SAN JOSE, Calif.-As we approach what was supposed to be the Bluetooth Christmas, all Santa Claus has to offer those wishing for a Bluetooth-enabled gift is a headset, some PC cards and the promise that next year his bag will overflow with Bluetooth products.
Those promises were ringing off the walls at last week’s Bluetooth Developers Conference in San Jose, Calif., as everything that Bluetooth could find room in was on display. And while the 3,000 conference attendees had plenty to look at from the 82 exhibitors, just about every device ended with an “available (insert quarter), 2001.”
The admitted late arrival of Bluetooth was addressed by opening keynote speaker Frank Spindler Jr., vice president of Intel Corp.’s Architecture Group, who noted the industry has missed its mark of having Bluetooth deployment by the end of this year.
“This was supposed to be a Bluetooth Christmas,” said Spindler. “But we have to get it right. If we don’t, Bluetooth will not be very beneficial to consumers due to interoperability issues.”
Other keynote speakers included Tony Kobrinetz, vice president and general manager of Personal Networks Group at Motorola Inc., who highlighted a look back at wireless communications by showing some of Motorola’s commercials from the 1950s, and John Karidis, distinguished engineer with IBM’s New Technology Ventures and Personal Systems Group, who focused on the convergence of mobile technologies and showed off some of IBM’s concepts, including a wireless MP3 player using Bluetooth technology and a portable hard drive.
The biggest production during the keynote addresses was “Bluetooth: A Day in the Life.” The demonstration included Bluetooth technology enabling wireless Web access, mobile commerce and driving directions between a wireless handset and gas pump, a WAP browser application over Bluetooth and remote control for home appliances and toy cars. While most of the applications worked smoothly, the occasional glitch reminded everyone of the work that still needs to be done before Bluetooth is ready for its public.
The conference also included several session tracks that specialized on a variety of Bluetooth topics. These sessions ranged from highly technical Bluetooth protocol standards that included more numbers than letters, to a plan by Swedish researchers to use Bluetooth to track hockey players’ vital signs during games in Sweden’s elite hockey league.
Wireless carriers were well represented by David Holmes, director of 3G applications at AT&T Wireless Services Inc., who voiced wireless carriers’ concerns about Bluetooth implementation in handsets. Holmes noted that the carriers were not worried about the wait for Bluetooth as long as a simple user interface could be standardized and established and all the bugs worked out before deployment.
“Once customers have to call our customer service operators, which are expensive to operate, they have already had a bad experience with our service, even if we can fix their problems over the phone,” Holmes explained.
Holmes noted that even if consumers were presented with the most thorough and easy-to-read manual showing how to use Bluetooth functionality on a handset, they would never read it and end up relying on the carrier’s customer service representatives to answer what could be highly technical questions.
Nokia Corp., which used the venue to highlight its Bluetooth direction during a press conference, lent credence to the delay of Bluetooth by noting that while company plans for deployment in Europe and Japan were being readied for next year, Nokia did not have a time frame in mind for rollout of Bluetooth in its handsets for the U.S. market.
Attendee traffic on the show floor ranged from heavy in the bigger booths occupied by the likes of Ericsson, Motorola and 3Com, to light around the edges, where smaller chip and test equipment companies were located. What seemed to be the biggest driver of floor traffic, besides the traditional free stuff, were the actual demonstrations of Bluetooth products by the larger companies.
These demonstrations included Ericsson’s Bluetooth headset. Even though the device is heavier than a wired headset and required a battery, it was praised for its futuristic Star Trek appearance and ease of use. There also was a demonstration of a Bluetooth-enabled pen from Swedish-based Anoto. In addition to an ink cartridge, the oversized pen housed a small camera, a rechargeable battery and a Bluetooth module that could transfer what was written on paper to a laptop, personal digital assistant or personal computer wirelessly. Other companies took a more simple approach to demonstrating their wares, highlighted by Parthus Technologies plc, which linked a laptop computer and a soda vending machine via Bluetooth, providing a potential e-commerce demonstration and beverage at the same time.
Even with the delay in getting products to market, this year’s conference proved that the buzz surrounding Bluetooth should be enough to give next Christmas’ red and green colors a slightly blue tint.
