Sceptics lay into Bluetooth

Compatibility and usability problems hinder uptake

The much hyped Bluetooth wireless link technology has begun shipping in mobile devices but sceptics are warning of compatibility and usability problems.

The technology for connecting PDAs, PCs and peripherals is shipping in Sony's Vaio notebooks, Ericsson's T39 mobile phone and headset, Red-M's network access points, and many other devices.

IT Week tests of two Sony Bluetooth notebooks showed that the connections for accessing the internet and file swapping were straightforward.

However, critics have maintained that interoperability may not be so easy when different brands of products try to link.

Nick Hunn, managing director at TDK Systems, a maker of Bluetooth PC Cards, predicted that Bluetooth systems will often fail to work together. He also believed that competition could drive 80 per cent of Bluetooth product makers out of the market by 2003.

"If you look at mature technologies like ISDN, GSM or television, the businesses don't support the current number of players in Bluetooth: about 2,500 in total," he said. "I believe Bluetooth will be immensely successful but it will be endemic in five years, not sooner."

Hunn said that the number of producers of silicon and software stack suppliers, about 20 and 30 respectively, meant that problems are certain.

"The number one issue is interoperability," he said. "There's another 12 months needed before it all works." He added that the software was not easy for non-technical users to operate.

The comments have upset many Bluetooth supporters. Vince Holton, the publisher of Incisor, an online publication for the Bluetooth camp, said: "I can't understand what Hunn is saying. Bluetooth is really happening and, even if four-fifths of companies go, that will still leave more supporters than [infrared supporters group] IrDA."

However, Holton admitted that Bluetooth still has to be improved. "The out-of-the-box experience isn't as good as it should be for non-technical users. It's with the early adopters and propeller-heads at the moment," he said. "It's like PC Card in the early days, but not as bad."

Despite the doubts, Bluetooth products continue to arrive. Fujitsu Siemens plans to have a version of its Lifebook product available on 20 August, and TDK itself plans to launch PC Card and USB adapter products in the next two months.

However, other vendors are having second thoughts. Psion this month postponed plans indefinitely for Bluetooth products, and Korean technology giant Samsung is also pondering whether to release a notebook PC with Bluetooth this year.

Peter Lunn, Samsung notebook marketing manager, commented: "There are interoperability issues in the current Bluetooth 1.1 standard and 1.2 is not due until early next year, so we're undecided."

Hunn has long been a thorn in the side of Bluetooth marketeers. In January, he said: "If we ship now we will be prostituting ourselves. But commercial imperatives mean that the industry will probably end up on street corners flashing its legs."