This is why car manufacturers rarely jump head-first into new technologies:

The Death of Bluetooth: Intel Moves to Ultrawideband

Verizon still doesn't have any bluetooth phones and I'm wondering if they ever will.

 

Ummm, if you take a look at this article

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.j...toryID=4361117

you will see that in 2003 55 MILLION bluetooth devices were sold...doesnt seem like death to me.

and also that article implies that Verizon is considering bluetooth phones finally...

here is a sneak preview for those who dont want to read.


But now, helped by growing industry support, shipments of Bluetooth devices are expected to increase about 60 percent in 2004 to 88 million units from 55 million units sold in 2003, according to Gartner.

 

Intel simply WANTS everybody to use it's version of Bluetooth so that they can profit from it. Intel is trying to use it's dominance in one area to force a "standard" in another. This is a common technique in this industry. It only works about 15% of the time. So, no Bluetooth is not dead but Intel's tech gives a different direction. There are a LOT of hurdles for Intel with it though. More than you read about in a publicity stunt like this. Funniest thing are the final lines of the article. Anyone fans of Tesla or Marconi?

 

I think the point is that Acura has taken a bit of a risk to put technology in the TL and probably the RL that is completely unproven and make it a standard feature.

 

BT isn't going anywhere for a long time.

 

Completely unproven? BT has been around for years with 55 million devices in 2003 alone. There may be some compatibility issues between certain devices, but for the most part, phones, PDAs, PCs, mice, headsets and cars work together ok.

How many devices have the new Intel networking? Zero. Which one was unproven again?

What risk? It must have cost Acura, maybe $100 at most to include BT. If you don't use it, who cares? The car still works as if BT was never installed. I don't lose sleep over the fact that the HomeLink in my car doesn't work in my condo.

 

Why doesn't it work?

 

Not sure exactly. Another TSX owner took it up with property mgmt and they found it was incompatible. The garage is opened with a keyfob that has individual codes, so I suspect it's a measure to control the number of transmitters in service (e.g. programming friends' cars). I live in downtown Toronto where there is a high demand for parking and some people sneak into the garage when it's busy.

 

Mine has never worked, in either TL I've owned (2002 or 2004). My garage door opener is just incompatible. I don't lose any sleep over it, either...

 

Bluetooth isn't really new and UltraWideBand is going to be a long while waiting.

Intel should read the memo, others are deciding what becomes standards these days, not them like the old days.

 

I think bluetooth will catch on to mainstream once the technology becomes more affordable to the average man. At least here in Vancouver its very poplular and is on of the "must-haves" for the ppl that can afford it.