SUPERLOCAL
SERVICES CREATE NEW BUSINESS
Huge
Bluetoth potential – but there are critics
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D-Era
2/2001 – the newsletter about the new business opportunities in the Digital
Era. Sent only to those who have subscribed. Published April 2, 2001.
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SUPERLOCAL
SERVICES CREATE NEW BUSINESS
Huge
Bluetoth potential – but there are critics
Even if
Bluetooth ultimately fails to deliver total inter-operability between every
device and every application - as some say - there might be less complicated
tasks for the technology, still delivering important commercial value.
Bluetooth might become a tool to introduce new services, cut into new revenue
streams, improve (and individualize)
marketing and take a firmer grip of customers.
In March,
Ericsson launced a new Bluetooth based ´access point´ called ´Blip´. It can
communicate wirelessly, two ways, with any Bluetooth equipped device within 10
meters.
This might
be one part of a development towards the existence of alternative wireless
networks, out of control of the operators.
If
Bluetooth equipped mobile phones (and Palm Pilots, handheld computers etc) will
be widely spread within a couple of years, the possible applications for such
products will be countless. According to Merrill Lynch (2000), 80% of all
mobile phones sold will contain a Bluetooth chipset by the end of 2003.
BILLBOARDS.
By equipping billboards with Bluetooth access points, passers-by will be able
to interact with the billboard. They can request that further information be
sent immediately to the mobile, they can register to get information later on
(which results in a prospect database), they can download discount coupons (now
being tested in Stockholm) or they can order the product right away.
WINDOW
SHOPPING. In much the same way, stores can communicate 24 hours a day with
people on the sidewalk. Thus it will be easy to get product information, and
maybe download a demo video, even when stores are closed. Record stores can
offer the opportunity to download short demo versions of the latest hits.
CAR PARK.
For a car park it is easy to see the benefits from mobile payments using local
access points. Suddenly they will be able to build a customer database, with
customer profiles, one-to-one marketing, loyalty programs and individualized
pricing among the many new commercial opportunities.
GAMES. A
store selling electronic games, or a billboard advertising them, can offer
downloads of free trial versions of new games. A number of people on the street
can actually play together if the Ericsson Blip is used as an access point,
since it features a game server - what a way to attract teens!
QUEUE
TICKETS. Tired of waiting for your turn? Get a "virtual queue ticket"
transferred to your mobile, then head off to do some shopping and when there
is, for example, just two people ahead of you, an SMS will alert you. This
increases customer service (and could build a database).
TOURISTS.
The subway can transfer timetables and maps to your mobile. The airline can
transfer individualized gate information and delays (already a reality with
Scandinavian Airlines at the Stockholm Arlanda airport). The bus stop can tell
you the number of minutes you will have to wait. At a trade show, you can be
guided to a certain exhibitor (tested at Cebit 2001).
HOTELS. The
Holyday Inn Wall Street already hands out Bluetooth equipped mobiles to its
guests. These can be used to open your room, pay in the restaurant and bar,
make in-house calls, access the internet and check out.
SPORTS.
Another test being run in Sweden improves the pleasure of an ice-hockey game by
offering real time information in the mobile terminals of the spectators. They
get background statistics, information on the player presently in focus, and
real-time pulse information from sensors on the bodies of the players. For
example, the players can be listed in order of the degree of fatigue to the
very second. In this case though, Bluetooth is used in combination with the
wireless LAN standard 802.11b (there ARE challenging technologies).
All this
sounds nice, but isn´t there a catch somewhere?
Of course
there are difficulties to overcome. The major one is Bluetooth penetration,
which is of paramount importance. Range is another important factor. Bluetooth
has a range of 10 meters in its basic version, although this can be extended to
100 meters. Short range, on the other hand, is not always a disadvantage –
sometimes the more local the service the better it is.
On the
other hand, there are critics saying that Bluetooth will never be big. There
are four major points of criticism:
1. “The
vision of total inter-operability (that is, all devices within range
communicate with all other devices) is simply too complicated, it will not
work.”
2. “The
security level of Bluetooth is way too low – Bluetooth equipped devices will be
security holes, opening up for viruses and hacker attacks.”
3.
“Bluetooth uses the 2,4 MHz frequency range, which can cause interference with
the wireless LANs becoming more and more common.”
4. “The
price is too high. Device manufacturers should not have to pay more than $5
extra to include Bluetooth, but that figure is today at least 10 times higher.
The price is falling, sure, but too slowly.”
Then again,
there are technical experts that dismiss this criticism. And after all, is HAS
happened before in history that technical problems have been solved. A possible
development is, that the most advanced Bluetooth visions (total
inter-operability) fail, but Bluetooth succeeds in becoming an appreciated
standard for applications a little less complicated (like some of the examples
above).
Link to the
Ericsson Blip site: www.ericsson.se/blip.
Par
Strom
Strategy
consultant and speaker
Atomer
och bitar AB, Stockholm, Sweden
www.atomerochbitar.se/introeng.html
Tel:
+ 46 709 699 411
PUBLISHED
BY the independent Swedish management consultancy Atomer och bitar AB.
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