One Billion Served, Wirelessly

Jan. 11, 2007 — -- Consumer electronics are based on making life easier and more enjoyable, and the short-range wireless technology with the funny-sounding name -- Bluetooth -- has positioned itself to become the dominant standard for cutting the cord.

Bluetooth is a nine-year-old technology that is able to transmit data like audio and photos between devices. The group that's charged with promoting the technology to consumers and making sure vendors implement the science in a standard way so electronic gizmos talk to each other is called the Bluetooth Special Interest Group.

The group chose the annual Consumer Electronics Show to celebrate the sale of the 1 billionth Bluetooth enabled device and to showcase what's in store for the future.

Bluetooth is not a new technology, but its propagation is. "Our ubiquity is exciting and for our members, immensely satisfying," explained Mike Foley, executive director of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group. "Our technology is known for wireless cell phone earpieces and in-car hands-free operation, but over the last three to six months, we've begun beaming photos from cameras to printers and TVs, and streaming amazing-sounding stereo audio to headphones. We have seen implementation in devices we never dreamed of."

Adoption of the protocol met some initial resistance and many critics predicted its death before it was even for sale.

"The Bluetooth technology was introduced to much fanfare and was slow to appear in electronics," according to Foley. "In its infancy it did one thing really well, but instead of talking about that, it was overhyped. We would hear that it could do everything short of curing cancer."

The marketing group retrenched and used cellphone earpieces to gain wide acceptance. Their goal today is to present a Bluetooth solution for any devices a user would want to connect.

"Bluetooth is a great technology today for connecting a keyboard wirelessly or a headset to a cell phone, but it is lacking the speed and ease of use that people will receive with certified USB," said Jeff Ravencraft, chairman and president of the USB Forum and technology strategist at Intel.

"Certified wireless USB is a new standard that will start to enter the marketplace in 2007, and users will have the same experience they receive today from cabled USB," said Ravencraft. "Certified wireless USB will send data at 480 megabits per second when within 3 meters. Bluetooth today sends data at 2 megabits. People love USB, because it's fast and it just works."

The added speeds promised by wireless USB would allow quicker syncing of your cell phone to your computer, or allow streaming video from an iPod to be displayed on your big screen TV, but for now, USB wireless has a promised release in 2007, while Bluetooth is being installed in 12 million devices a month.

Scientists are working on ways to improve Bluetooth in order to enable higher transfer speeds, so larger packets of data can be transferred in the near future. The initial introduction of two Bluetooth devices, called pairing, was a bit cumbersome for some users. The product that won for best headset has an online pairing guide to assist new Bluetooth users.

"We applaud Bluetooth for adopting the same WiMedia ultra wideband radio transmitter for their next generation of Bluetooth," said Ravencraft. "It's the engine that drives the car in certified wireless USB, and by Bluetooth adding the same engine, cost will be lowered and the devices will be cheaper to produce for the customers."