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CeBIT: Bluetooth devices a mixed bag
(IDG) -- The short-distance wireless standard Bluetooth is one of the heavily-publicized themes of this year's CeBIT trade show, but while there are some intriguing practical applications for end users on display, they are still few, and mostly not yet available for retail sale.
The highest-profile demonstration of the technology is being billed as the largest Bluetooth network ever set up, blanketing a mammoth exhibit hall here. Let's just stay it still has some kinks to work out. Wireless networking company Lesswire AG installed 130 base stations in the ceiling of the 250,000-square-meter hall. Its demonstration service, "CeBIT LocalNavigator" is designed to enable special Bluetooth-enabled PDAs (personal digital assistants) to download information about show exhibitors from anywhere within the hall. "The system helps the visitor to find the most direct route to the most interesting new exhibits," promises Lesswire's marketing material. "You'll never again have to rely on cryptic signs to search for trade fair booths!"
Lesswire Project Manager Anja Bölicke demonstrated the system on her Compaq Computer Corp. iPaq Pocket PC, calling up a color map of the hall. Then she tried to access the network. No reply. The base station near Lesswire's booth was overtaxed, she said, leading the way a few meters down a corridor to an area served by a different station. Here she was able to access the server, which eventually showed Bšlicke's position on the map with an icon. Then she ordered up directions, as an example, to Sony Corp.'s booth elsewhere in the hall. "Server not responding," was the reply. "We're offline," she said sheepishly, and started the login procedure again. After about ten minutes, and several more tries, she got what she wanted: a line on the map showing the shortest route to Sony. By then, the old fogeys relying on "cryptic signs" would have long ago found their way. Lesswire's network was fighting for space on the airwaves in the crowded hall. "Many exhibitors here are showing Bluetooth solutions, so (the network) is not so stable as we would like," said Bšlicke. "In the evening, when the hall is empty, it is wonderful." But some visitors watching the demonstration were willing to forgive the glitches. "I understand the problems, and I see the vision here," said Stefan Przetak, a researcher at medical devices maker Ortivus AB. His company, he said, is exploring integrating Bluetooth into hospital monitors, which would enable patients to walk the halls while their vital signs are still being fed to a central network. "If I were another kind of user, perhaps a management person, then I probably would be disappointed." Visitors clustered around other Bluetooth demonstrations were taking a wait-and-see attitude. James Brooks of Windsor, England, politely watched a ViVoDa Communications Inc. video phone displaying streaming images via Bluetooth, in a joint demonstration with mobile networking company AmbiCom Inc. and chip maker Silicon Wave Inc.; the maximum transmission speed of 1M bps (bits per second) allowed for only jerky images. "I think there's potential for it," said Brooks, "But it still needs work." Still, he said, he'd consider a Bluetooth-enabled notebook computer, for example, because of the promise of easy, wireless interfacing with peripheral devices. "But (Bluetooth) needs to be implemented in a lot more computers, telecommunications devices, and stuff" before it becomes worthwhile for consumers, he said. Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) has its sights on potential customers like Brooks. In the next booth, it was demonstrating a prototype printer, the DeskJet 995C, which allows wireless printing from notebooks, PDAs, and other mobile devices. "It's going to be the first printer to come to market with integrated Bluetooth," said HP software development engineer Marc Biundo. He added that the printer is also outfitted with infrared and USB (universal serial bus) interfaces. He said the company is targetting a September retail launch, but declined to disclose the price. Another popular display featured C Technologies AB's "Magic Stick," a Bluetooth-enabled electronic wand containing a digital camera, which can take and transmit photographs or scanned text. The device is intended to allow users to scan names and addresses directly into an electronic address book, for example, or to ease electronic commerce transactions by enabling a user to scan the URL from a printed advertisement, sending it to an Internet access device which would instantly call up the proper site. "It's a concept product," said Mans Thisted, business segment manager for mobile phones, explaining that his company does not plan to sell the device under its own name. Nonetheless, C Technologies expects the Magic Stick to hit consumer markets at the end of 2001, priced "probably" at around US$300, he said. "We are talking to various OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) about producing and bundling it with laptops or PDAs or mobile phones." Another device uses Bluetooth's short (approximately 10-meter) transmission range to lock a PC when the authorized user walks out of range. Ensure Technologies Inc. Sales and Marketing Manager Lynn Pollack demonstrated the device, by clipping a transmitter badge to her shirt, then stepping away from a Bluetooth-equipped laptop, which promptly went into protected mode. The product, called Xyloc BT-1, is an update of earlier devices using a proprietary radio frequency, she said. "With Bluetooth, it's cheaper, because you don't need an external receiver," she said. "We can also extend security to PDAs and phones, for example." The Xyloc BT-1, priced at $249, is scheduled to ship in May, said Pollack. Perhaps most likely to draw consumer interest is Plantronics Inc.'s M1000 Bluetooth headset for mobile phones and PDAs. The device is set to retail at $150, and to ship in limited quantities in July, Plantronics said in a statement. The company added that with the coming of more voice-activated applications, it believes headsets will become the most popular way users control and communicate with Bluetooth-enabled devices. Plantronics cited a study that projects a demand for up to 50 million Bluetooth headsets by 2005. Why is Plantronics so confident? A glance at the stream of CeBIT visitors hurrying by the booth gave a hint: more than a few were chatting away on hands-free mobile phones. RELATED STORIES:
Norwood demos Bluetooth office network RELATED IDG.net STORIES:
Study says Bluetooth will be ubiquitous in 2005 RELATED SITES:
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