Good question. For the uninitiated, Bluetooth is an open-source standard for connecting devices without wires via short-wave radio frequencies. Basically, it works by "riding" the same wave that our microwave ovens utilize. As a short-wave standard, most Bluetooth development now is concentrated on connecting devices within a radius of 10 meters, or roughly 30 feet.
| |
Ericsson Bluetooth Radio
|
Bluetooth is aimed at allowing wireless connections between all devices – in essence, your mobile phone, printer, PC, PDA could "talk" to each other – be synchronized – by way of the Bluetooth chip each would contain. Of course this also implies that anything with a Bluetooth chip can join in. Which also implies the potential for Bluetooth technology is practically endless.
Developed initially by Ericsson, Nokia, IBM, Intel and Toshiba – and today counting Lucent, Microsoft, Mitsubishi and Sony on the top-level roster – the Bluetooth standard is being embraced by most ever tech developer in the world. The hopes are high for this colorfully named standard.
| |
GN Netcom headset
|
Which brings us to the second part of the question: What's It All About for the industry? The answer is straight-forward and mentioned above: a potentially huge market for connecting just about anything to anything.
The rub, of course, is that Bluetooth is new, flashy and fun, because – let's be honest – of its very cool name. Which means that once the media got wind of ol' Bluetooth, it took the "idea" of it ran amok. That publicity, while flattering and a marketing bonanza, also created an "end of the honeymoon" scenario – way before Bluetooth had reached anything near maturity.
Today the media is tempering its love-fest for Bluetooth with stories about its failures. Like any marriage hitting the rocks, the media-side of the Bluetooth union is ranting about weaknesses and promises not delivered.
Forget the media.
| |
Casira, from CSR
|
The 10Meters.com Bluetooth pages are focused not on publicity but on a concept that is taking shape as you read these words.
As the pages we've compiled here attest, Bluetooth is a work in progress, and that progress is keeping pace with what it takes to get something new off the ground: a lot of R&D and testing before anything resembling a media "solution" gets to market – and into the hands of consumers.
|
|
Good question. For the uninitiated, Bluetooth is an open-source standard for connecting devices without wires via short-wave radio frequencies. Basically, it works by "riding" the same wave that our microwave ovens utilize. As a short-wave standard, most Bluetooth development now is concentrated on connecting devices within a radius of 10 meters, or roughly 30 feet.