Bluetooth

This week I decided to look into the archives for information on Bluetooth technology. Bluetooth is a bit of hardware in certain devices that allows the device to connect to other nearby devices using radio waves rather than a physical connection. Bluetooth is used in many devices today including printers, laptops, and phones, as well as the iconic Bluetooth hands-free headsets.

The first mentions of the Bluetooth are in Investor Business Daily March, 1999 in the article Please Curb Your Spam, by Michele Hostetler. The Bluetooth is actually downplayed as 1/3 of the article, the rest is centered on speculation about Symantec and Apple moving into different buildings, and possible legal repercussions for spammers. At the time the article was released, Hostetler claimed that companies were rallying around it and eagerly anticipating its arrival on open markets in April of that year.  The Bluetooth was completely new at the time, no prior articles had mentioned anything about Bluetooth in any capacity.

Over time however, the way of talking about it shifts from talking about a singular small computer chip device called a Bluetooth, to a feature included in many devices. Subsequent articles seem to show that it was quite well received, though the number of records remains relatively low until 2011 when Bluetooth experiences a massive surge in popularity, and the article count triples. This surge  corresponds with the release of the version of the Bluetooth we find in many devices today, especially cars and phones.