Business 2.0

A Brave Bluetooth World In which gadgets talk a blue streak to each other wirelessly.

By Chris Taylor, July 2002 Issue


Why name a 20th-century wireless technology after a 10th-century Viking king? It's not as strange as you might think: Just as Harald Bluetooth unified Denmark, Bluetooth chips -- first developed by Ericsson (ERICY) in 1994 -- promise to unite everything electronic. In a Bluetooth world, your computer, cell phone, printer, camera, PDA, TV, stereo, and even your fridge will be able to chat happily with one another at a range of about 30 feet without a single cable in sight.