Bluetooth is, in fact, both a hardware specification and a software framework for interoperation, each designed to be implemented on a single chip. This technology faces some major challenges before it reaches its lofty goals. There are, as yet, no Bluetooth products in stores. Only a handful of prototypes have even been demonstrated at trade shows over the past six months. Price is a big issue at present.
Standards are another problem.
While the first Bluetooth applications are relatively simple, more advanced applications such as ad hoc and multipoint connections require a software standard. Devices need to know how to discover one another on the network and figure out how to cooperate. Fortunately, experts say devices could support both at once. Yet another problem is radio frequency interference. Walk into a crowded office wearing a wireless headset, and you could potentially knock a dozen PCs off the wireless Ethernet network.