Bluetooth’s short life has so far been very similar to that of the many boy-bands infesting the airwaves recently. Lots of hype, with little substance.
A recent report by Ovum on the state of Bluetooth bolsters the claim, noting the hype surrounding the wireless technology has come from sources outside the industry that have spewed wild claims of Bluetooth’s potential without understanding the technology’s true place in the wireless industry.
“Ovum’s research shows that the immediate future of Bluetooth involves some much needed, although unexciting, connectivity applications,” explained Jeremy Green, principal consultant for Ovum. “The more futuristic applications, which are the source of much of the hype surrounding Bluetooth, will have to wait until there is a user base to support them. Bluetooth will develop on a slow burn rather than the big bang that the current hype suggests.”
Some of the wild claims have elevated Bluetooth from a low-cost cable replacement technology, to running entire corporate local area networks and rivaling industry standards including 802.11b and HomeRF. Unfortunately, the hype falls apart once the facts are exposed showing Bluetooth’s throughput of around 1 Megabit per second pales in comparison to the true LAN technologies pushing more than 10 Mbps of throughput.
For its actual intended market, Bluetooth is more than capable of following through with its original purpose of delivering wireless connectivity at low cost and low power consumption.
Ovum points out that Bluetooth’s future will indeed be bright, but the industry lacks readiness to take products beyond the prototype phase and seriously invest in the technology.
Production of Bluetooth-enabled devices is currently limited to PC cards for laptop computers and hands-free devices for wireless phones. But, with more than 2,500 companies now members of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, including most of the high-tech heavy hitters, the technology is bound to have an impact.
“Many developers are waiting to see how early products take off before investing significant money into developing new and innovative applications. The cautious approach by industry players results in a reduced supply and slower take-up of the technology,” Green noted. “Bluetooth technology is too affordable, and too useful not to succeed, but it will take time and real commitment from the industry.”
