There is significant hype about Bluetooth. It is not unlike WAP. The PR machinery of Bluetooth community, vendors and developers would make you believe that Bluetooth is going to solve all the problems of short-distance connectivity without wires at a low cost and in the near future. They may also not acknowledge any overlap with 802.11 wireless LAN or HomeRF technologies. Reality is a little bit different than the glossy Powerpoint presentations and speeches by eloquent VPs of marketing for these vendors. We advise the user organizations to apply a bit of caution to some of these claims. Here is our assessment:
· With the momentum going at this speed and R&D dollars committed, we should expect during 2001 a reasonable set of products at silicon level, chip level and device adapter level that the systems integrators can utilize in the finished products for enduser devices - from smart phones to laptops.
· The prices of Bluetooth-enabled components will remain high during first part of 2001and this will delay widespread adoption. By December, the prices had come down both as a result of ramp of production but also due to single chip implementations and general downturn in the economy.
· Increased competition and production will bring the prices down in 2002.
· Distance limitation of Bluetooth in the first version will limit its use to close-range applications only. From systems engineering perspective, we do not see much conflict with wireless LAN applications and Bluetooth. The former is well-tested technology spanning much longer distances and higher speed. Let us not get into fruitless arguments and use appropriate technology where its core applications are. Also, expect 802.11 wireless LAN adapters to decrease in prices.
· Bluetooth will inevitably go through a phase where real experience will fall short of the promise it held.
· The number of 1000 plus vendors will shrink to, may be, 100 plus who will survive the rationalization that will follow in 2002-2003 time frame. Therefore, stay with vendors who have holding power or those who have great alliances. Otherwise you will have to say goodbye to your initial Bluetooth experimentation. Security standards for Bluetooth are still in a formative stage. Which devices talks to which and how do users allow or deny access to other Bluetooth devices as they approach them is still not clear - it is still being discussed at SIG level in 802.15 subgroup of IEEE. Therefore, there is still a gap between the cup that holds Bluetooth Elixir and the lip that must sip it to reach short-distance connectivity salvation.