Is Bluetooth Dead?

An anonymous reader writes "According to the EETimes, Bluetooth is dead. From the article: "In a few short years, many will look back on Bluetooth as a lesson on marketing gone awry". So what do ya'll think? Does he have a point, or is Bluetooth not quite dead yet?"

So what's taking it's place?

[EvilTwinSkippy]

So what competing technology is stepping in to take Bluetooth's place? It's low power, short range, and doesn't need a fancy access point.

Come on people, electricity took 50 years to become commonplace. This is technology, not pet rocks.

As Usual..

[swdunlop]

It might take a little while for the PC world to come onboard with the technology, yet, there are companies that have adopted Bluetooth early, and seem to be putting some weight behind it. Apple [apple.com] has recently added a bluetooth keyboard and mouse to their line of products, making my powerbook's bluetooth chipset actually useful. The mouse is very well designed for use by travellers, although someone here is sure to bitch about the number of buttons within minutes.

Next time that I'm ready to upgrade my palm, as they tend to meet unfortunate fates while I travel, I'll probably pick up a bluetooth palm so I can carry one less cable with me. The cell phone world also makes use of bluetooth now to avoid cables.

It's just the conventional PC world that is taking its sweet time adopting Bluetooth. Considering that the market for wireless keyboards and mice definately hasn't gone away for Logitech, there is still a niche for bluetooth. Now that the marketing hype is fading away, the useful devices are slowly becoming available.

IRDA is dead, long live Bluetooth(aka DIE CABLES!)

[Total_Wimp]

I hate pointing my stuff at my other stuff if I want to transfer some stuff. I don't gotta point nothin' at nothin' if I use Bluetooth. For that reason alone, I love it and will continue to seek it out on the stuff I buy.

Don't even get me started about cables either... not even worth the keystrokes. Plain proof the guy who wrote this is an idiot is this line:

"And what's wrong with a wired headset, which is cheaper, better-sounding, lighter and more reliable-and without the silly blinking LED? Gratuitous Bluetooth? You bet."

All the people who like wires raise your hands! I thought not.

TW

USB

[pimpinmonk]

the same was said about USB. It took years for products to reach market, and years more until things became mainstream. Why? The cost far outweighed the convenience, and software support was sketchy. This mirrors bluetooth--it is definitely a better technology, but it is not fully supported by commodity hardware and software (with Apple leading the way, though) and it is dang expensive! I would have loved a lushious SonyEricsson phone with bluetooth and a headset, but it's $300. Within the reach of some, but not enough to make the market big enough to classify as "taking off."

Re:Bluetooth is dead...

[Gilmoure]

What happened was that Apple went totally USB, dropping it's ADB Bus (keyboards, mice, input, etc.), it's serial ports (printers, modems) and it's SCSI port (scanners, external storage) in favor of USB. This forced periphial manufacurers to make all sorts of USB devices. Before this, while there were USB cards available for PCs, no one was using them as there was really nothing to plug into them.

It now seems that Apple's trying to push Bluetooth. The problem is that Apple is not getting totally behind Bluetooth the way they did with USB. I just ordered a mid-range G5 (single 1.8GHz processor) and Bluetooth was still optional. They want an extra $50 for it. I suppose it costs them something for licensing but that seems a bit excessive for a premier workstation.

Bluetooth wil be taking off soon

[markcic]

Bluetooth will become much more popular as automakers integrate it into their cars to act as a speakerphone for cell phones. The 2004 Toyota Prius, Acura TL, and Mercedes E55 all have in integrated Bluetooth as an option. It will only be a matter of time till it is offered as an option on a wider array of cars.

North America != The World

[splateagle]

*sigh* face it folks North America lags at least five years behind the leading markets for mobile technology (Asia and Europe) where Bluetooth is not only not dead, but in the lpast year or so it's begun reaching beyond the early adopters to become pretty much mass market.

As a couple of other people have pointed out, this is likely to be spurred on faster now in Europe at least by increasing legislation about mobiles and driving, (which is already pushing up sales of Bluetooth headsets here in the UK) as well as the steady growth in mobile multimedia - and yes I know that in the States and Canada you guys just want a cheap phone for voice calls, but believe it or not elsewhere on the planet this stuff is really taking off.