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NEWS

"Where is Bluetooth going?"

by Eric Schneider, Bluetooth SIG marketing director for Asia/Pacific and Japan (via the Kuala Lumpur Star and Asia News Network), 4 September:

"Remember how strange it looked the first time you saw people walking down the street alone, apparently talking to themselves? We now know they aren't crazy but are wearing nearly invisible Bluetooth cellphone headsets.

"Today, you might also see people bopping or singing to music that you don't hear, coming from music players you don't see. They're probably using multipoint, or multi-use, Bluetooth headsets that connect wirelessly to their music players as well as their handphones.

"It's a sign of the times that such gadgets have gained acceptance nearly everywhere now.

"According to IMS Research, the number of Bluetooth units shipped in late 2003 totalled one million. Now, 10 million Bluetooth units are shipped every week and three new Bluetooth enabled products are qualified every day. At the end of last year, more than 500 million products [will] have installed Bluetooth solutions in total... ABI Research indicates the Bluetooth market will grow at a compound annual rate of over 40 per cent between 2004 and 2010, with equipment shipments expected to top the one billion mark by next year.

"Mobile phones enabled with Bluetooth technology will also incur accelerated growth. In-Stat market research predicts that by 2009 more than 66 per cent of the 900 million mobile phones sold that year will include Bluetooth technology.

"The number of Bluetooth-enabled notebooks shipped is also expected to grow from around 14 million units in 2005 to around 88 million in 2010.

High-speed

"The Bluetooth SIG (special interest group) announced its cooperation with WiMedia Alliance for the next-generation high-rate Bluetooth technology in March [2006] - one year after the SIG announced its intention to work with the developers of UWB in 2005...

"When devices are within a few meters of each other, this data rate can be 480Mbps (megabits per second), and when the range approaches 10m, data rate is still relatively high 100Mbps...

"The first high-speed Bluetooth technology solution chipsets is expected to be available as prototypes in Q2 2007. Computers and other devices where high speed rates may be required will be the first devices to be launched in the market, likely towards the end of that year.

New apps

"...Next-generation high-speed Bluetooth technology will enable high bandwidth transmissions such as streaming video transmission and the transfer of very large files. A simple example is the connection of a flatpanel HD TV hanging on a wall to a set-top box for streaming video. Utilising a wireless connection decreases the need for cables to be strung through the wall.

"Other usage scenarios using high-speed Bluetooth technology + UWB may include:

• "The convenience of printing files from a digital camera at home or at a kiosk;
• "sending a PowerPoint presentation [via] wireless from a PC to a projector, or from one notebook to another; or
• "transferring movies from PC to [a] home theatre system.

What's next?

"The SIG is also exploring opportunities for wireless applications in digital homes; it is talking with manufacturers of TVs, set-top boxes, game stations, and home theatre systems to install Bluetooth chipsets in these devices. This may open up new possibilities and applications that [were] previously not thought of.

"The SIG also recently formed a Medical Devices Working Group to create and ratify a Bluetooth Medical Device Profile that will expand the use of Bluetooth technology in the medical, health and fitness markets."
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NOTE: Kevin J. O'Brien has an equally enthusiastic but less technical article in the 4 September issue of the International Herald Tribune: "Wireless: Bluetooth blazes trails." Reporting from a consumer electronics expo in Berlin, he emphasizes the growing popularity of Bluetooth for high-fidelity wireless sound systems in the home.

[Bluetooth: 4 September 2006]