The freedom to communicate without cables is now offered by Ericsson with the launch of its first consumer Bluetooth product, the Bluetooth Headset and phone adapter. This innovative mobile phone headset connects a mobile phone, by a radio link, instead of a cable, allowing users access to their mobile phone from up to 10 metres away.
It is the first hands free accessory in Australia to incorporate Bluetooth technology, an industry standard for wireless communication devices, and sets the standard for future products which will incorporate this innovative technology.
Weighing a mere 30 grams, the Ericsson Bluetooth Headset is a wireless mobile phone headset that is worn on the ear. It has a built-in Bluetooth radio chip that acts as a connector between the headset and the Bluetooth phone adapter on the Ericsson phone. The Bluetooth Headset can communicate with a mobile phone, by using a radio link, within a range of 10 metres without being in full view of each other.
Users can answer their phones by pushing a button on the headset, or place calls by pushing another button and using voice-activated dialling, saying for example, "Call Mary." All while their phone is in their brief case, shirt pocket or in the charger on their desk.
"With Bluetooth, we have created an open standard for wireless communication between devices. This is our key to defining the mobile communications business today and in the future," said Mr Mark Williams, Director, Consumer Products and Services, Ericsson Australia.
The Ericsson Bluetooth Headset will be available in Australia from January 2001 and can be used with the Ericsson T28s, R310s, R320s, T20s and A2618s mobile phones.
Ericsson devised the Bluetooth wireless concept in 1994. It was made an open specification in 1999. A few years later Ericsson approached other manufacturers and so the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) was formed. Over 1,700 top companies have signed up as members of the Bluetooth SIG, including Motorola, Sony, 3Com, Compaq, Hewlett Packard, Lucent Technologies and Dell. In May 2000, Ericsson launched the Ericsson Bluetooth Development Kit, a 'toolbox' of equipment that provides a flexible design environment for engineers to develop Bluetooth applications.
According to Allied Business Intelligence (ABI) research, 65 percent of mobile handsets shipped in 2002 will be equipped with Bluetooth nodes.