Show Insights
by Jim Bennett (January 17, 2000)
Bluetooth appears the first wireless standard positioned for mass adoption. It can communicate with other Bluetooth devices wirelessly up to 10 meters (longer with repeaters). It should truly enable the wireless revolution to expand further, either later this year or in early 2001.
Perhaps more important than Bluetooth's technological capabilities is long list of adopting companies. Other technologies demonstrated an alphabet soup of competing standards. Some sanity must start to prevail soon!
In DVD-ReWritable formats you have DVD-RAM ( Matsushita and Hitachi are key players in the DVD Forum Alliance) against DVD+RW ( Philips, Sony, Thomson ). Internet music formats include MP3, G2, Liquid Audio, ATRAC and many more. In flash memory. differing products such as Compact Flash, Memory Card/Stick, SD, SmartMedia, MicroDrives and others. The list could go on.
Manufacturers should realize that this is creating confusion. Skeptical consumers facing these evolving and perhaps unstable standards and formats could dramatically slow growth because nobody wants to buy an obsolete format.
Perhaps the ninth century Danish king, Bluetooth and his advocates could offer advice on how to get today's competing and warring factions to talk with each other. Many feel an achievable plan needs to be developed. If it could be done in the ninth century, today's technophiles should be able to achieve it now.
Copyright
© 2000 Jim Bennett All rights reserved.
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