Bluetooth fever 

Bluetooth is managed by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, which has more than 19,000 member companies in the areas of telecommunication, computing, networking, and consumer electronics. Bluetooth was standardized as IEEE 802.15.1, but the standard is no longer maintained. The SIG oversees the development of the specification, manages the qualification program, and protects the trademarks. To be marketed as a Bluetooth device, it must be qualified to standards defined by the SIG . A network of patents is required to implement the technology, which is licensed only for that qualifying device.

We wanted a technology that will allow us to essentially 'free the masses' and give everyone access to their music and movies. Bluetooth is the perfect technology for that."

Scott Troxel, Vice President of Marketing, Braven

Bluetooth is defined as being a short-range radio technology (or wireless technology) aimed at simplifying communications among Internet devices and between devices and the Internet. It also aims to simplify data synchronization between Internet devices and other computers.

Bluetooth products -- that is products using Bluetooth technology -- must be qualified and pass interoperability testing by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group prior to release. Bluetooth's founding members include Ericsson, IBM, Intel, Nokia and Toshiba.