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Global
News
February
26, 2003
Bluetooth
'five-minute ready' program
SINGAPORE
-- Bluetooth SIG member companies have met face-to-face
throughout the past year to focus on steps to enhance
interoperability among Bluetooth-enabled products from
different vendors. The new action plan for 2003 is the
result of their collective efforts and applies insights
learned at the group's 'Unplugfests', recent 'All Hands
Meeting' held in October 2002, and associate round tables
worldwide.
Addressing
the manufacturer and consumer audiences, the 'Five-minute
is designed to meet the evolving needs of the industry
as scores of diverse Bluetooth products have come to
the market. Consumers will be provided with resources
to learn to use Bluetooth. Manufacturers will be provided
with guidelines and tools for development and design
to help them deliver products that work together in
minutes. 'Five-minute ready' will help the industry
to ensure that consumers have a successful experience
with any Bluetooth wireless equipped product, every
time, all the time.
Joyce
Putschar, director, In-Stat/MDR, said: "With the
Bluetooth 'five-minute ready' program, the SIG has established
an excellent path to empower manufacturers to effectively
and efficiently tackle the challenge of providing the
ultimate consumer out-of-the-box experience. Producing
interoperable products that are set-up friendly is ultimately
the responsibility of the manufacturers. This new program
will help guide and provide incentives for manufacturers
to make the technology even more of a success."
Anders
Edlund, marketing director, Bluetooth SIG Inc., said:
"Creating the Bluetooth wireless technology and
specification to work effectively across a broad range
of product categories and disparate industries has been
an ambitious undertaking. Only by committing to work
together as a group have we been able to solve the challenges
presented by the scale of the task. Our collective efforts
are now focusing on enhancing the end-to-end user experience
across Bluetooth wireless products."
The
Bluetooth product designers, developers and manufacturers'
portion of the '5-Minute Ready' program, to rollout
this quarter, will include the following initiatives:
A
Bluetooth designer handbook with information on best
practices and recommended methodologies for Bluetooth
implementations; Reference platforms against which manufacturers
can test their products; Establishment of an independent
testing facility for device interoperability at the
University of Kansas, sponsored by the Bluetooth SIG;
and A Bluetooth user Lexicon, available in 33 languages,
to provide a region-based glossary of terms for performing
common Bluetooth functions such as 'pairing' and 'discoverable.'
The consumer phase of the '5-Minute Ready' program centers
on an overall Web site redesign for www.bluetooth.com
with consumer education tools as the site's primary
service. Beginning to roll out in Q1 2003, these will
include the following:
Publication
of consumer use cases, potential product pairs and a
searchable consumer product database designed to familiarise
users with applications and scenarios for Bluetooth
wireless technology; A consumer troubleshooting guide
about basic use concepts and tips to enhance the benefits
of Bluetooth wireless technology; and A consumer glossary
to provide definitions for common Bluetooth wireless
terms.
The 'Five-minute ready' plan builds on the success of
the existing interoperability initiatives that the Bluetooth
SIG has undertaken since its inception in 1998. It includes
qualifying Bluetooth products, sponsoring three to five
Bluetooth Unplugfests each year, and gathering SIG members
on a quarterly basis to discuss shared goals and objectives.
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