Bluetooth, a technology that wirelessly connects devices within the home or office, is ready for prime time, and the electronics industry is counting on it to change the face of the business.
“Bluetooth is absolutely one of the most revolutionary things that’s hitting the telecom market,” said Skip Bryan of Ericsson.
“It’s the holy grail of connectivity,” said Ronald P. Sperano of IBM.
Its first use will be to link wirelessly a laptop with a cellular phone so that, say, a business traveler waiting for a flight at an airport can access his e-mail.
IBM plans to release a Bluetooth computer card in November. Motorola and Ericsson expect to have Bluetooth cell phones available before Christmas. Ericsson will also offer a cordless headset so that phone users can be unencumbered as they drive down the highway or stroll around their offices.
“Next year, you’ll start seeing a wide proliferation of uses,” said Mike Foley, a wireless architect with Microsoft, which is one of the leaders in the Bluetooth consortium.
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About 2,000 companies are developing Bluetooth products. By the end of next year, the technology may be in 30 million devices, according to DataQuest. By 2005, 670 million machines will have Bluetooth embedded in them, says Cahners In-Stat Group.
Designers talk about possibilities that seem like science fiction. One example: When you want to buy something, you could scan its bar code into your cell phone and go to a mall. When you walked past a store with the product, your cellular phone would alert you.
Many consumers have assumed that technology companies would solve their problems by quickly rolling out an all-in-one device, such as a laptop with a built-in cell phone. In reality, such a machine is a long way away.
“The cost is too high,” according to a report on the official Bluetooth Web site. What’s more, there are different cell phone standards around the world. A computer manufacturer would have to build several models of laptops or–if world-traveling customers wanted a truly global device–a super-machine with connections that fit all standards.
Meanwhile, owners of the 7 million non-computer Web-connecting devices (such as Palms and cellular phones) are finding their devices don’t really replace computers.
So tech-savvy persons are working out their own solutions by carrying laptops, cell phones and personal digital assistants.
“The problem is getting all these devices talking to each other,” Sperano said.
Until now, the solution has been infrared beams, which have severe limitations. As anyone knows who has ever pointed a remote control at a television, infrared works only through line-of-sight. It doesn’t go through walls, or around corners.
In 1994, Ericsson, the Swedish telecommunications giant, began looking for “a solution that takes us beyond where we thought infrared would go,” Bryan said. The firm wanted something that could reach farther, connect many different devices and operate at very low power.
The result was Bluetooth, named after Harald Blatand, which means Bluetooth, a Danish king who helped conquer Norway in the 10th Century. The technology operates in the ultra-high radio range of 2.4 gigahertz. Ultimately, Bluetooth signals might be able to extend up to 300 feet, but companies are now focusing on distances under 30 feet.
By 1997, Ericsson realized that if it kept Bluetooth to itself, the technology would have limited value, and so it approached other industry titans to create what has become the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, which is now led by Ericsson, IBM, Nokia, Toshiba, Intel, Microsoft, Motorola, 3Com and Lucent.
They became involved because the industry was quickly realizing that the personal computer would not for much longer be the center of the digital universe. Microsoft signed up, Foley said, because “wireless in general is very important to us. Our goal is to provide information anywhere anytime on any device.”
As firms began working on standards and applications, a buzz about Bluetooth spread among investors, many of whom became eager to jump on this bandwagon.
Many visit Bluetooth.com, searching for information. There, the first frequently asked question is what company do they buy to invest in Bluetooth. The answer: There is no Bluetooth Inc.; all they can do is buy the stocks of companies creating products with the wireless technology. And that list keeps growing. About 2,000 have joined the Bluetooth Special Interest Group.
As with many tech subjects, the hype may have managed to overstate an obviously glowing future.
“How big it’s going to be is a good question,” said Galen Schreck, an analyst with Forrester Research, a Massachusetts company specializing in tech issues.
One example: How many devices really need to communicate with each other? “They talk about your stereo and your computer talking to your lawn mower,” he said, with some exaggeration. “Do we really need that?”
The other problem is that, at least at first, not all Bluetooth devices will be able to communicate with all other Bluetooth devices.
“If my Ericsson headset only works with my Ericsson phone,” Schreck asked, “does that mean I’ll need three $500 Bluetooth headsets for different uses? I’d love to have a headset that worked with everything.”
Bryan of Ericsson acknowledged that, at first, Ericsson’s Bluetooth headset will interact only with a Bluetooth Ericsson phone, but “in the future that won’t be the case.” Within several years, any Bluetooth device will be able to talk to any other Bluetooth device.
Then there’s the issue of price. The first IBM Bluetooth card for computers will be $189. The Ericsson headset might go for around $300, because it will need to include a Bluetooth attachment for the cell phone as well as the headset. The first Motorola Bluetooth phone will retail for around $325, plus up to $190 for a special computer card.
But very quickly prices are expected to come down. Ericsson’s first Bluetooth phone will not be a matter of adding a card, but simply modifying a chip already in its cell phones. That could add only $25 to $30 to the cost, said Bryan.
Meanwhile, IBM is contemplating a new generation of laptops that will have a Bluetooth antenna built in around the display screen. Instead of an external device (called a “dongle” by techno-nerds) that has to slip into a slot, the wireless technology will be hidden inexpensively inside the case.
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What gets techno-nerds like Sperano excited are all the small improvements that Bluetooth can make by eliminating the spaghetti maze of cables linked to computers and other devices.
IBM’s program director for mobile market development, Sperano says Bluetooth can eventually be used to disconnect keyboards, mouses and printers, among other things. For a Web-connected TV or a large-screen computer, a surfer will be able to sprawl on the couch and use a cordless keyboard to control his viewing.
Laptops, meanwhile, will be smaller and lighter because they won’t need as many connecting ports in back.