After including a Bluetooth Stack in the latest
version of its operating system, Palm Inc. Monday took yet another step in support of the short-range wireless
communication standard with the release of a beta version of its Bluetooth Software Developer Kit (SDK).
The company is already selling a Palm SDIO Bluetooth Hardware Development Kit (HDK), which includes two Palm SDIO Bluetooth Cards, a
Palm Universal Connector serial cradle and SDIO drivers, for $199. In addition, the company said Monday that partners including
Red-M, Northstar Systems and TDK Systems will now provide compatible hardware kits.
“Enterprises and end users should enjoy the ease and efficiency of a truly wireless networked mobile computing environment,” said
Gabriel Acosta-Lopez, senior director of Platform Development Services for Palm. “By providing our developer community with these
tools, we continue to drive forward the technology for handheld computing. Bluetooth-enabled products will liberate the mobile
professional to manage information immediately and efficiently.”
Bluetooth is a short-range packet radio networking technology first proposed by Ericsson engineers in 1998. An industry
consortium — the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) — coordinates the specifications for the technology. Bluetooth enables
short-range networks called Personal Area Networks (PANs) or piconets. PANs can be used to replace PC cabling with wireless
connections, communicate with peripheral devices like printers, provide mobile in-house LAN access, download and upload files to
mobile devices, organize ad hoc workgroups/communities and channel interactions between appliances.
Palm said its Bluetooth SDK beta, available for free download, includes the certified (by the
Bluetooth SIG) Palm Bluetooth 1.1 compatible stack, Palm Bluetooth API, configuration tools, documentation and sample code.