Wrap-Up Of Bluetooth World Congress In Amsterdam
There are some good take-aways summarized in this article by ARCchart Research, despite the odd staff titles: "M. Taylor - Associate of Scientific Generics". M. (monsieur?) Taylor discusses how the Bluetooth SIG is only now addressing usability for customers - years after Bluetooth (BT) appeared. BT product manufacturers have released only a handful of products, but the easy connections they promised have turned out to be as user-friendly as solving IRQ interrupt problems in the old Windows days (if you don't know what IRQs are, consider yourself lucky.) Now, I'm not as down on Bluetooth as many other analysts; I think there is a need for a solution in the space that BT occupies, and the solution will more likely be BT than newer contenders Zigbee and UWB. However unlike MSFT, Bluetooth OEMs can't continue to offer weak non-inter-operable products and expect to survive. Interoperability hasn't been my problem. The BT I have in my Toshiba laptop has worked well with my Logitech mouse, and with another Toshiba laptop, but I'm still waiting for a US CDMA Bluetooth 1xRTT mobile phone. Slow roll-out of products is the #2 BT problem after #1 interop. Back to the article, ARC discusses how cordless telephony using BT is emerging in Asia, using a computer as a VoIP conduit and BT to connect a handset. BT's superior battery life is useful here, and new longer range versions will push the cordless past 30ft. The World Conference also had demonstrations from a Personal Mobile Gateway (PMG)company, IXI. This company, who we've we've talked about before, offers a cellular terminal about the size of a small bar of soap with no screen, no buttons, no UI but a BT radio. Keep the PMG in your briefcase, pocket, or purse, and control and use it with any combination of up to 7 connected devices: a phone, a keyboard, a laptop, a PDA, a gaming handheld, etc. The PMG acts as a relay between the cheaper and varied devices and the mobile network. IXI has some traction as OEMs like Samsung are building PMG functionality into some phone handsets.
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Filed Under: bluetooth
