Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Bluetooth Hits The Streets

From: "marcel_rf1" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 08 Jul 2003 06:27:25 -0000

Bluetooth Hits The Streets 
 Amy Wu, 07.07.03, 10:00 AM ET 

NEW YORK - So far, the most interesting use for Bluetooth wireless 
technology to catch on among consumers has been the wireless 
hands-free headset for mobile phones. But the potential the technology 
holds is so much greater than that. 
The folks at the Bluetooth Special Interest Group are hoping to spread 
the religion of Bluetooth much further in the coming months, and the 
place they've chosen to focus on next is in the car. 
 It's the next logical
 step, says Mike
 McCamon, the
 industry group's
 executive director.
 "70% of all
 mobile-phone calls
 are taken inside the
 vehicle, so I'd think
 the most natural
 place for these car
kits would be in your 
automobile," he says.
"We see car kits as a 
key to mainstream consumers." 

In case you missed it, Bluetooth is a wireless technology that 
connects electronic devices to each other over short distances. It's a 
great way to eliminate data cords that would otherwise make the 
connection between them. It officially launched in 2001 and the latest 
revision, version 1.2, debuted in June. 

McCamon has his finger on something: There are currently an estimated 
147 million mobile-phone users in America and 38% of them gab behind 
the wheel, according to a survey by Sony Ericsson, the joint 
mobile-phone venture of Sony (nyse: SNE - news - people ) and Ericsson 
(nasdaq: ERICY - news - people ). In other words, kit manufacturers 
have to make a case for Bluetooth not just to mobile professionals and 
gadget fanatics but to soccer moms and the average Joe on the street. 
Safety will likely play a key part of the message. In recent years, a 
growing number of legislators have been lobbying to ban cell-phone 
talking while driving, according to the National Conference of State 
Legislatures, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that helps citizens 
lobby. Already, driving and talking on the cell phone is illegal in 
New York, and currently seven states including California have similar 
laws in the pipeline. 

The American Automobile Association also argues that cell phones and 
cars don't mix. According to a 2001 AAA survey cell phones triggered 
1.5% of accidents, said AAA's Mantill Williams. "It's the one thing 
that bothers people because it's the one distraction that people can 
see," Williams says. 

Enter Sony-Ericsson's Bluetooth car kit. Playing on pending 
legislation and the start of the road trip-heavy summer vacation 
season, Sony Ericsson recently demoed its HCB-30 kit in a 
vanilla-colored Hummer. Here's how it works.

The minute Allen Mani, Sony Ericsson's regional training manager, 
climbed into the Hummer, a light on a matchbox-sized device installed 
near the ignition turned green, indicating that his Sony Ericsson T616 
mobile phone (which itself was released on July 1) and the car kit had 
bonded. In Bluetooth lingo, this is called pairing the devices. 
And because the address book and the device had been paired, the 
Bluetooth kit can automatically dial a phone call with a single voice 
command. The device can store up to 50 voice tags and--at the single 
press of a button--a call can be commanded to go directly into 
voicemail. 

Nicky Csellak-Claeys, Sony Ericsson's North American marketing head, 
pointed out that in the future many other Bluetooth-enabled items such 
as the PDA and laptop computer could jive with the car kit too. The 
kit, launched in May 2003, sells for $249 and costs anywhere from $100 
to $200 to install. 

Sony Ericsson isn't the only one entering the new car-kit arena. Since 
March 2002, MobileAria, Delphi (nyse: DPH - news - people ), Motorola 
(nyse: MOT - news - people ), Nokia (nyse: NOK - news - people ), 
Parrot and Visteon (nyse: VC - news - people ) have made Bluetooth car 
kits. 

The number of manufacturers making Bluetooth-enabled phones is going 
up too. According to SIG by early fall all cell-phone manufacturers in 
the U.S. will have a Bluetooth-enabled phone on the market. 
Manufacturers won't reveal how many car kits have been sold. However, 
a Zelos Group June 2002 report estimates that there will be 750,000 
car-kit shipments in 2003--and approximately 5 million by 2006.

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