An interesting column by eWEEK columnist Rob Enderle is forecasting the death of Bluetooth now that tech giant Intel has abandoned the standard. Bluetooth, for those of you who are unfamiliar with it, is a type of Personal Area Network, or PAN. In a nutshell, it allows wireless devices in close proximity to talk to each other.

While Enderle may feel that the time is right to move to Wireless USB, I’m a bit more skeptical. While the high bandwidths proposed are staggering, the spec is just a twinkle in the eyes of its engineers. In contrast, Bluetooth is widely deployed. Some devices include:

• PDAs,
• Wireless Phones,
• Apple computers,
• and more.

Yes, Intel may be a major force in the technology sector, but it’s not the most important. Despite its relatively small market share, Apple remains a trend-setter:

Apple was the first to build in Ethernet, one of the first to build in USB, the first to build in FireWire, and the first to build in 802.11 wireless networking. Now we’re offering a Bluetooth solution that actually works and is easy to use. (InfoSatellite, Mar 26 2002)

Sorry Intel, but you don’t make the rules.

(Original link via Slashdot.)