thereby allowing true “anywhere, anytime access”.
Take Ericsson’s Bluetooth enabled GSM and GPRS R250 phone. It can interact with the aforementioned
and much maligned Ericsson Bluetooth wireless headset (OK, the blue flashing light is about as useful or
desirable as go-fast stripes on a Ferrari but otherwise the headset is a great design). It can also interact with
Bluetooth enabled PDAs without the need to place them on a table next to each other, as would be the case
with infrared. This makes it possible, for instance, to carry your phone in your packet and your PDA in
your hand or headset on your head and to use the devices whilst on the move.
Another fine example is Compaq’s projector. It can interact with Bluetooth enabled PDAs and PCs without
the need for wires and, unlike infrared, can detect such devices even if they are not in its line of vision.
Imagine trying to use an infrared projector in a presentation to a room full of people, all of who are sat
between the projector and the device it is communicating with?
In addition to facilitating such mobility, Bluetooth-enabled devices in the same room can detect each other
and the profiles they are capable of supporting. So, imagine you turn up late to a conference at which
you’re presenting a paper. You’ve left your laptop at the office and have no copy of the presentation you
spent hours preparing. Thankfully though, you’ve remembered your Bluetooth enabled cell phone. You’re
able to dial-up your corporate intranet, synchronize data to your Bluetooth enabled PDA, which happens to
run Pocket PowerPoint, and project it via the conference suite’s Bluetooth enabled projector, a device
which your PDA and cell phone have automatically detected and adjusted their profiles to fit. Bluetooth
Bingo!
While there is much to be grateful for in such always-on, everywhere, anywhere functionality it seems to
me that it’s all getting a little too convenient. Before long it will be impossible to get away from the office.
So I feel bound to join the likes of Microsoft and the sales assistant in Gap in their cynicism - a cynicism
with entirely different but equally as convenient and selfish roots as these fellas! Then there’s the issue of
wireless LANs. Many industry commentators are predicting a head-to-head between wireless LANs and
Bluetooth. But that’s a whole new article!
Footnote
To find out what the future holds in terms of Bluetooth applications it’s well worth visiting
www.qualweb.opengrooup.org/template.cfm?LinkQualified=Qualified Products for a list of all
qualified Bluetooth products. Ones of particular interest, as well as those mentioned, include a number of
Bluetooth adaptors for PDAs - including Widcomm Inc’s BlueConnect (www.widcomm.com) and
Xircom’s SpringPort (www.xircom.com). Compaq’s Bluetooth Wireless Pack (www.Compaq.com) looks
pretty interesting too.
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About the author:
Nicki Hayes is a freelance writer and corporate communications consultant specialising in business to business internet issues. She has contributed editorial to a number of publications including Unstrung.com, Guardian Online, Financial Times, Banking & Financial Training, eAI Journal and Secure Computing. Nicki is also the European correspondent for The Wireless Developer Network. Nicki is based in Dublin, Ireland and also has a base in Cambridge, UK. Through her consultancy, Hayes-Singh Associates, she has access to a number of technical writers and PR consultants throughout Ireland and the UK.
About the WirelessDevNet (www.wirelessdevnet.com):
The Wireless Developer Network is an on-line community for information technology
professionals interested in mobile computing and communications. Our mission is to assist
developers, strategists, and managers in bridging the gap between today's desktop and
enterprise applications and tomorrow's mobile users communicating via wireless networks.
We are interested in supporting the deployment of these evolving technologies through
high-quality technical information, news, industry coverage, and commentary. This
information is provided within a true on-line community that supports developer/vendor
dialogue through message boards and user-submitted tips, articles, links, and software
downloads.
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