As Bluetooth developers prepare for a key interoperability conference next Sunday, some admit that the delayed short-range wireless technology is still up to a year away from meriting a full commercial release. Although many companies plan to release products, this spring, cautious IT buyers are likely to hold off on deployment. The ability of Bluetooth devices to work with each other will be under the spotlight in Frankfurt, next week, at the UnPlugfest-4.5 workshop that runs 11 to 15 February.
Sceptics say that the evidence so far points to only limited interoperability.
Bluetooth needs to be a solution, not a source of customer frustration, but a lot of people have got a radio going and have thought, great, we can flog it. The feeling from the engineers is that we need another 12 months. 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. On this basis it is possible that Bluetooth would experience difficulties operating within the vicinity of a high-density radio LAN system.