Bluetooth will succeed

(Originally published on infoSync) Why am I making such a blunt statement, you ask? Because I just installed Jaguar, the newest version of Apple’s OS X operating system. Right about now, many of you are likely to ask yourself what the heck I’m talking about and what it has to do with Bluetooth — so let’s take a step back and start at the beginning.

FireWire transfers data at up to 400 Mbps, which means that it delivers more than 30 times the bandwidth of the popular USB standard. Apple has built FireWire into every computer they sell because they believed it would succeed — and it did. You can now buy a multitude of devices that connect through FireWire such as external harddisks or video Cameras. Apple believed in it, Apple added it, Apple helped make it a standard, and FireWire succeeded.

Digital cameras are all the hype now, with resolutions approaching equal or better quality than that of standard film — an example of another discruptive technology which has succeeded. With OS X, Apple added support for digital cameras from the start, integrating the iPhoto application to get your photos from the camera to your computer easily and putting a good database behind it while they were at it. Apple believed in digital cameras, Apple added support for them, Apple helped make them grow, and digital cameras succeeded.

I have been using a Wireless LAN for several years now and I love it, plain and simple. In Windows, actually, in the not-OS-X world, WLAN is something of an add-on in most the cases. Some laptops on the market now have built in nocat functionality (a name which describes Wireless LAN technology very well). You buy a nocat card and plug it into your laptop, where it ends up sticking out — reminding you that adding it was an afterthought, and that it’s on top of your computing experience, making it better. Apple believed in nocat, understood what nocat was about, understood the power of nocat, knew it was a standard to use. They also understood that it is part of your computing experience or at least should be — and as a result, they added nocat capabilities to their entire product line: not as an add-on, but as an integrated feature. On my iBook, the Apple Airport card (which is the name for Apple’s nocat card) fits neatly under my keyboard, moving out of sight, being part of the experience. The same goes for their iMac, PowerMac or eMac. It fits inside the box, vanishes and just works. As long as I have my network setting set to “Automatic” in OS X, the iBook will automatically find the pre-defined nocat network that I can currently use and — well, use it. By now, people understand that nocat is a success.

This is when one could say Bluetooth comes in. In Jaguar, Bluetooth support is built-in, and all you need is a small USB Bluetooth dongle to get it working. Plug-in, works. As far as rumors go, Apple will integrate Bluetooth in future versions of the product lines. Once I plugged in the dongle in Jaguar, the system told me that there is a new port — a Bluetooth modem port. In the OS X Address Book, I now suddenly have the option to send an SMS or call each number that is in there via my connected Bluetooth-capable mobile phone. Apple believes in bluetooth, Apple added it, Apple helps make it a standard and Bluetooth will succeed.

The same goes for SyncML as well. Apple is currently working on iSync, which will let you sync any Bluetooth and SyncML capable device with the Address Book as well as the soon-to-be-released iCal calendar application. Apple believes in SyncML, Apple added it, Apple helps make it a standard and SyncML will succeed.

Some readers might be quick to point out that Apple also came up Newton, a pioneering handheld that is claimed by many to have been ahead of its time. The Newton was shelved, courtesy of Steve Jobs which didn’t believe in it — or so it seems, chalking up a loss for Apple in terms of mobile devices. In retrospect, it was a loss making endeavour for Apple, but then again I’m talking about standards and not hardware. In fact, Apple now seems to believe that mobile phones will take over for handhelds in many regards.

I’m not saying that Apple is the best company in the world, but what they are at the moment is a company that sees what standards are about and knows how to exploit them. And since the introduction of OS X, the standards they have supported have succeeded. Here’s too the success of Bluetooth and SyncML. Cheers!