Filed under: Cellphones, Features, Wireless

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment:

In July, I discussed the confusion that results when carriers disable Bluetooth capabilities, specifically OBEX and DUN, which were not the names of two New York City detectives on the ’70s comedy Barney Miller. The column proposed that the Bluetooth Special Internet Group (SIG) step up efforts to ensure that a Bluetooth device is capable of what a consumer would expect it to do, and thus apply marketing pressure to the carriers.

That column led to a discussion with Mike Foley, executive director of the Bluetooth SIG, who noted the range of capabilities that Bluetooth has acquired. For example, relatively few consumers are aware that their Bluetooth devices can print using the wireless technology or can stream stereo music using the A2DP profile. As a result, in June the SIG developed a set of five “experience icons” that cover five Bluetooth-enabled tasks — printing, input, headset, transfer and music.

Among the most useful in terms of carrier tampering will be file transfer, which has been blocked in the past. There’s no icon for dial-up networking yet, though. According to Foley, there is still more work to do on simplifying the use of a cell phone as an untethered modem.

While the introduction of the icons, which will be placed below the stylized Bluetooth “B” icon, will help savvy consumers better understand their devices capabilities, the SIG acknowledges that it will introduce a level of complexity. In the column on “True Bluetooth,” I noted how the composite PlayforSure icon has led to confusion, but the Bluetooth SIG has it somewhat easier in that most of its functions are distinct. In contrast, PlaysForSure’s composite logo, which devotes three lines in its icon to whether video can be obtained via subscription, rental or purchase, depends more on abstract business models.

On the other hand, with cell phones being such important devices to Bluetooth, the SIG must contend with carriers approving features that are already in cell phones. So, what happens, for example, if a manufacturer supports a Bluetooth feature that one network operator supports but another does not? In that case, according to Foley, the recommendation would be that the manufacturer’s and supporting operator’s Web site feature the appropriate icon while the operator that that does not support the feature omits that icon. Furthermore, there will likely be more icons to come. In addition to dial-up networking, future versions of Bluetooth based on ultra wideband technology would likely be able to stream video, leading to yet another icon.

So, the icons will raise awareness and possibly some confusion, but don’t directly address the carrier disabling issue. However, there is good news on that front, according to Foley. Based on customer feedback pressure and a more enlightened business strategy that recognizes the value in consumers’ relying more on their mobile phones, U.S. carriers should be stepping into line with their European counterparts and embracing the full functionality of Bluetooth as early as this fall. That’s an experience we’ll all be glad to share.

Ross Rubin is director of industry analysis for consumer technology at market research and analysis firm The NPD Group and a contributing editor for LAPTOP. Views expressed in Switched On are his own. Feedback is welcome at fliptheswitch@gmail.com.

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Filed under: Features, Peripherals, Wireless

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about the future of technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment:

During the spring CTIA conference of 2005, a Switched On column expressed hope for Bluetooth. Bluetooth phones were becoming more broadly available in the US and headsets were becoming more affordable, trends that have continued. However, the potential of Bluetooth has been cut short by carriers that have disabled or “crippled” parts of it functionality. The two most common profiles that carriers have disabled are DUN (dial-up networking) which lets you use your Bluetooth handset as a wireless modem, and OBEX (object exchange), which lets you wirelessly trade files between your handset and PC.

DUN is generally disabled to prevent users from taking advantage of data plans intended for the kind of relatively light data usage patterns of a smartphone, whereas some carriers disable OBEX to prevent circumventing cellular-based transfer services, like Verizon, for instance, and photos. While carriers have eased up on some of the profile disabling, the Sidekick 3, for example, supports only headset and file sharing functions.

Communicating Bluetooth compatibility has always offered a dilemma because the wireless technology encompasses several different benefits. Do you go the route of the WiFi Alliance and offer one logo that might leave out details such as operating frequency, and speed or do you go the PlaysForSure route and offer a confusing composite badge that details all the capabilities?

Be it via cost-cutting or carrier caprice, though, consumers are getting a warped idea of what Bluetooth is and what it can do. Putting aside newer features such as A2DP audio and EDR enhanced speed, the Bluetooth SIG needs to confront the issue of phones not supporting the expected features of DUN and OBEX — features that could conceivably interfere with carrier revenue models. That’s why it should reward carriers that support phones with these capabilities via a “True Bluetooth” certification.

“True Bluetooth” would tell consumers that a specific phone on a specific network offers the essential – if not full — promise of what a Bluetooth phone should be. Promotion of “True Bluetooth” would be done via the handset manufacturers that have been most aggressive in supporting Bluetooth such as Nokia and Sony Ericsson. These companies are motivated to have carriers support the features that they’ve spent valuable development time engineering.

Carriers would also benefit from “True Bluetooth” as they would have a simple way to distinguish phones where they support features such as DUN from those that don’t, and market the right handsets to advanced users who want to use these features without resorting to hacks. It’s high time the Bluetooth SIG put some teeth back in Bluetooth with “True Bluetooth” — the way to hold its standard to a higher one.

Ross Rubin is director of industry analysis for consumer technology at market research and analysis firm The NPD Group and a contributing editor for LAPTOP. Views expressed in Switched On are his own. Feedback is welcome at fliptheswitch@gmail.com.

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