Bluetooth Shipments Exceed 1M per Week

An anonymous reader writes "Just when you think that Bluetooth is dead... The Bluetooth SIG releases a press story that quotes some pretty impressive figures - over 1M Bluetooth enabled devices have been shipped within a week. Bluetooth wireless technology has been quietly making progress over the past year and can now be found in an impressive array of consumer products, from mobile phones and headsets to PDAs, PCs, MP3 players and even automobiles. The technology has reached critical mass, with several books on how to write your own applications with the technology, including Java for those of you who want to create your own Bluetooth apps for your SonyEricsson P900"

Comments

They're selling... so what?

[NineNine]

So what if "Bluetooth enabled" devices are selling? I've *never* seen anybody using Bluetooth in real life. Hell, I don't know anybody who even knows what in the hell it is. There are also billions of televisions that have shipped with the V-chip. I don't know of anyone who's ever used it.

Re:They're selling... so what?

[SuperCal]

I think the problem is you just don't know. I use my PDA and laptop with bluetooth cell phone everyday, but because my cell phone stays in my pocket you couldn't tell.

I just got one

[EdotOrg]

I know I just bought a maxed out iBook G4, specifically because the bluetooh was builtin. I also picked up the Apple Bluetooth mouse, and an HP 450 battery-powered mobile printer with enabled bluetooth. As soon as the cell phone portability kicks in, I will be getting a Nokia 3650 with bluetooth and GPRS for roving internet on my laptop!

Hells bells, am I a geek? Beats me, but for my career (real estate agent in Florida), I can tells you that nothing impresses client (especially old folk) than walking into a listing presentation with a gorgeous apple notebook, a good suit, and NO WIRES ANYWHERE! People are fascinated by it, and helps to break the ice.

Oh, and yes, I am married. To an gorgeous Ecuadorian, no less. Some of us can convert to the dark side.

Shameless plug:

http://www.ianzepp.com

You can thnk Apple for this

[oscast]

Funny... Bluetooth was considered totally dead only a short while ago... then Apple started integrating it into their products... pushing the technology very hard, and now, suddenly we get this news a short while after. Anyone who says that Apple doesn't influence technology trends is either blind or ignorant.

Re:You can thnk Apple for this

[Sycraft-fu]

Ahh yes, the favourite logical falacy around here. I'll repeat again: Correlation does NOT imply causation. This applies to everything.

Now while Apple's adoption helps Bluetooth, I would say it is far less influential than the PDAs and cells getting it, since they seem to be the most popular use for it.

It would be like saying Apple is driving gigabit ethernet. I mean, they stuck it in their towers and now its getting popular so it MUST be Aple's doing right? Wrong. Back when Apple introduced GigE in their towers many of the Mac people I know were all excited and babbled on about using it at home and at work. That dried up real quick when they found out that a 4 port switch would run them $1000 for a crappy brand. They stayed at 100mbit, and many still are there.

However all that while our university was busily buying gig stuff to upgrade the network, as were many others. It allowed moving the core and other highspeed links from ATM back to ethernet. This paved the way for layer-3 switching on the whole campus. Now all switch level links are being upgraded.

Well, funny thing, all this buying of expensive gig technology (as well as other places such as servers) drove the cost down. Now instead of being $300 for a gig ccard and $1000 for a small switch at consumer prices it's $25 for a cheapie gig card and $130 for an 8 port switch. So now we are seeing more intrest in the consumer market. The gig chips are cheap enough that most SI's are now using them (since there isn't a significant cost savings over 10/100) and the switches are cheap enough that they are a viable option if you want the speed. Given a bit more time, it'll be to the point where it's the same price more or less.

Well, it WASN'T Apple that drove it to that point. Had Apple integrated gig and large networks uttely ignored it, it would be a dead or dying technology. They simply aren't a big enough market to drive a technology like that.

Same for Firewire. Firewire was NOT a success because it was an Apple product, it was a success because it is an excellent high speed bus that the audio and video industry jumped on. The fact that it's in Macs didn't make it successful (though it was a fact) the fact that it's in Sony cameras and MOTU audio interfaces and so on did.

Apple DOES influence technology, of course, just as most large tech firms do. They are not the be-all, end-all, however, or the massive trend setter that the fanboys seem to think. When they adopt a technology it helps it, as any company adopting a technology helps it, but it does NOT make or break it.

Re:Technology takes time

[Tony Hoyle]

Blootooth, fail?

When's the last time you went into a phone shop? - *every single device* is bluetooth enabled.

Some of the the new ones aren't IRDA enabled (IRDA requires a line of sight link, doesn't work in all lighting conditions and is damned slow anyway).

AM? *cough* when's the last time you saw an AM enabled phone?

Re:RIP BT

[infiniti99]

Bluetooth keyboards and mice are new, give it some time and we will have more designs to choose from, I'm sure.

For a good and inexpensive bluetooth phone, get a Nokia 6310i. B&W display, long battery life, no frills, but has the stuff you actually want, like bluetooth and GPRS.

Bluetooth device pairing is necessary for security. There are some functions that don't require pairing for convenience sake, such as sending business cards, and there was an earlier /. story about how this can be abused. I can imagine it would be much worse if pranksters could use your phone for dialing out!

I do agree that most bluetooth devices are much too expensive. I think this is mostly an issue with sales and not the cost of making the chips. Remember when USB was a premium?

I think Bluetooth's saving factor will be Apple. Recently they have started embedding the support into their computers, and even created a wireless mouse. I've seen their software interface, and it is very easy to use. Don't you love it how Apple always steps in and says, "Dammit people, you do it like this!" and it becomes a huge success? :)

Re:Technology takes time

[wishus]

Can somebody tell me exactly where bluetooth's niche is?

High speed, short range, low power use, no line of sight?

Also, if you are thinking about 802.11x as a wireless ethernet cable, think of BlueTooth as a wireless USB cable. They've got different purposes.

!(RIP BT)

[int2str]

> Working on Pocket PC/Windows Mobile/whatever is kinda expected

I am working on a implementation for a major PocketPC manufacturer. It will come, trust me.

> A reasonably inexpensive phone with BT

My wife and I just got not one, but two Ericsson T616 (with BT) for FREE. Look around the offers are out there.

> Weren't these chips supposed to cost like $5?

Yes, and they are starting to! If you go to csr.com right now you (end user) can buy a CSR bluecore module for $14 a piece (that's for 5). Put in a discount for large orders and you're probably pretty darn close to $5...

> Why am I nearly doubling the cost of a US$200 phone to get it?

You are not. No idea where you get that number from...

> I'd be happy with a phone that did nothing but dial in and out, with BT (interfacing with a headset, pda dialer, etc would be nice - eg to the point where I don't even need an onboard address book - if I do have one, I want to be able to sync it with the PIM of my choice, like outlook).

You can do ALL of these RIGHT NOW with a HP iPaq and a Bluetooth enabled phone (like the T616, T68i, Nokia 3650+++).

So before you declare Bluetooth RIP, some research would have been nice :).

Bluetooth can be really fun. Ask my wife. She's beaming Ringtones like crazy, synching her address book with outlook and surfing the net on her notebook.

Cheers,
Andre

I don't think so

[binaryDigit]

then Apple started integrating it into their products... pushing the technology very hard

First let me start by saying that my primary computer at home is a PowerBook and I own more Mac's than most small third world countries. But I have to say that your statement is waaaay off base. I personally use BT myself (I have another post that details what) and it's absolutely phones (and headsets), pda's, and keyboard/mice that are driving BT sales. Now as far as pc's go (generic pc as in personal computers, not PC's as in Wintel), Apple is ahead of the curve, but it's not their adoption that's pushing sales, it's all these other devices. Apple is just smart enough to jump on board earlier than other manufacturers (as usual). So I'll give Apple all the credit in the world for being forwrad thinking, but they are NOT driving BT.

Re:Technology takes time

[HardCase]

Can somebody tell me exactly where bluetooth's niche is?

Extremely low power requirements when compared to 802.11. Just the thing for battery powered devices, which, coincidentally, is where Bluetooth is employed.

-h-

11% is not a large number

[msgmonkey]

Well I would n't say every single mobile device is Bluetooth enabled. One million units per week is n't even that large a number considering, around 450 million mobile phones will be sold this year. So if all of that one million are phones, that's just over 11% of phones have bluetooth.

The reason some phones don't have IrDA is because Bluetooth is the new IrDA, i.e. not a "killer" feature (at the moment) but useful if you need it. Where Bluetooth and IrDA differ is Bluetooth is much more complicated and expensive to implement compared to IrDA which has not helped its adoption.

Not the new IRDA, beyond

[hughk]

Blutooth is not the new IRDA, it is way beyond it because of the absent line-of-sight requirement which radically increases the number of applications. This is why bluetooth headphones exist.

Bluetooth isn't significantly more complicated to implement now, there is an issue which you have missed and that is the power drain which remains relatively high (and higher even than IRDA).

Re:WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH /. ???

[FreezerJam]

What's wrong is that /. is mainly a U.S. thing.

The Bluetooth market looks a whole lot different in Canada and the U.S. We have four major cell carriers in Canada, and there are about two Bluetooth phone models available in the country. The largest carrier doesn't have any at all. To start using Bluetooth on my phone, I'd have to ditch my cellular provider.

Cost is still a huge issue. I can get a cellular phone for about C$50. But if I want a Bluetooth phone, it's about C$500. So I better have a good use for it - like a Bluetooth headset. Which costs another C$180, instead of C$30 for a wired one. Nobody is offering signup deals for high-end phones.

As to your uses - I'm curious as to why you transfer files from one phone to another. Most phones here don't support or need files. As to phone to laptop, if it is part of connecting wirelessly, then that makes sense. But it is increasingly likely that a WiFi hotspot will be nearby, providing higher total bandwidth than the Bluetooth connection can even support. For the rest of the time, a connector cable gets that C$50 phone connected to my laptop acting as a 14.4 modem. Not fast, but there if I need it.