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Communications Handhelds Wireless Networking Hardware

Ericsson Pulls Bluetooth Division 273

Posted by michael from the wi-fi-all-the-way dept.
rookie1 writes "According to this article and this, Ericsson has shut down its Bluetooth division. Ericsson has not made any formal announcement. Considering SonyEricsson is a major supporter of Bluetooth technology, will this have a huge impact on its adoption?"
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Ericsson Pulls Bluetooth Division More

Ericsson Pulls Bluetooth Division

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  • Promoting? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by romper ( 47937 ) * on Tuesday August 31, 2004 @02:49PM (#10121795)
    From TFA:
    "Although Ericsson will continue its involvement in the Bluetooth Special Interest Group as a promoter of the technology, Akesson said, 'We will no longer develop new hardware or new IPs based on the Bluetooth specification.' Ericsson also won't pursue new chip customers for Bluetooth technology licensing."

    Could someone explain to me how telling the world you're no longer interested in developing the technology or finding people to license it to is a method of "promoting" Bluetooth?

    • Re:Promoting? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Yokaze ( 70883 ) on Tuesday August 31, 2004 @03:30PM (#10122194)
      To my knowledge, the word "promoter" means someone in the second line of development. Either someone funding, or advertising it.

      For example, a promoter of art is usually some rich guy, not necessarily the poor chap, who actually paints the pictures.

    • Re:Promoting? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by ElForesto ( 763160 ) <elforesto&gmail,com> on Tuesday August 31, 2004 @03:44PM (#10122310) Homepage
      I think what they're trying to say is that with Bluetooth being standardized, they're perfectly happy to depend on 3rd-party manufacturers to make the peripherals. I imagine this is a way for them to focus on their core business and not get too involved in something ancilliary to it.

      • Re:Promoting? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by orulz ( 98036 ) on Tuesday August 31, 2004 @05:14PM (#10123190)
        I think you've hit the nail on the head. The article states that Ericsson will no longer be making products for the semiconductor market- ie, they will no longer be making Bluetooth CHIPS. It has probably become more economical for Ericsson to buy said bluetooth chips from other (probably Chinese or Taiwanese) vendors and integrate them into their mobile devices instead of producing the chips they integrate themselves.

        And this is nothing but a good thing, as it means that the Bluetooth implementations have become uniform to the point that Ericsson can trust other manufacturers to make the chips that they use.

        While the majority of the comments for this article seem to be ringing the death-knell for Bluetooth or at least proclaiming that Ericsson has lost faith in the technology, you correctly show that this couldn't be further from the truth.

      • European/Asian Perspective.... (Score:4, Insightful)

        by SenseiLeNoir ( 699164 ) on Wednesday September 01, 2004 @04:27AM (#10126386)
        Those predicting the death of bluetooth seem to usually be those of North American origin. In Europe, and ASia, where phoens are usually subsidised to hell, most "decent" phones being sold have bluetooth functionality. In terms of SonyEriccson, the SonyEricsson T610 is a phone which sold by the buckets, and is still being sold today, despite beign deprecated in favour of the T630, and the more advanced K700i. Other manufacturers are also incorporating the technology.

        The reason behind popularity of Bluetooth is many fold:

        - In Europe, Bluetooth headsets have REALLY taken off, especially thanks to the heavily enforeced bans on using handsets whilst driving.

        - Bluetooth data communications are again increaingly popular (our GPRS systems are much more reliable, and its perfectly possible to conduct an internet session on a laptop, whilst screamign along in a 100mph train.. i know, coz i do that every evening). The phone stays in your pocket, and no messy wires to deal with

        - for simple things just as transfering Ringtones, and gaming. People with SOnyEricsson phones easily swap rings and photos with others using BT technology. As well as wireless synch (try using Floats Mobiel Agent with a SonyEricsson phone via Bluetooth to simply blow your mind!)

        These are just normal day to day applications of bluetooth. Tech people such as myself, use it even more.

        IN my home, despite having a wires and Wireless networks, we also haev 2 USB BT dongles for the computers, a HP Bluetooth Printer, 3 Bluetooth Mobiles and a Headset. I use the headset for both the phone, AND as a wireless headset for VoIP applications on the computer.

        In my experience, the technology has matured so well, it simply works. The only issues i have is on the PC side, where bluetooth stacks on the com0puter are either underfeatured, or clunky (dont get me started about MS's implementation in SP2). In all other bluetooth devices, the technology simply "works"

        So to go with the parent post, i think the technology has matured enough to the point its possible to simply just make money out of it, there is very little extra that can be done. Why fix it if it aint broke?)

    • Re:Promoting? (Score:3, Informative)

      by watanuki ( 771056 )
      "Promoter" is a membership level [bluetooth.org] (the highest one, Ericsson did came up with the technology after all) of the Bluetooth SIG, and this seems to be the context of the quote. Also notice that it says "chip" customers. The 2nd article mentioned Ericsson will still do software development.

  • Might not be bad (Score:5, Interesting)

    by attaboy ( 689931 ) * on Tuesday August 31, 2004 @02:49PM (#10121802)

    From the News.com.com article:

    Ericsson doesn't plan to continue design and development around Bluetooth, but it will continue to support existing customers and include it in products, the company representative said. Bluetooth technology efforts will be incorporated into the work of Ericsson's Mobile Platforms group.

    Glass Half Full Interpretation: Maybe this means that Bluetooth has become so simple to implement that they don't need a dedicated development team anymore. It seems that Bluetooth is cropping up in all sorts of CE devices. BT chips and control sets are becoming more and more standardized. For Ericsson, the hard work of developing tie-ins to their phone OS is already done. This could be a good sign, rather than a bad one, for Bluetooth in general.

    I'm a little fuzzy on the relationship between Ericsson and SonyEricsson. Not sure if the former will impact the phones of the latter.

    • Re:Might not be bad (Score:2, Interesting)

      by romper ( 47937 ) *
      I'm a little fuzzy on the relationship between Ericsson and SonyEricsson.

      Also, what's the relationship of Sony to SonyEricsson? I've had a lot of frustration with Sony and Bluetooth support in the USA.

      For example, I own a Sony TR laptop. Great machine, but you can't buy it *without* Bluetooth in Japan, and yet it's not even an option here in the States.

      This kind of attitude doesn't seem limited to just Sony. I love Bluetooth and if given a choice between two devices will typically choose the one wi

      • Re:Might not be bad (Score:5, Informative)

        by shaka ( 13165 ) on Tuesday August 31, 2004 @03:58PM (#10122469)


        I'm a little fuzzy on the relationship between Ericsson and SonyEricsson.


        Also, what's the relationship of Sony to SonyEricsson? I've had a lot of frustration with Sony and Bluetooth support in the USA.


        Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications was established in 2001 by telecommunications leader Ericsson and consumer electronics powerhouse Sony Corporation. The company is equally owned by Ericsson and Sony.
      • love Bluetooth and if given a choice between two devices will typically choose the one with Bluetooth (unless it's a toaster oven or something). =)

        802.11b/g is overkill for a toaster. BT is much more appropriate.
    • I would guess this means the end of their "quirky" Bluetooth products like the Bluetooth remote controlled car (here [sonyericsson.com]) or the chat pen (here [sonyericsson.com]).

      • Re:Might not be bad (Score:3, Informative)

        by Hast ( 24833 )
        If you notice those are developed by SonyEricsson. That is a different company (although AFAIK completely owned by Ericsson and Sony) and the people working at Ericsson have very little (or rather nothing) to do with people working at SE.

        Eg, Ericsson make mobile hardware platforms, the stuff that is inside a mobile phone, and sell it to different phone companies. They then make a phone around that (and add stuff). SonyEricsson is one of those companies.

        Ericsson also make and sell Bluetooth systems for int

  • Lame (Score:4, Interesting)

    by aldeng ( 804728 ) on Tuesday August 31, 2004 @02:49PM (#10121803)
    I always like the idea of Bluetooth, though I'm afraid I saw this coming. I don't know why it was never adopted on a wider scale, but I certainly hope that other short distance wireless technologies (like WUSB) do take off. It would be nice to have a desktop with no wires except for power.

    • Re:Lame (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Bluetooth has really taken off in the mobile phone market; it is a must-have checklist item for high end phones.

      Its very handy for hands-free, including headsets, and interaction with luxury cars.
    • It has taken off....it's just that Sony-Ericsson will not be inventing their own chips for their phones any more. This is a good thing.

    • It's getting adopted, although slower than most of us wish. Personally, I think the killer app for Bluetooth will be as the replacement for IR remote controls. Yes, IR is probably about a dollar cheaper per unit, but it's a one-way protocol with no feedback. Imagine a remote that if you pushed the button for channel change, the channel would actually change. Every single time.

      And being two-way, a remote would automatically download its configuration right from the device you're controlling. Harmony r

      • Most of your home automation ideas are already handled by Crestron.
        As far as all your CE deives self configuring by talking over bluetooth, that will never happen.
        The reality is that there is no reason for someone like Sony to want to communicate and integrate with Samsung or Motorolla, or anyone else. They would rather see a all Sony solution to the problem, therefore any automatic configuration solutions will always be proprietary.
        The only CE manufacturers that would be interested in something common are

  • Surely a rhetorical question.... (Score:3, Funny)

    by general_re ( 8883 ) on Tuesday August 31, 2004 @02:50PM (#10121816) Homepage
    Considering SonyEricsson is a major supporter of Bluetooth technology, will this have a huge impact on its adoption?"

    Ummm....yes? Just a guess, but what the hell...

  • Adoption. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by commo1 ( 709770 ) on Tuesday August 31, 2004 @02:50PM (#10121817)
    No effect at all. JVC invented the VHS standard, it's small market share was not signifigant in it's adoption. Phillips invented the redbook audio CD, it's influence is miniscule today, or even 15 years ago.

  • Ericsson not REALLY pulling out... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by BTWR ( 540147 ) <americangibor3NO@SPAMyahoo.com> on Tuesday August 31, 2004 @02:51PM (#10121821) Homepage Journal
    From the article:

    Further advancements in Bluetooth technology will be made by the Special Interest Group, which consists of a number of companies with ties to the technology. Ericsson will remain a part of that group.

    So it seems that Ericsson is perhaps just diverting their bluetooth division to one of it's subsidiaries/subdivisions. After all, SonyEricsson is one of the main Bluetooth supporters. This may just be overpanic...

  • Bluetooth is not dying (ignore Netcraft) (Score:5, Informative)

    by plover ( 150551 ) * on Tuesday August 31, 2004 @02:51PM (#10121823) Homepage Journal
    Well, according to both of the articles it's the research team that created Bluetooth, and the technologies around it. They are not the group that is responsible for incorporating Bluetooth into the other products.

    It could be as simple as "the standard has been set, the goals have been accomplished, move on to new things." Since Ericsson is no longer the sole creative force behind Bluetooth, it makes financial sense to not keep 125 people employed to argue one seat on the Bluetooth Special Interest Group.

    It's too bad for Bluetooth in that I think Ericsson had some brilliant visionaries doing this work, and that those people are no longer focused on Bluetooth. However, they're being incorporated into other units which can only help them overall.

    It's not good news, it's not bad news. It's just news. The timing is interesting as I see Bluetooth now on the cusp of adoption by every cell phone maker for their mid- and possibly even low-end phones.

    ( And Michael, wi-fi is not necessarily a good replacement for Bluetooth. The higher power requirements for wi-fi mean shorter battery life, which is death for cell phones. And Bluetooth incorporates discovery protocols which are all geared toward personal networking, not internet networking. I think wi-fi would be a really chatty way to accomplish those goals, again at the expense of battery life. )

  • I doubt it... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Philosinfinity ( 726949 ) on Tuesday August 31, 2004 @02:51PM (#10121830)

    I doubt this will affect bluetooth's ability to enter the mainstream. In fact, I never quite understood the need for bluetooth in your cellphone (aside from cellphone PDA type devices). Wireless headphones are nice, but is this really what I want to use bluetooth for?

    Rather, I think that the PC perhipheral market is what will ultimately drive bluetooth. Think about it. Truely wireless keyboards, mice, modems, printers, etc. are so beneficial for end users. Bluetooth's future is in "untangling the PC" not the convienence of wireless cell phone headsets and small PC to cellphone data transfers.

    • Re:I doubt it... (Score:2, Informative)

      by kev0153 ( 578226 )
      I use my bluetooth enabled phone to synch my address books. It is so much easier typing contact info on a real keyboard and then moving it to the phone. I also use my phone as a modem. I can establish a wireless connection between my GPRS/Bluetooh enabled phone and my Powerbook and surf the internet. Not at any blazing speeds (yet) but as long as I can get a GPRS signal I have an internet connection at my disposal.

    • Re:I doubt it... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by plover ( 150551 ) * on Tuesday August 31, 2004 @03:23PM (#10122119) Homepage Journal
      How about a wireless speakerphone in your car? With a Bluetooth handsfree kit, you can just hop in your car and go. Your car and your phone recognize each other as you turn on the ignition, and your car says "I'm going to be your headset now."

      It's been discussed having Bluetooth "silencers" installed at movie theatres, concert venues, and restaurants. They'd be a simple Bluetooth device that would request your phone switch to a silent profile for the next hour or two. If you were an anti-social jerk, you could turn such a thing off. But as we know from lots of experience, most people won't be bothered to change their default settings. It's not a complete solution to the problem of cell phone ringers in auditoriums, but every phone call silenced makes for a more pleasant experience for all.

      The nice thing is that all of the features you mention with respect to PC usage can quite peacably coexist with the cell phone usage. Both ends can drive the market simultaneously, and as more crossover functionality becomes possible, consumer demand will drive more adoption. We're already seeing this with digital camera phones exchanging pictures with PCs. And laptops are able to use the Bluetooth equipped phones for network access.

      Bluetooth was the sole reason I purchased a T637 phone earlier this summer. I really didn't care about the camera (crappy quality pictures) nor about the Java in the phone. I wanted my Palm Tungsten to be able get to the internet occasionally, and I now have that. But I also have the option to have a speaker kit in my car (I suppose this will wait 'til Christmas), to exchange address and phone data with my desktop, and opens up all sorts of possibilities.

    • Re:I doubt it... (Score:3, Interesting)

      by dave420 ( 699308 )
      You've missed the point here, somewhat. Bluetooth isn't used for high-bandwidth purposes, as that's not what it's designed for. It's designed to be tiny, cheap and low-power. You can include it in a device for a buck or two, which is a lot cheaper than any other wireless I can think of (except IrDA, of course ;)).

      It's used to sync small amounts of data, send short messages, sporadic control IO (keyboards/etc), voice streams, etc. It's used to link PDAs/PCs/notebooks to cellphones for GPRS/G3 internet a

  • Zigbee! (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Move over Bluetooth, behold the era of Zigbee [zigbee.org]!

  • Who licenses bluetooth? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by kzinti ( 9651 ) on Tuesday August 31, 2004 @02:54PM (#10121854) Homepage Journal
    From the article: Ericsson is pulling the plug on its technology licensing unit, the wholly-owned subsidiary which invented Bluetooth wireless technology and became the driving force behind the company's Bluetooth initiative.... Ericsson also won't pursue new chip customers for Bluetooth technology licensing.

    So was Ericsson, as the inventor of Bluetooth, the only licensing authority, or has it granted/sold that authority to others?

  • Bluetooth adoption (Score:3, Insightful)

    by agristin ( 750854 ) on Tuesday August 31, 2004 @02:56PM (#10121879) Journal
    In spite of Ericsson pulling out, I think Bluetooth adoption will speed up. Maybe they are getting out of the game at the right time for them, sometimes the money is in a product before commodification.

    The reason I think Bluetooth adoption will speed up is it is on most of the Apple pc products now. That happened with USB also. At that time PS/2 (or adb) was still the favorite connector for keyboards and mice, now on Mac and many PC's USB is the way.

    As a further prognostication, I think Bluetooth could be the high end mouse/keyboard/PDA/cell phone connector of choice down the road. While USB is handy, the new iMac shows that lacking a swarm of cables can be a nice feature.

    -A
    • Let me get this straight, because three percent of computers are sold with Bluetooth, the adoption of Bluetooth "will speed up."?!

      Sure this post is flamebait, but that does not change its veracity!

  • T608 (Score:2, Interesting)

    by rveno1 ( 470619 )
    I cant say much about why they are dropping the unit but us useful to know that SonyEriccson has had some trouble with the t608 Bluetooth phone (used on the sprint network).
    Part of it was them "obtaining" some technology from qualcomm,
    To the t608 being a bluetooth phone with some interesting bugs

    Here are some links with more details:

    http://www.sprintpcsinfo.com/modules.php?name=N e ws &file=article&sid=445

    http://www.sprintpcsinfo.com/modules.php?name=Ne ws &file=article&sid=555

  • ahem slashdot reading skills (Score:5, Informative)

    by linuxislandsucks ( 461335 ) on Tuesday August 31, 2004 @02:59PM (#10121897) Homepage Journal
    Please reread the article

    Eericsson shifted the bleutooth work to a difrferent division folks..no stopping bluetooth at ericsson but a shifting of resources..

    Micahel why did you avoid reading the 2nd paragraph?
    • Well,
      It's good to hear that Ericsson isn't going to be "toothless".

      But is the shift going to cause the engineers to sing the "gonna-get-laid-off-if-I-don't-pull-up-stakes-and- move-to-a-new-town" blues?
  • Seriously, a couple of years ago they mattered as a cell phone maker. Who actually owns an Ericsson? My first cell phone in 1996 was one. Since then, it's been Nokia and now Motorola.....

    • Re:Does it matter? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by shaka ( 13165 ) on Tuesday August 31, 2004 @03:08PM (#10121995)
      Heh. It sounds as if you're American. Sony Ericsson has been doing major inroads the last year and a half or so, mostly at Nokia's expense. You see, while all of Nokia's phones look like an alien has designed them, Sony Ericsson's actually look nice, and they are almost all very feature packed.

      Then again, you wouldn't know if you live in the US, since you lot have been 2-3 years behind in mobile telephony adoption for the last 10 years.
    • I own two sony ericcsons, they are all over japan as well.

    • Re:Does it matter? (Score:3, Interesting)

      by lpangelrob2 ( 721920 )
      I own a Sony Ericsson T610. So far, it hasn't had any battery problems like the AT&T cell I had a few years back, or any display problems like the Nokia cheap phones I had before this one.

      It has cheap Java games on it that I could probably write better games for. It has mini golf and some random adventure game. I play both every now and then... especially the golf.

      It does an okay job of organizing my contacts without bluetooth. But this is an article about bluetooth, so let me go further. My phone kno

  • bluetooth, dead? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by ricochet81 ( 707864 )
    Recap:

    USB going wireless [slashdot.org]
    Bluetooth declared dead. [slashdot.org]
    Bluetooth ships 1M unis [slashdot.org]
    Bluetooth is dead [slashdot.org]
    is apple still dying too?
    • Harald Bluetooth has been dead for around 1000 years. Bluetooth the technology died to me when I tried to set up my PC with it (which never worked, but my PDA can work with other devices over bluetooth, just not my PC).

  • Apple and Bluetooth (Score:2, Interesting)

    by artlu ( 265391 )
    The only reason that i purchased another Sony Ericsson phone after having the T68i was because of BlueTooth. Apple is a big supporter of Bluetooth as well so my T616 and G4 Powerbook integrated perfectly. I guess this will be my last Ericsson phone now. Time to go for the Treo 650 with bluetooth around XMAS time.

    GroupShares Inc. [groupshares.com]

  • Novacaine (Score:3, Funny)

    by MikeMacK ( 788889 ) on Tuesday August 31, 2004 @03:05PM (#10121970)
    Ericsson Pulls Bluetooth

    Hope they got a shot of novacaine first.

  • This is dumb (Score:5, Insightful)

    by poofyhairguy82 ( 635386 ) on Tuesday August 31, 2004 @03:07PM (#10121979) Journal
    will this have a huge impact on its adoption

    Why would it? What other technology can do what bluetooth can do? It doesn't really have a direct competitor. The market is just not as large as some people expected. It does not "replace wires." It removes (some) wires for people who are willing to pay extra. Most of the bluetooth products are top notch and top dollar, so they have a specific market. Adoption was limited at the start.

  • In typical slashdot fashion... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Critical_ ( 25211 ) on Tuesday August 31, 2004 @03:15PM (#10122058) Homepage
    In typical Slashdot function, we see people sitting here typing away responses about how useless bluetooth is for wireless-whatever due to its short range. Unfortunately for those people, they never realized that bluetooth is a wire-replacement technology. When I have my cell phone on at my desk, I don't want to feel like I am sitting in a hospital ICU bed with a bunch of wires hanging off my body. Instead, my bluetooth headset takes care of that part. Also, at my current location, internet access via Edge is far more useful and cheaper than buying DSL. So it serves two purposes right there that 802.11 is too killer for. Also, sync'ing my PDA is much easier than having to drag a craddle with me everywhere. My point is that SE is only moving their bluetooth operations under another division so bluetooth is not going anywhere and I am glad. 802.11 is too power hunger for the things I need to get done. Lastly, big manufacturers such as Dell are doing away with ALL legacy ports such are IrDA, Parallel, Serial, so we are left with firewire, USB, and bluetooth. Out of those, bluetooth makes the most sense.
    • Not really. The speed difference is humoungous between the three. Firewire 800 trounces all, but is expensive and not omnipresent. USB 2.0 is pretty fast with its 480 MBit/sec (though FW 400 can be faster due to a better implementation) and is found in almost any (host) device. Bluetooth, with 721 Kbit/sec does not even come in close. Even with 2.1 Mbit/sec it would be a dog compared with the other too.

      To top things off, FW 800 can have multiple hosts, while USB and Bluetooth are Master/Slave configuration
  • On a few recent Continental flights there was a (clearly sponsored) article in their magazine about a Swedish engineer that was an "inventor" of a Bluetooth. The article was promoting the technology in general, Ericsson in particular and was extremely upbeat about endless future horizons for this brand new technology. I remember wondering then whether their marketing department is feeling desperate.

  • little impact (Score:3, Insightful)

    by jeif1k ( 809151 ) on Tuesday August 31, 2004 @03:19PM (#10122092)
    Bluetooth has become commoditized; it's in the hands of low-cost chip manufacturers. That makes it uninteresting for a company like Ericsson and they are better off just buying whatever BT technology they need cheaper from elsewhere. If anything, that's probably a sign of maturity of the technology.

  • Little old ladies (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Bender Unit 22 ( 216955 ) on Tuesday August 31, 2004 @03:30PM (#10122197) Journal
    So are people here a bunch of little old ladies?
    All those people writing about it being dead. Are there no technology/gadet geeks here. I have many uses for Bluetooth.
    I got a Notebook with bluetooth so I don't need any wires to update my calender. Updating phone numbers to friends, co-workers, business relations are a lot easier with Bluetooth.
    I use Bluetooth to transfer MP3 files to the phone which also serves as a MP3 player when I am not taking the car to work.
    I also got a Bluetooth car kit installed, hopefully I don't need to get a entire new set installed when I change phone in the future, just the holder/charger. You can even get cars with Bluetooh phone kits that fits with the car.
    On rare occations I have used Bluetooth and GPRS to connect to servers using SSH from my notebook, although the latency are REALLY bad, but if you are in the middle of nowhere it's better than having to drive home.
    Some of my co-workers likes to use those Bluetooth head sets.

    I see bluetooth phones all over the place, from my desk at work, I see about 15 different bluetooth devices, phones, PCs, PDAs and printers. When I take the subway home from work I can always see 2-3 other Bluetooth phones.

    I admit that a lot of phones had a lousy implentation with few features, which has not helped the adoption.

    Ok, maybe it is just in my "world" that Bluetooth is used, or maybe it is just non-existent in America?
  • it was never really alive? How long has Bluetooth been on the horizon? A long freaking time. And now that it's "here", it's still pretty much a scarecly available novelty. As far as this move slowing it's adoption, my question is what's stopping companies from adopting it now? Nothing, they just choose not to. Face it, Bluetooth may not be vaporware, but the promise of it has proven to be.
  • So Bluetooth's being used by almost 1% of the population. Sounds like a real winner in my book!

    Honestly, it hasn't been accepted by the hardware world in general. USB was great for device connectivity, but I'm still using PS/2 for keyboards and mice, and Parallel cables for printers. My network still runs on 10/100BaseT.

    Aside from cellphone headsets and PDAs, and the random MAC user, has BT ever really been adopted? Not niche market, my-toster-talks-to-my-fridge sort of devices, but in everyday soluti
  • All I really want is a sub-$50 bluetooth mouse, and a bluetooth ergo keyboard for use with my PBook.

    So far, the Apple offerings come up short, mainly because of Steve Jobs' jihad against 2 mouse buttons, and the complete carpal-tunnel engine that is the standard Mac keyboard...

  • Not a long move... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by daijo78 ( 783312 )
    I live in Lund, Sweden, where both the Technology Licensing group and Ericsson Mobile Platforms are located. No more then 500 m apart! Sure they have to cross the highway but I think they'll manage. Maybe this isn't much more then merging to departments. Perhaps EMP responsible for the platform as a whole and one department for Bluetooth licensing doesn't make sense finacially. Just a thought.

  • Microsoft doesn't think Bluetooth is dying (Score:3, Insightful)

    by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Tuesday August 31, 2004 @04:19PM (#10122652)
    Microsoft included some key updates to its built-in Bluetooth technology inside of XP Service Pack 2 [microsoft.com].

    Wish I could find the article I really wanted to link - in it a MS spokesman was saying they were adding more core BT technology into XP itself because their customers were demanding it.

  • Other companies make BT phones now (Score:3, Informative)

    by CptChipJew ( 301983 ) * <{michaelmiller} {at} {gmail.com}> on Tuesday August 31, 2004 @04:25PM (#10122694) Journal
    And since Sony Ericcson is one of the lesser phone makers in terms of units sold, I think the technology will be fine.

    Another big step in making sure BT is here to stay is to ensure that home PC's come with adapters by default. Apple has been doing this with PowerBooks for over a year now, and that has helped the technology grow.

  • Aftermarket Bluetooth stereo? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Cinematique ( 167333 ) on Tuesday August 31, 2004 @05:40PM (#10123451)
    I've been wondering... does anyone make an after-market stereo with Bluetooth speaker muting? Anything close??

  • Yes, ERICSSON drops bluetooth (Score:3, Informative)

    by tesmako ( 602075 ) on Tuesday August 31, 2004 @06:10PM (#10123692) Homepage
    Indeed this is correct, Ericsson, a company that makes neither handsets nor bluetooth peripherals are dropping their division for the Bluetooth standard.

    Ericsson, and note that while Ericsson does own half of SonyEricsson it does not itself make phones anymore, were a big initiative-taker in the Bluetooth standard, which is why the division was kicking around for so long after the company really lost all reason to deal with Bluetooth itself. This is a huge non-event. It will affect Bluetooth in no way.

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