A Year Ago: First Bluetooth products arrive

Digianswer, perhaps best known as a digital answer phone manufacturer, has made the most of its position in the cellular market to produce what it believes are the industry's first Bluetooth products.

At Telecom '99 in Geneva this week, Digianswer unveiled what it believes are the industry's first commercially available Bluetooth products, in the shape of PC Card and USB "dongle" Bluetooth adaptors for notebook and PC applications.

The company says these products will better enable users to take advantage of ad-hoc networking using TCP/IP and PPP through dial-up networking gateways, e.g. a modem or mobile, as well as more corporate applications using LAN access points or L2CAP personal area networking.

A spokesperson for Digianswer also revealed that Bluetooth products for drivers were also in the pipeline: "A Bluetooth hands free car kit is being developed for release at the same time as these PC card and USB products. Digianswer has been big on in-car products for sometime, making most hands free kits for the major manufacturers, so this is their backyard."

All products will be sold by Digianswer to major OEM manufacturers, including leading laptop makers who will then resell them under their own brands. The kit is expected to ship in February next year.

Take me to the Bluetooth special

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