The Second Coming of Bluetooth

For the uninitiated, "Bluetooth" is a funny word for an awkward device you stick in your ear. The moniker has thus become a non-assuming general descriptor for hands-free calling. That's about to change. Bluetooth has grown into a disruptive wave that's beginning to crest over the top of more than one industry.

"It's the perfect storm: The technology has matured, the prices have plummeted, and the battery life is long enough to make many products disposable commodities," Jack Corrao, managing director of Corrao Group, told TechNewsWorld.
How Long-in-the-Tooth Evolved to Wicked Fang

Bluetooth sharpened its competitive edge in two new versions. Bluetooth 3 introduced 802.11 and Bluetooth 4 introduced a low-energy (LE) mode.

"Today, Bluetooth is shipping over one billion chips every year," Nick Hunn, Bluetooth expert and wireless evangelist for CSR, told TechNewsWorld. "Looking forward, the industry can see that growing by an order of magnitude."

Bluetooth is set to become even more dominant as a short-range wireless technology with the release of the latest Bluetooth low energy specification, Hunn said.

"Where it stands to change the way that products are designed is that these devices will be able to talk to a new generation of mobile phones and gateway devices, which can forward this data on to a Web application, or to a downloadable app on that phone," he explained. "So whenever you stand on your weight scales, swing a golf club, or go running, the information can automatically appear on your Web site."