By BRUCE MEYERSON AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) -- Wireless developers plan to work together to meld Bluetooth, the short-range technology that links cell phones and cordless headsets, with an emerging technology designed to beam video and other large content short distances between TVs, home entertainment systems and computers.
The plan, announced Wednesday, comes at a crucial time for Bluetooth. After years of hype, the technology is finally becoming a mainstream feature on mobile devices, only to be met with predictions it may soon be supplanted by other technologies and disappear.
The Bluetooth Special Interest Group, a 3,400-member group whose backers include Nokia Corp., Motorola Corp. and Intel Corp., said it has begun working with two industry bodies developing rival versions of the technology commonly referred to as ultra-wideband, or UWB.
The discussions with the WiMedia Alliance and the UWB Forum are very preliminary, so it is unclear whether the collaboration will produce an integrated platform combining Bluetooth with UWB. There are also issues such as UWB regulatory approvals and signal interference with other wireless technologies that need resolution.
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