Bluetooth Awareness Doubled Last Year

[Jonathon Watkins]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://brighthand.com/article/Bluetooth_Awareness_Nearly_Doubled' target='_blank'>http://brighthand.com/article/Bluet..._Nearly_Doubled</a><br /><br /></div><i>"When asked to select which technology allows mobile devices to connect wirelessly, consumers increasingly chose Bluetooth wireless technology across all regions in 2004 as compared to the study in the previous year. In the U.K., this awareness increased from 47 percent to 77 percent. In Japan, it increased from 43 percent to 61 percent. And in the U.S., it almost doubled from 22 percent to 41 percent. Awareness of Bluetooth was more than double that of Wi-Fi in the U.K. and Japan, while the two were roughly equal in the U.S."</i><br /><br />I have to say I'm not surprised about the UK figures. I know many folks that are enjoying recently bought Bluetooth headsets and assorted peripherals. It's also good to see that there are less pointless arguments about Bluetooth versus Wifi, as folks seem to have realised where they both fit in the grand scheme of things. The manufacturers have won the mindshare, but now they 'just' need to work on improving the whole Bluetooth experience. :wink:

[PPCRules]

... now they 'just' need to work on improving the whole Bluetooth experience. :wink:

Right. What you quote, at least, does not differentiate between "bad experience" awareness and "good experience" awareness. That is to say, increasing awareness by itself does not lead to success in the marketplace.

[Jason Dunn]

I still think Bluetooth is a great *idea*, but when I was unable to get my laptop to use my PDA2K as a modem, all because of a crappy Bluetooth implementation, I was once again cursing Bluetooth. :?

[Jonathon Watkins]

That is to say, increasing awareness by itself does not lead to success in the marketplace.

Yes, as a :bad-words: experience certainly translates into an increased awareness of Bluetooth, but not in a good way. :lol:

[numb]

I use a bluetooth phone as a modem for my Ipaq 5550, my bluetooth GPS device, my bluetooth headphones, connect with bluetooth to my home PC, use a bluetooth mouse and keyboard.....all connected up with no problem. A very positive experience for me...maybe I just got lucky :)

[disconnected]

I found it very difficult to pair my T608i Sprint phone with first an iPAQ 5500 and later with a 4700, but once paired, it just works -- I haven't had to think about it. Pairing a Fortuna GPSmart to both PPCs was very easy. I hope everything gets simpler and more standardized because I think the functionality is fantastic.

[Darius Wey]

While Bluetooth certainly has its limitations, I'm not surprised to see the general public becoming increasingly aware of its availability. Half the phones that are advertised on TV and newspapers all come with Bluetooth, and even though many people out there have no idea what it is and what it's useful for, they still want a device that has it just for the fun of it.

[surur]

Bluetooth problems on pocketpc is more often due to the OS, rather than the protocol e.g. on every SE phone that has bluetooth you can voice dial. Now some-one who buys a Jam would expect their bluetooth headset would work with that functionality. Yet there is no bluetooth headset voicedialing solution available at all. I blame MS for this, as this should have been sorted BEFORE they released WM phone edition. A new user would however blame bluetooth for having let them down again.

Jason's problem with using his phone as a modem would not have been a problem is he was using a nokia, siemens or SE phone. However because he was using a windows smartphone it was unnecessarily complicated, and he blames it on bluetooth. However the fact of the matter is that it was MS which let him down in the end.

There are many people who wish to turn their GPRS and WIFI windows mobile phones into access points. It makes perfect sense, and I don't see any reason why it should not be doable (with the right software). However I don't blame fact that it is currently impossible on WIFI, but on the software and platform. I'm sure if I was running Linux it would only have been a question of recompiling Sisela and i would be of to the races.

Of course widdcom itself has a lot to answer for, but I blame MS mostly for their poor encouragement of the platform and their lack of commitment toward making it a world-class implementation.

Surur

[PDANEWBIE]

Here here Surur.

I agree wholeheartedly. I think bluetooth as a concept is a great thing its more the implementation and the implementing companies lack of forsight to be the turn off factor.

I know on more than one occassion 2 companies support of different configurations of bluetooth that thus made it ineffective to have both on one device. This in my opinion is sad. But I don't blame this on Bluetooth I blame this on product support.

But wait a second didn't I read somewhere on here the Bluetooth is dying? :devilboy: *snicker*

[AggieJon]

You know, a year ago I was the only person among my friends and family who even knew what bluetooth was. Everytime I would use my headset (http://www.jabra.com/JabraCMS/NA/EN/MainMenu/Products/WirelessHeadsets/JabraBT200/JabraBT200) I would get the strangest looks. When I would use BT to connect my PPC to the internet, people were amazed. 8O

Today, several people I know use headsets, Bluetooth PPCs, etc. In my circle, at least, knowledge of Bluetooth has grown enormously in the last year. 8)

I don't think it's enough, though. I think Bluetooth has huge potential. Sure, I have problems with it all the time, but I think the technology is good and can be perfected. What I want to see is BT in other devices, besides cell phones, headsets, and PDAs.

The cell phone is the key. Come on, everyone has a cell phone these days. We all carry them around everywhere we go. Why can't more devices take advantage of this? Cars (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1473715,00.asp) are already starting to take advantage of bluetooth, but not as much as they could. Why can't my car recognize me by my cell phone and adjust everything for the way I like it? (I can barely get into the car after my wife has driven it and adjusted the seat ALL the way up. :) ) Why doesn't it control my TV, stereo, DVR, computer, etc.? Why can't I use the bluetooth in my phone to buy something from a coke machine, or anywhere else for that matter?

I think the list of possible creative uses for bluetooth could be endless. Security needs to be increased, of course. Maybe now that people are finally recognizing what it is, we'll start seeing it used better.

[Fred44]

Every technology has growing pains. The more complex the technology the longer it takes to work out some of the bugs. People are very happy with technologies like PCI, AGP, USB, PnP, EPP ECP printer ports, WiFi, Firewire 400/800, DVD-R DVD+R media, Power Management on Laptops, the list goes on and on. When you read some of the technologies that I posted you might say all those all work great. Most went through years of problems before they started working perfect for everyone. Plug and pray was a common phase 12 years ago. USB was supposed to replace all the serial ports and parallel ports on all computers yet a lot still ship with both. Bluetooth is at the stage now were a lot of incompatibles are being ironed out. A year ago the big push was for Wireless USB to replace Bluetooth. After a year not only is there no devices but there is still no spec. If and when it is ever released it will go through the same growing pains. Bluetooth is her to stay and to grow.

[mr_Ray]

If Bluetooth's awareness is doubling every year, how long is it until the glowing blue light on my Loox say "I'm sorry Ray, I can't allow you to do that"?

'm scared :cry:

[jimski]

Here here Surur.

I agree wholeheartedly. I think bluetooth as a concept is a great thing its more the implementation and the implementing companies lack of forsight to be the turn off factor.

And I third that opinion. Manufacturers have to think of the big picture if they want a users first Bluetooth experience to be a positive one. Not all of my Bluetooth experiences have been troublefree, bu it is getting better.

I am still disappointed by the fact that, excluding Smartphones and Phone Edition devices from Cingular's selection, only 6 of 17 available phones offer Bluetooth. Very disappointing for 2005.
I picked up a Motorola V551 last week to replace my SE T221 and instead of installing still another hardwired handsfree car kit, I decided to try the Motorola Premium Bluetooth Car Kit. For those that have not experienced this, I have only one word, "amazing". The system works flawlessly. As soon as I turn on the ignition, with the phone still in my belt clip, my new friend announces, "phone one is ready". A tap on the dashboard mounted pendant and I am voice dialing; a pre-defined name/number, a voice tag from my phone or digits like 212 555 1212. I think the announcer (I like to call her Mary, pleasant but firm) has a larger vocabulary that some business people I know. This is by far the best Bluetooth device and experience I have had to date.