Posted by
michael
on from the wi-fi-all-the-way dept.
rookie1 writes "According to this article and this, Ericsson has shut down its Bluetooth division. Ericsson has not made any formal announcement. Considering SonyEricsson is a major supporter of Bluetooth technology, will this have a huge impact on its adoption?"
From TFA: "Although Ericsson will continue its involvement in the Bluetooth Special Interest Group as a promoter of the technology, Akesson said, 'We will no longer develop new hardware or new IPs based on the Bluetooth specification.' Ericsson also won't pursue new chip customers for Bluetooth technology licensing."
Could someone explain to me how telling the world you're no longer interested in developing the technology or finding people to license it to is a method of "promoting" Bluetooth?
I think you've hit the nail on the head. The article states that Ericsson will no longer be making products for the semiconductor market- ie, they will no longer be making Bluetooth CHIPS. It has probably become more economical for Ericsson to buy said bluetooth chips from other (probably Chinese or Taiwanese) vendors and integrate them into their mobile devices instead of producing the chips they integrate themselves.
And this is nothing but a good thing, as it means that the Bluetooth implementations have become uniform to the point that Ericsson can trust other manufacturers to make the chips that they use.
While the majority of the comments for this article seem to be ringing the death-knell for Bluetooth or at least proclaiming that Ericsson has lost faith in the technology, you correctly show that this couldn't be further from the truth.
Ericsson not REALLY pulling out...
by
BTWR
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
From the article:
Further advancements in Bluetooth technology will be made by the Special Interest Group, which consists of a number of companies with ties to the technology. Ericsson will remain a part of that group.
So it seems that Ericsson is perhaps just diverting their bluetooth division to one of it's subsidiaries/subdivisions. After all, SonyEricsson is one of the main Bluetooth supporters. This may just be overpanic...
Bluetooth adoption
by
agristin
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· Score: 3, Insightful
In spite of Ericsson pulling out, I think Bluetooth adoption will speed up. Maybe they are getting out of the game at the right time for them, sometimes the money is in a product before commodification.
The reason I think Bluetooth adoption will speed up is it is on most of the Apple pc products now. That happened with USB also. At that time PS/2 (or adb) was still the favorite connector for keyboards and mice, now on Mac and many PC's USB is the way.
As a further prognostication, I think Bluetooth could be the high end mouse/keyboard/PDA/cell phone connector of choice down the road. While USB is handy, the new iMac shows that lacking a swarm of cables can be a nice feature.
Why would it? What other technology can do what bluetooth can do? It doesn't really have a direct competitor. The market is just not as large as some people expected. It does not "replace wires." It removes (some) wires for people who are willing to pay extra. Most of the bluetooth products are top notch and top dollar, so they have a specific market. Adoption was limited at the start.
Re:Does it matter?
by
shaka
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Heh. It sounds as if you're American. Sony Ericsson has been doing major inroads the last year and a half or so, mostly at Nokia's expense. You see, while all of Nokia's phones look like an alien has designed them, Sony Ericsson's actually look nice, and they are almost all very feature packed.
Then again, you wouldn't know if you live in the US, since you lot have been 2-3 years behind in mobile telephony adoption for the last 10 years.
-- :wq!
not a good comparison
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 1, Insightful
No effect at all. JVC invented the VHS standard, it's small market share was not signifigant in it's adoption. Phillips invented the redbook audio CD, it's influence is miniscule today, or even 15 years ago.
Actually not a very good comparison at all. The better comparison is if JVC or Philips/Sony had dropped out of their respective markets in the "early" stages, not where their market share's are now. JVC and Sony were locked in a titanic struggle with the beta/vhs wars. Had JVC blinked first, it would have had a very negative impact on the continued adoption of vhs. The CD had no contemporary competition to deal with, so it wasn't as reliant on a single backer, even though it had two of the biggest names behind it anyway.
In typical slashdot fashion...
by
Critical_
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· Score: 4, Insightful
In typical Slashdot function, we see people sitting here typing away responses about how useless bluetooth is for wireless-whatever due to its short range. Unfortunately for those people, they never realized that bluetooth is a wire-replacement technology. When I have my cell phone on at my desk, I don't want to feel like I am sitting in a hospital ICU bed with a bunch of wires hanging off my body. Instead, my bluetooth headset takes care of that part. Also, at my current location, internet access via Edge is far more useful and cheaper than buying DSL. So it serves two purposes right there that 802.11 is too killer for. Also, sync'ing my PDA is much easier than having to drag a craddle with me everywhere. My point is that SE is only moving their bluetooth operations under another division so bluetooth is not going anywhere and I am glad. 802.11 is too power hunger for the things I need to get done. Lastly, big manufacturers such as Dell are doing away with ALL legacy ports such are IrDA, Parallel, Serial, so we are left with firewire, USB, and bluetooth. Out of those, bluetooth makes the most sense.
Re:Bluetooth is dead
by
lidocaineus
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· Score: 4, Insightful
The short range may have something to do with it.
If you think that's a liability, you really don't understand the hallmarks of bluetooth and what its purposes are.
Bluetooth has become commoditized; it's in the hands of low-cost chip manufacturers. That makes it uninteresting for a company like Ericsson and they are better off just buying whatever BT technology they need cheaper from elsewhere. If anything, that's probably a sign of maturity of the technology.
Micahel why did you avoid reading the 2nd paragraph?
You're assuming he even got to the first.;)
Re:Bluetooth going away?
by
dave420
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· Score: 4, Insightful
That's pretty funny. Do you actually know about bluetooth? It's a very small, very cheap, very low-power radio technology for low-bandwidth data. It's not meant to be a 100ft-range-gigabit-ethernet-multimedia-streaming technology, but a useful replacement for low-bandwidth cabling. Headsets, keyboards, mice, microphones, etc. It does something other wireless chipsets don't, and nothing out there at the moment (or the forseeable future) can replace it.
Here's a nice scene: You're on your PDA, and not in a wireless hotspot. You want to check your mails, so you connect to your ISP using your phone which is in your pocket. You don't have to reach for anything - the two communicate, and you instantly have GPRS to your PDA. Or, another cool scene: At work, listening to music, and you want to check your voicemails quickly. Dial the answerphone on your phone (or from your computer), and listen to the messages over your headphones, nicely mixed with some quiet music from itunes or whatever, via bluetooth. Even better: send and receive text messages from your desktop/pda/notebook using a real keyboard. The list goes on.
People always pipe up and say something like "waah waah bluetooth waah crap waah WUSB is miles better waah waah", when they've blatantly misunderstood the purpose of the technology, and haven't realised just how useful it is.
Are you American?:)
BT alive and well, misunderstood
by
idsofmarch
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
I disagree,
BT is great for short-range transfer of data using low-power chips, I use it with my Powerbook, my cell phone and headset, and have used it to sync PDAs, etc. for others.
The short-range is actually as much as 10-meters, and BT was developed as a Personal Area Network protocol, meaning if you're bigger than 10-meters you're a pilot whale and BT ain't gonna' help that.
-- Anyone who whines about being modded down should be.
Not a long move...
by
daijo78
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· Score: 2, Insightful
I live in Lund, Sweden, where both the Technology Licensing group and Ericsson Mobile Platforms are located. No more then 500 m apart! Sure they have to cross the highway but I think they'll manage. Maybe this isn't much more then merging to departments. Perhaps EMP responsible for the platform as a whole and one department for Bluetooth licensing doesn't make sense finacially. Just a thought.
Not lame -- think outside the box
by
plover
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· Score: 2, Insightful
It's getting adopted, although slower than most of us wish. Personally, I think the killer app for Bluetooth will be as the replacement for IR remote controls. Yes, IR is probably about a dollar cheaper per unit, but it's a one-way protocol with no feedback. Imagine a remote that if you pushed the button for channel change, the channel would actually change. Every single time.
And being two-way, a remote would automatically download its configuration right from the device you're controlling. Harmony remotes sort of do this today, but they require USB cables and that you download a configuration from their web site. The Philips Pronto remotes are somewhat cumbersome as their GUI is usually tied to the device, and you still have to find a configuration you like on the net.
Imagine a home where your PC, your phone, your TV, your PDA and your remote control can all interact and play nice. The phone rings? Your Tivo pauses the show, and displays the caller ID on screen allowing you to decide whether to answer it or not. Push the "do not disturb" button on the remote, and your answering machine will take over while you step into the bathroom. Your burglar alarm disarms itself because you walked up to the door, and arms itself as the last cell-phone equipped person leaves. And it's self configuring -- the only requirement is that you pair your devices to indicate "trust". Adding a surround-sound amplifier? Well, your TV, Tivo and cable box would all know about it automatically. Changing channels? Talk to the cable box. Your Tivo will know it's been changed. Raising volume? Your surround sound will handle that if it's on, your TV will handle it if it's off. And turning your system on won't involve four buttons or flaky macros that toggle one thing on but another off, either -- the power switch will turn on everything needed, reliably.
Yeah, it's a ways away yet, but a smart low-power wireless protocol makes it all possible. Being present already in phones, PDAs and PCs, Bluetooth seems like it's the first technology with a real shot at making this happen.
-- John
Re:Not lame -- think outside the box
by
NachoDaddy
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· Score: 3, Insightful
Most of your home automation ideas are already handled by Crestron. As far as all your CE deives self configuring by talking over bluetooth, that will never happen. The reality is that there is no reason for someone like Sony to want to communicate and integrate with Samsung or Motorolla, or anyone else. They would rather see a all Sony solution to the problem, therefore any automatic configuration solutions will always be proprietary. The only CE manufacturers that would be interested in something common are small manufacturers that can't offer a total solution. But then you have the overbearing licsening of Bluetooth. Won't happen.
Microsoft doesn't think Bluetooth is dying
by
93+Escort+Wagon
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· Score: 2, Insightful
Wish I could find the article I really wanted to link - in it a MS spokesman was saying they were adding more core BT technology into XP itself because their customers were demanding it.
Well trying BT with Nokia handsets (and windows for that matter) no wonder you had problems. Nokia has some of the worst BT implementation I have ever seen - they just havent got it right yet, not by a long shot.
Most of their phones only seem to support the headset profile to start with. So no file transfers or syncs to other standard software/devices/phones.
Nawwww, you're suffering from Worst. Implementation. By. Microsoft. Evah!
-- It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
Re:Does it matter?
by
Wayfare
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
True, SE have mostly the same cell phones in both markets (except for which GSM bands they have), but the US cell phone market is still far behind the European.
The 2-3 year gap he was talking about is with the networks, the adoption of the superior GSM tech; just basically the slow movement of the US cell phone market in general.
European/Asian Perspective....
by
SenseiLeNoir
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· Score: 3, Insightful
Those predicting the death of bluetooth seem to usually be those of North American origin. In Europe, and ASia, where phoens are usually subsidised to hell, most "decent" phones being sold have bluetooth functionality. In terms of SonyEriccson, the SonyEricsson T610 is a phone which sold by the buckets, and is still being sold today, despite beign deprecated in favour of the T630, and the more advanced K700i. Other manufacturers are also incorporating the technology.
The reason behind popularity of Bluetooth is many fold:
- In Europe, Bluetooth headsets have REALLY taken off, especially thanks to the heavily enforeced bans on using handsets whilst driving.
- Bluetooth data communications are again increaingly popular (our GPRS systems are much more reliable, and its perfectly possible to conduct an internet session on a laptop, whilst screamign along in a 100mph train.. i know, coz i do that every evening). The phone stays in your pocket, and no messy wires to deal with
- for simple things just as transfering Ringtones, and gaming. People with SOnyEricsson phones easily swap rings and photos with others using BT technology. As well as wireless synch (try using Floats Mobiel Agent with a SonyEricsson phone via Bluetooth to simply blow your mind!)
These are just normal day to day applications of bluetooth. Tech people such as myself, use it even more.
IN my home, despite having a wires and Wireless networks, we also haev 2 USB BT dongles for the computers, a HP Bluetooth Printer, 3 Bluetooth Mobiles and a Headset. I use the headset for both the phone, AND as a wireless headset for VoIP applications on the computer.
In my experience, the technology has matured so well, it simply works. The only issues i have is on the PC side, where bluetooth stacks on the com0puter are either underfeatured, or clunky (dont get me started about MS's implementation in SP2). In all other bluetooth devices, the technology simply "works"
So to go with the parent post, i think the technology has matured enough to the point its possible to simply just make money out of it, there is very little extra that can be done. Why fix it if it aint broke?)
Slashdot Mirror
"Although Ericsson will continue its involvement in the Bluetooth Special Interest Group as a promoter of the technology, Akesson said, 'We will no longer develop new hardware or new IPs based on the Bluetooth specification.' Ericsson also won't pursue new chip customers for Bluetooth technology licensing."
Could someone explain to me how telling the world you're no longer interested in developing the technology or finding people to license it to is a method of "promoting" Bluetooth?
Right is wrong when left is right.
Further advancements in Bluetooth technology will be made by the Special Interest Group, which consists of a number of companies with ties to the technology. Ericsson will remain a part of that group.
So it seems that Ericsson is perhaps just diverting their bluetooth division to one of it's subsidiaries/subdivisions. After all, SonyEricsson is one of the main Bluetooth supporters. This may just be overpanic...
In spite of Ericsson pulling out, I think Bluetooth adoption will speed up. Maybe they are getting out of the game at the right time for them, sometimes the money is in a product before commodification.
The reason I think Bluetooth adoption will speed up is it is on most of the Apple pc products now. That happened with USB also. At that time PS/2 (or adb) was still the favorite connector for keyboards and mice, now on Mac and many PC's USB is the way.
As a further prognostication, I think Bluetooth could be the high end mouse/keyboard/PDA/cell phone connector of choice down the road. While USB is handy, the new iMac shows that lacking a swarm of cables can be a nice feature.
-A
Why would it? What other technology can do what bluetooth can do? It doesn't really have a direct competitor. The market is just not as large as some people expected. It does not "replace wires." It removes (some) wires for people who are willing to pay extra. Most of the bluetooth products are top notch and top dollar, so they have a specific market. Adoption was limited at the start.
Open Source Sushi
Heh. It sounds as if you're American. Sony Ericsson has been doing major inroads the last year and a half or so, mostly at Nokia's expense. You see, while all of Nokia's phones look like an alien has designed them, Sony Ericsson's actually look nice, and they are almost all very feature packed.
Then again, you wouldn't know if you live in the US, since you lot have been 2-3 years behind in mobile telephony adoption for the last 10 years.
:wq!
No effect at all. JVC invented the VHS standard, it's small market share was not signifigant in it's adoption. Phillips invented the redbook audio CD, it's influence is miniscule today, or even 15 years ago.
Actually not a very good comparison at all. The better comparison is if JVC or Philips/Sony had dropped out of their respective markets in the "early" stages, not where their market share's are now. JVC and Sony were locked in a titanic struggle with the beta/vhs wars. Had JVC blinked first, it would have had a very negative impact on the continued adoption of vhs. The CD had no contemporary competition to deal with, so it wasn't as reliant on a single backer, even though it had two of the biggest names behind it anyway.
In typical Slashdot function, we see people sitting here typing away responses about how useless bluetooth is for wireless-whatever due to its short range. Unfortunately for those people, they never realized that bluetooth is a wire-replacement technology. When I have my cell phone on at my desk, I don't want to feel like I am sitting in a hospital ICU bed with a bunch of wires hanging off my body. Instead, my bluetooth headset takes care of that part. Also, at my current location, internet access via Edge is far more useful and cheaper than buying DSL. So it serves two purposes right there that 802.11 is too killer for. Also, sync'ing my PDA is much easier than having to drag a craddle with me everywhere. My point is that SE is only moving their bluetooth operations under another division so bluetooth is not going anywhere and I am glad. 802.11 is too power hunger for the things I need to get done. Lastly, big manufacturers such as Dell are doing away with ALL legacy ports such are IrDA, Parallel, Serial, so we are left with firewire, USB, and bluetooth. Out of those, bluetooth makes the most sense.
The short range may have something to do with it.
If you think that's a liability, you really don't understand the hallmarks of bluetooth and what its purposes are.
Bluetooth has become commoditized; it's in the hands of low-cost chip manufacturers. That makes it uninteresting for a company like Ericsson and they are better off just buying whatever BT technology they need cheaper from elsewhere. If anything, that's probably a sign of maturity of the technology.
Micahel why did you avoid reading the 2nd paragraph?
;)
You're assuming he even got to the first.
Here's a nice scene: You're on your PDA, and not in a wireless hotspot. You want to check your mails, so you connect to your ISP using your phone which is in your pocket. You don't have to reach for anything - the two communicate, and you instantly have GPRS to your PDA. Or, another cool scene: At work, listening to music, and you want to check your voicemails quickly. Dial the answerphone on your phone (or from your computer), and listen to the messages over your headphones, nicely mixed with some quiet music from itunes or whatever, via bluetooth. Even better: send and receive text messages from your desktop/pda/notebook using a real keyboard. The list goes on.
People always pipe up and say something like "waah waah bluetooth waah crap waah WUSB is miles better waah waah", when they've blatantly misunderstood the purpose of the technology, and haven't realised just how useful it is.
Are you American? :)
I disagree, BT is great for short-range transfer of data using low-power chips, I use it with my Powerbook, my cell phone and headset, and have used it to sync PDAs, etc. for others. The short-range is actually as much as 10-meters, and BT was developed as a Personal Area Network protocol, meaning if you're bigger than 10-meters you're a pilot whale and BT ain't gonna' help that.
Anyone who whines about being modded down should be.
I live in Lund, Sweden, where both the Technology Licensing group and Ericsson Mobile Platforms are located. No more then 500 m apart! Sure they have to cross the highway but I think they'll manage. Maybe this isn't much more then merging to departments. Perhaps EMP responsible for the platform as a whole and one department for Bluetooth licensing doesn't make sense finacially. Just a thought.
And being two-way, a remote would automatically download its configuration right from the device you're controlling. Harmony remotes sort of do this today, but they require USB cables and that you download a configuration from their web site. The Philips Pronto remotes are somewhat cumbersome as their GUI is usually tied to the device, and you still have to find a configuration you like on the net.
Imagine a home where your PC, your phone, your TV, your PDA and your remote control can all interact and play nice. The phone rings? Your Tivo pauses the show, and displays the caller ID on screen allowing you to decide whether to answer it or not. Push the "do not disturb" button on the remote, and your answering machine will take over while you step into the bathroom. Your burglar alarm disarms itself because you walked up to the door, and arms itself as the last cell-phone equipped person leaves. And it's self configuring -- the only requirement is that you pair your devices to indicate "trust". Adding a surround-sound amplifier? Well, your TV, Tivo and cable box would all know about it automatically. Changing channels? Talk to the cable box. Your Tivo will know it's been changed. Raising volume? Your surround sound will handle that if it's on, your TV will handle it if it's off. And turning your system on won't involve four buttons or flaky macros that toggle one thing on but another off, either -- the power switch will turn on everything needed, reliably.
Yeah, it's a ways away yet, but a smart low-power wireless protocol makes it all possible. Being present already in phones, PDAs and PCs, Bluetooth seems like it's the first technology with a real shot at making this happen.
John
Microsoft included some key updates to its built-in Bluetooth technology inside of XP Service Pack 2.
Wish I could find the article I really wanted to link - in it a MS spokesman was saying they were adding more core BT technology into XP itself because their customers were demanding it.
#DeleteChrome
Well trying BT with Nokia handsets (and windows for that matter) no wonder you had problems. Nokia has some of the worst BT implementation I have ever seen - they just havent got it right yet, not by a long shot.
Most of their phones only seem to support the headset profile to start with. So no file transfers or syncs to other standard software/devices/phones.
Yeah, don't blame BT just because Nokia cuts every other corner on their cell phones
Nawwww, you're suffering from Worst. Implementation. By. Microsoft. Evah!
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
True, SE have mostly the same cell phones in both markets (except for which GSM bands they have), but the US cell phone market is still far behind the European.
The 2-3 year gap he was talking about is with the networks, the adoption of the superior GSM tech; just basically the slow movement of the US cell phone market in general.
Those predicting the death of bluetooth seem to usually be those of North American origin. In Europe, and ASia, where phoens are usually subsidised to hell, most "decent" phones being sold have bluetooth functionality. In terms of SonyEriccson, the SonyEricsson T610 is a phone which sold by the buckets, and is still being sold today, despite beign deprecated in favour of the T630, and the more advanced K700i. Other manufacturers are also incorporating the technology.
The reason behind popularity of Bluetooth is many fold:
- In Europe, Bluetooth headsets have REALLY taken off, especially thanks to the heavily enforeced bans on using handsets whilst driving.
- Bluetooth data communications are again increaingly popular (our GPRS systems are much more reliable, and its perfectly possible to conduct an internet session on a laptop, whilst screamign along in a 100mph train.. i know, coz i do that every evening). The phone stays in your pocket, and no messy wires to deal with
- for simple things just as transfering Ringtones, and gaming. People with SOnyEricsson phones easily swap rings and photos with others using BT technology. As well as wireless synch (try using Floats Mobiel Agent with a SonyEricsson phone via Bluetooth to simply blow your mind!)
These are just normal day to day applications of bluetooth. Tech people such as myself, use it even more.
IN my home, despite having a wires and Wireless networks, we also haev 2 USB BT dongles for the computers, a HP Bluetooth Printer, 3 Bluetooth Mobiles and a Headset. I use the headset for both the phone, AND as a wireless headset for VoIP applications on the computer.
In my experience, the technology has matured so well, it simply works. The only issues i have is on the PC side, where bluetooth stacks on the com0puter are either underfeatured, or clunky (dont get me started about MS's implementation in SP2). In all other bluetooth devices, the technology simply "works"
So to go with the parent post, i think the technology has matured enough to the point its possible to simply just make money out of it, there is very little extra that can be done. Why fix it if it aint broke?)
Have a nice day!