What are Bluetooth Profiles?
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
1.1 Introduction
Bluetooth Profiles is concerned primarily with the development of Bluetooth specific applications, which in turn encompass the requirements as defined by the Specification of the Bluetooth System: Profiles, v1.1. Bluetooth applications in their infancy were injected into public view and subject to immediate expectations. For Bluetooth technology to become a viable wireless solution, we had to move from the wonder and mini-celebrations1that were invoked when we all initially created our first successful connections. At various stages of development, numerous emotions were experienced. We were able to progress from creating our first connection to performing a file transfer over an emulated serial port, using a legacy application; then came synchronisation and so on. Yet, in our peripheral vision, we gained a glimpse of the sales and marketing team constantly pressing us with numerous questions—when will it be ready?, when will it jump through this hoop?, and when will it perform that triple-summersault? In essence, we were not developing Bluetooth applications fast enough. Indeed, the Bluetooth marketing machine began chugging away long before the first products were anywhere near release, resulting in a seemingly endless wait for the promised revolution to arrive. An enormous amount of frustration was inevitable for all concerned, as issues of core functionality were thrashed out in the boardrooms of manufacturers around the globe. This resulted in the underlying tone of Bluetooth promotion resting, to a greater extent, upon the software and hardware embodiment of the products rather than on the users' experience of utilising Bluetooth technology. Increasingly, however, these experiential elements are being viewed as a primary route for achieving critical mass and, as a result, the public is finally beginning to open up to the possibilities of a wireless world.
Figure 1-1 illustrates the psychological elements of the buying process that hold particular value to future Bluetooth developers; here, we can view the progression from a positive buyer experience to a new promotional message as a cycle of user-oriented market growth. Indeed, if we gain nothing else from reviewing the Bluetooth market, we should, at the very least, reinforce within ourselves the importance, from a development perspective, of seriously applying real-world usage potential to future Blue-tooth products.
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Figure
1-1 The psychological elements of the buying process that hold particular
value to future Bluetooth developers. The process is cyclical, where positive
feedback re-enters the promotional message.
The promotional drive of Bluetooth technology, to date, has naturally taken the traditional routes of press, collateral and event opportunities through conferences and, of course, the ever-popular Unplugfests; but the best promotion of potential Bluetooth applications will, without a doubt, emerge through the users themselves. Consumer enthusiasm toward the freedom afforded by the adoption of Bluetooth-enabled electronics will inevitably become highly contagious. At home and in the office, as with any technology, it will continue to evolve. The future will almost certainly see it become an accepted part of everyday life.