The Wrap: King Bluetooth

It’s found in your FitBit, your headphones, your PS5 controller, and your phone, yet Bluetooth is a relatively anonymous operation given its utility.

Now three decades old, 4 billion Bluetooth devices will be shipped in 2021. It sounds like the keys to a multi-billion dollar revenue stream. Interestingly Bluetooth is a not-for-profit enterprise. Thirty-six thousand global tech companies comprise the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG). Together they are responsible for developing, maintaining, and promoting the short-range radio technology.

It sounds like a fictional utopia. Rival engineers from Apple, Intel, and Microsoft collaborating on a technology that generates no direct revenue. It’s not as uncommon as it appears. Tech companies benefit from a system-wide technology more than any in-house solution could offer.

WiFi falls under a similar management structure. With the global economic value of WiFi estimated to reach US$3.3t this year, a functioning wireless internet is in big tech’s best interests. Again, names like Apple, Samsung, and Cisco partner to run the technology. After all, with over 16 billion WiFi-enabled devices worldwide, it’s simply good business no matter the cost.

Fact of the Day: Bluetooth derived its name from Viking King Harald Blåtand Gormsen, who united Denmark and Norway in 958.