It was born amid a blaze of hype at the height of the dotcom boom, but initially failed to thrive. Indeed, Bluetooth, a shortrange wireless technology used to interconnect portable devices, has been declared dead on many occasions. Early versions of the technology suffered from compatibility problems; an ambitious demonstration of the technology at a trade show in 2001 failed to work. And while Bluetooth struggled despite all the hype from its backers, another wireless technology, WiFi, took off on its own. Obituaries of Bluetooth have appeared many times in the technology press, usually attributing its demise to the success of WiFi. "Bluetooth is in full retreat," declared Sean Maloney, an Intel executive, in 2001. Other analysts issued similar verdicts.
　　But reports of the death of Bluetooth proved to be premature: today it is in rude health. Sales of Bluetooth devices more than doubled in 2005 to reach 320m units, and the figure is expected to exceed 520m this year-equivalent to more than 10m units a week and far outstripping sales of WiFi chips. Around one in four mobile phones sold now support Bluetooth.
　　And after years of insisting that Bluetooth was more than just a way to link a wireless headset to a mobile phone, its backers seem to have been vindicated, as other uses for Bluetooth have at last begun to emerge. Last year 60% of Bluetooth chips went into mobile handsets and 15% into wireless headsets, says Scott Smyser of iSuppli, a marketresearch firm, but the other 25% went into other devices, from laptop computers, keyboards and mice to Bluetooth enabled clothing.
　　This success, after its rocky start, is due to a combination of factors, says Stuart Carlaw, an analyst at ABI Research. In many countries Bluetooth's fortunes were boosted by new legislation banning the use of mobile phones without a handsfree kit while driving. This prompted many people to buy Bluetooth headsets. Several carmakers, led by Audi, also began to incorporate microphones and speakers, capable of connecting to a handset via Bluetooth, into their vehicles.
　　As consumers became more aware of Bluetooth and began to ask for it, handsetmakers started to include it as a means of differentiating their products and increasing their margins. Adding a Bluetooth chip to a phone now costs very littlearound $2, says Mr Carlaw, down from $20 in 2001-but allows the manufacturer to increase the price of the handset by far more, and opens up a new market for highmargin accessories. Finally, operators began offering Bluetooth headsets as incentives to new customers. Again, the perceived value of the headset is far higher than its cost to the operator, so this increases margins.
　　Greater adoption has, in turn, cleared the way for the inclusion of Bluetooth in all kinds of new products. In addition to Bluetooth enabled jackets, motorcycle helmets and sunglasses with builtin wireless headsets, the controllers for two next generation video games consoles due to be launched later this year, Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii, will use Bluetooth. Because Bluetooth is an industry standard, both console makers can buy chips and software off the shelf, which is quicker and cheaper than developing their own proprietary technologies, says Mr Carlaw.

　　在互联网热潮巅峰时期的天花乱坠之中，它耀眼地产生，但是一开始没有成功。事实上，蓝牙技术--一种用于连接便携式设备的近距离无线技术，在很多场合下都被宣告已经废弃。这个技术的早期版本遭受了兼容性问题；2001年的技术交易会上这个技术一个雄心勃勃的示范没能成功。蓝牙技术在其支持者的宣传下苦苦挣扎的时候，另一种无线技术WiFi，取代了它的地位。技术出版物上出现了很多次宣告蓝牙技术废弃的讣告，通常将它的失败归结于WiFi的胜利。蓝牙技术正在全面败退，英特尔的管理人员Sean Maloney这样宣称。在2001年，其他分析家得出类似的结论。
　　但事实证明蓝牙技术已经死亡这个结论下得太早了：现在它正在健康发展。蓝牙设备的销售量已经比2005年翻了一番，达到了3.2亿台，而且今年的销售量有望突破5.2亿台--平均每周销售超过1000万台，远远超出了WiFi芯片的销售数量。如今销售的手机中大概有四分之一支持蓝牙技术。
　　在连续数年强调蓝牙技术不仅仅只是用来连接无线耳机和手机的手段之后，蓝牙的支持者们似乎表明蓝牙技术的其他用途至少已经出现了。根据市场调查公司iSuppli的Scott Smyser所言，去年60%的蓝牙芯片植入了手机，15%的芯片植入了无线耳机，但是剩下的25%则植入了其他设备，从膝上型电脑、无线键盘和鼠标到支持蓝牙技术的衣服。
　　ABI调查公司的分析家Stuart Carlaw表示，在其艰难的开端之后，蓝牙取得的胜利应归于多种因素的综合作用。在许多国家，蓝牙的好运是由新的立法推动的，该立法规定在驾驶时禁止使用手握式手机设备。这促使许多人购买蓝牙耳机。而以奥迪为首的汽车制造商也开始在它们的汽车内装上能通过蓝牙连接手机的一体式麦克风与扬声器。
　　当消费者变得更加关注蓝牙技术并且开始需求它的时候，手机制造商开始将它当作一种区分他们的产品以及提高他们的利润的手段。在手机里添加一个蓝牙芯片的成本很低--Carlaw先生说大概只需要2美元左右，低于2001年时的20美元--但是可以允许制造者提高远远比这个高的价格，并且打开了一个高利润附件的市场。最后，经销商开始提供蓝牙耳机以激励新的消费者。此外，耳机的估价远远比经销商的成本高，所以这个也扩大了利润。
　　蓝牙技术被更大规模的采用为其适用在所有种类的新产品上开辟了道路。除了支持蓝牙技术的夹克、摩托车头盔以及内置无线耳机的太阳眼镜，今年晚些时候即将发售的两款下一代电子游戏控制台的控制器，Sony的PlayStation3和任天堂的Wifi，将会使用蓝牙。Carlaw先生称，因为蓝牙是一个行业标准，所有的控制台制造商都可以现货购买芯片和软件，所以要远远比制造商开发他们自己拥有产权的技术来得便捷与便宜。