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Devil's Advocate: Bluetooth shenanigans
Should be as easy as buying and plugging in a new toaster

By Martin Brampton

Published: Monday 21 July 2003

Following his purchase of - and satisfaction with - his Nokia 3650 camera phone, Martin Brampton started to explore what Bluetooth short-range wireless connectivity could do for him. But has he jumped the gun?

My recently purchased Nokia 3650 encouraged me to explore the state of the Bluetooth market. And a confusing picture it is too. Much as I like a competitive market, the supply of Bluetooth gadgetry is so convoluted, buyers are liable to find support difficult.

When it started to become a practical proposition, people advanced all kinds of extravagant scenarios for Bluetooth. Some favoured its use as an alternative standard for wireless networking, while others concentrated on a world where we picked up fleeting connections as we walked along the street.

Reality has, as usual, moved more slowly. Bluetooth now looks much more likely to be confined to its original goal of being a replacement for a tangle of wires. It really is a very neat trick to be able to arrive home, dump a bag that includes the 3650, and then establish a PC link without any messing with cable connections. It works too.

Indeed, the 3650 demonstrates the possibilities of wider use of wireless across all kinds of digital units with its camera function and its ability to readily transfer photographs. Ideally, all digital cameras would do this, as it is far more convenient than messing with wires or pulling storage media in and out. Yet very few cameras are yet Bluetooth capable. The same applies to printers.

But that is very much where Bluetooth sits at present. The mobile phone market drives it. There are two popular applications, which are PC connectivity and Bluetooth headsets. Both of these are beset by confusion over standards. In principle, Bluetooth provides a standard, currently at version 1.1 and heading to 1.2.

Unfortunately, there is still too much scope for variability within the standard. Major forces in the Bluetooth market, such as the phone makers, are inclined to restrict support to specific proprietary devices they have tested. There is a lack of widely available validation suites or independent compatibility standards. This very much undermines the Bluetooth principle of a wireless standard that can link a wide variety of disparate devices.

Exploring who is doing what in the market led me to have some sympathy with the phone makers. Even in the headset market, where there are only a few major vendors, confusion is rife. Retailers make contradictory statements about what headset is compatible with what phone. Phone manufacturers prefer to recommend only their own headsets. But with PC connectivity, the problems are multiplied.

While PC cards were used for Bluetooth connectivity in the early days, the neatest and cheapest solution is now the USB dongle. Full wireless functionality is available simply by plugging a unit the size of a large thimble into any USB port. The dongles are available at prices currently ranging from £15 to about £60, all apparently doing much the same job.

Confusion comes with the question of who is making these gadgets and who is supporting them. They are made in the Far East and many are supplied in anonymous packaging. Mine is like that, although it was described in advertising as a 'Zeevo' dongle. Now Zeevo makes chips for Bluetooth, but it does not make dongles and does not permit its name to be attached to a dongle. As yet, I have got no further than a suspicion about who actually made mine.

The driving software normally comes from a quite different source, often a US company called Widcomm. However, Widcomm does not support this bundled software, and one is expected to turn to the anonymous and untraceable manufacturer. The software does not usually work perfectly. Its saving grace is that devices apparently from different sources can often be made to work using the same instructions. Web discussion forums provide useful advice.

This is not a situation calculated to encourage a burgeoning consumer market. Bluetooth connectivity could grow phenomenally – but only if we have confidence in compatibility. Buying a new toaster, we have no doubt that the plug will fit into the wall sockets at home. Bluetooth could be like that and it could be a feature of many different kinds of digital unit. When we can overcome the present lack of maturity, no doubt it will be.

** Martin Brampton is a director and founder of Black Sheep Research (www.black-sheep-research.co.uk ), an independent consultancy providing research, writing and speaking services on a wide range of business and technology subjects. Martin was previously a director at Bloor Research, and has worked with IT as a user and analyst for over 20 years. He can be contacted at silicon@black-sheep-research.co.uk.

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