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September 19, 2003 | Comments: (0)

Bluetooth reality check

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There were a few cool Bluetooth demonstrations here at DemoMobile. In Thursday's session Logitech showed a Bluetooth mouse and a mouse-keyboard combination. The idea was to let the PC become a wireless hub for a variety of Bluetooth enabled devices. Also, the office system company Brother unveiled a tiny, pocket size micro printer that uses Bluetooth to print from Palm, PocketPCs, laptops, and tablets.

Although the demos were impressive, talking with an analyst here, David Hayden of MobileWeek, brought the Bluetooth balloon back to earth. The only killer app for Bluetooth will be wireless headsets, he said. Bluetooth isn't going away, but the original idea that it would be ubiquitous as a cable replacement technology is pretty much dead in the water. Complexity in the end-user configuration and usage as well as interoperability issues have plagued Bluetooth, Hayden said.

"The huge mistake that the Bluetooth group made is they didn't focus enough on the simplicity of usage. It is still a challenge to make work," Hayden said. "Bluetooth is supposed to be a standard, but a lot of companies use tweaks in the standard so that every Bluetooth device is not compatible with every other Bluetooth device."

In addition, some handset manufacturers are pulling away from Bluetooth in favor of other features such as cameras. One upcoming handset device from Sony Ericsson does not have Bluetooth, but it was supported in an earlier version.

Hayden said Bluetooth won't disappear, but the early dreams of a short range connectivity utopia were over the top.

Posted by Cathleen Moore on September 19, 2003 02:12 PM

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