Since the forming of the original group, more than1,800 manufacturers around the world have joinedthe initiative. According to reports, the Bluetoothtechnology is expected to be built into more than100 million devices, with over 670 million enabledBluetooth devices.
Resulting from the amazing success of WAP (WirelessApplication Protocol), the adoption of smart phonesand hand held devices, Bluetooth can easily have an amazing impact on your day to day life. Bluetoothis one of the key technologies that can help to make the mobile information society happen, byblurring the possibilities between home, the office,and the outside world.
The seamless integration and connectivity that Bluetooth promises will make it possible to explorea wide range of interactive and highly transparentpersonalized services which were actually quitedifficult to dream of simply because of the complexity involved with making such devices communicate with each other.
Many Bluetooth pilot products have already beenrolled into the market and backed by big vendors,which is a healthy sign for the overall acceptanceof the technology. The support for Bluetooth isn’tlimited to companies that develop only Bluetoothenabled products.
The applications for Bluetooth can have great impacts on other industries as well. The adoptionof Bluetooth technology is expected to spreadthroughout the industry of computers.
Unlike infrared technology, Bluetooth is used bymany different wireless devices. Bluetooth offersexceptional quality for short range wireless, evengoing through walls and obstructions. While infrared is the biggest competitor at this time,Bluetooth far surpasses it, proving to millions thatit is the wireless communication technology of thepresent day and age.
In the beginning, Bluetooth started with version 1.0,then gradually moved from there. The currentversion is 2.0+EDR, with another version currentlyin development. The technology behind the Bluetoothspecification always getting better and better, which is why it’s so popular.
In the future, you can expect the technologybehind Bluetooth to get better. Bluetooth hasproven to be the wireless standard of the future,offering you wireless connectability for hundredsof different devices. For cell phones or other formsof wireless connections, Bluetooth is the one technology that you don’t want to find yourselfwithout.
Advantages And Disadvantages
Bluetooth has a lot to offer with an increasinglydifficult market place. Bluetooth helps to bringwith it the promise of freedom from the cables andsimplicity in networking that has yet to be matchedby LAN (Local Area Network).
In the key marketplace, of wireless and handhelddevices, the closest competitor to Bluetooth isinfrared. Infrared holds many key features, although the line of sight it provides doesn’t gothrough walls or through obstacles like that of theBluetooth technology.
Unlike infrared, Bluetooth isn’t a line of sight andit provides ranges of up to 100 meters. Bluetoothis also low power and low processing with an overhead protocol. What this means, is that it’s ideal for integration into small battery powereddevices. To put it short, the applications withBluetooth are virtually endless.
DisadvantagesBluetooth has several positive features and onewould be extremely hard pressed to find downsideswhen given the current competition. The only realdownsides are the data rate and security. Infraredcan have data rates of up to 4 MBps, which providesvery fast rates for data transfer, while Bluetoothonly offers 1 MBps.
For this very reason, infrared has yet to be dispensed with completely and is considered bymany to be the complimentary technology to thatof Bluetooth. Infrared has inherent security dueto its line of sight.
The greater range and radio frequency (RF) of Bluetooth make it much more open to interception andattack. For this reason, security is a very keyaspect to the Bluetooth specification.
Although there are very few disadvantages, Bluetoothstill remains the best for short range wirelesstechnology. Those who have tried it love it, andthey know for a fact that Bluetooth will bearound for years to come.
