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t is the Chambers at Taj Mahal Hotel, Mumbai.
Ashni Parekh picks up her mobile phone which is beeping actively. She has a
message on it. It’s Valentine’s Day the next day, and Archies Gift Gallery, a stone’s
throw from the hotel she is currently in, has some very special incentives for its
clients. Parekh, an Archies regular is promised mega discounts on some of the
Valentine’s Day gifts lining the gallery’s show window. Come now and avail forty
percent off on all the gifts you can carry home,” reads the message. Parekh has a
long list of friends she needs to send Valentine’s Day cards and gifts to. This is the
perfect chance. Finishing off a successful meeting with an important client, she moves
purposefully towards Archies Gift Gallery.
Sunil Mehta picks up a chubby pen from its electronic inkstand. This is a prototype
for a pen that is capable of sending e-mails for you. The first generation of Bluetooth
devices will make it pretty exciting to lose the wires from our devices, Mehta tells
his friends, but that’s going to become old hat fairly quickly. After that, he predicts,
users will want more advanced products than just his e-pen. He points to a gadget
the size and shape of a Zippo lighter, the concept for a Bluetooth car key that doesn’t
just open your door lock, but holds your insurance data, tells you how much petrol
you have, and moves your car seat to a comfortable position. According to analysts,
the world is getting a rush of ideas for innovations and companies are thinking in
new and radical ways.
Mehta’s pen meanwhile, looks like a digital kazoo and sits in a beige retro-look pot
that, if it is ever developed commercially, will sit on the coffee table and beam
whatever he writes down on his PC or mobile, and send it off as e-mails. The pen
isn’t reality yet. It is just one mocked-up device built by Cambridge Consultants
Limited in the UK (CCL). What the Zippo “key” and this pen have in common is
the fact that they’re both based on Bluetooth technology. Bluetooth, the technology
first conceived by Ericsson’s engineers as a low cost radio interface between the
mobile and its accessories way back in 1994, are fueling the imagination of companies
such as CCL.
The Times of India-Delhi Times February 16, 2001
Getting A Byte Out Of Bluetooth
