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Bluetooth community enraged at "leak" of V 2.0

Ericsson, pioneer in Bluetooth, has been accused of trying to hijack the development of newer, faster versions of the wireless technology. Other Special Interest Group members think the market needs time to settle down with the current version

The geeks are all excited: Bluetooth 2.0 has, finally, been announced.

Or has it? A story about it was printed in Electronics Times, attributing it to Ericsson, complete with details such as "It will run at 10 megabits, ten times faster than current technology" and "it will use twice as much power, but no frequency hopping ... " but all is not what it seems.

What is actually happening, is that something of a political battle broke out back at the Amsterdam Bluetooth Congress because someone broke the rules.

In fact, the HDR version (high data rate) of Bluetooth was always in the spec as something that would be aimed for, and that will be version 2.0. But it's nothing to get excited about, say insiders; it isn't going to happen for two years or more. Maybe much more.

Some members of the SIG see Bluetooth as a bandwagon that is rolling along nicely; with millions of devices already sold, and millions to come. But others are smarting from criticism; jibes that it's late, that it has somehow "lost out" to WiFi wireless LANs, that it's irrelevant to the computer industry, that it has no future.

The facts of the recent leak about Bluetooth 2.0 appear to be that someone in Ericsson - specifically, Jaap Haartsen, chief scientist - broke a pretty firm agreement amongst SIG members that no standard would be released for public discussion until it reaches version 0.9.

Their reasons are simple: they don't want people to stop buying the current product because they expect a newer, better one. When it's nearly ready is one thing; but the standard Haartsen was talking about, before the Congress in Amsterdam in June, was still at version 0.5.

It's not even remotely ready. Before the Bluetooth SIG goes for version 2.0, it has to ratify version 1.2, which is the MDR - medium data rate - version; and that's not going to happen, despite similar leaks, for over 12 months. "There is no way this standard can be finished, implemented and released to manufacture before December 2003," said one irate senior SIG member, after a behind-doors session of outspoken opinion exchange, during the Congress.

The MDR standard is one which strong voices are trying to get pre-announced so that they can rush ahead. In particular, they're keen to get audio products out - you can get near-CD quality stereo over a 2-3 megabit connection, which will pretty much guarantee over a megabit in normal use - a megabit of data "payload".

By contrast, HDR -around 10 megabits per second - is more PC oriented; it's seen as a token by some Bluetooth SIG members that they are as good as WiFi any day. They want to be taken seriously by PDA and PC makers, and feel they have a future.

The advantage of Bluetooth, however, is seen as ultra-low cost, not bit-rate, by another group, who want to win the numbers game. They want to get the product they have, into the market in large volume, forcing other people to join in to link up with this horde of devices.

Realistically, the future of HDR Bluetooth is dubious. Some in the SIG feel it may never be needed. however, feel that there's simply no need for this. "By the time we get to 10 megabits, there will be a cost-reduced 802.11a Wi-Fi 5 standard, running at least five times faster, and probably on much-reduced power standards too," said TDK's Nick Hunn. We're looking at another three years before this standard appears, he added; it's quite possible it will never be adopted commercially, say other SIG members.