Hoping to give a boost to the market for Bluetooth technologies, the
Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) Tuesday unveiled its “5-Minute
Ready” program, which aims to ensure interoperability among Bluetooth
devices and make it possible for consumers to rapidly set up devices.
The plan has both manufacturer- and consumer-oriented components.
Designers, developers and manufacturers will get access to a Bluetooth
Designer Handbook with information on best practices and recommended
methodologies for implementations, reference platforms against which they
can test their products, access to an independent testing facility for
device operability at the University of Kansas, and a Bluetooth user
Lexicon (available in 33 languages) which provides a region-based glossary
of terms for performing common Bluetooth functions such as “pairing” and
“discoverable.””
The consumer initiatives in the plan center on a redesign of the Bluetooth.com Web site, making consumer
education tools the site’s primary service. The site will publish consumer
use cases, potential product pairs and a searchable consumer product
database designed to familiarize users with applications and scenarios for
the technology, a consumer Troubleshooting Guide about basic use concepts
and tips, and a consumer Glossary.
Both portions of the plan will begin to rollout in first quarter 2003.
“Creating the Bluetooth wireless technology and specification to work
effectively across a broad range of product categories and disparate
industries has been an ambitious undertaking,” said Mike McCamon, executive
director of Bluetooth SIG. “Only by committing to work together as a group
have we been able to solve the challenges presented by the scale of the
task. Our collective efforts are now focusing on enhancing the end-to-end
user experience across Bluetooth wireless products. ‘5-Minute Ready’ equips
manufacturers and consumers with tools to meet the goal of delivering
Bluetooth wireless devices that work together within five minutes of being
taken out of the box.”
Joyce Putscher, director at market research firm InStat/MDR, added, “With
the Bluetooth ‘5-Minute Ready’ program, the SIG has established an
excellent path to empower manufacturers to effectively and efficiently
tackle the challenge of providing the ultimate consumer out-of-the-box
experience that will expand Bluetooth wireless usage. Producing
interoperable products that are set-up friendly is ultimately the
responsibility of the manufacturers, and this new program will help guide
and provide incentives for manufacturers to make the technology even more
of a success.”
