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Bluetooth Demystified Bluetooth is a wire-free communications technology intended to pass digital information between electric appliances across short distances. It was invented by boffins working for mobile phone manufacturer Ericsson in Sweden, who were on the lookout for a short range wireless communications alternative to methods such as infra-red, as used on television remotes, and FM radio. The major problem with these existing technologies is that they are all prone to interference coming from other appliances using the same frequencies, a problem which would be exacerbated by any widespread increase in their use. 1G mobile phones – the 1970s and 1980s Although mobile phones have existed in some form or another since the 1950s, these were essentially two-way radio sets with a telephone operator on one end. The first mobile phones as we now know them emerged in the 1970s, with the development of six sided ‘cell’ transmission elements and automatic handover technology, which permitted you to carry on a telephone call from one transmitter zone to the next without the need to re-dial. Most transportable phones on the market at this point were incredibly big and heavy, and at first, were only available as a permanent installation in a large vehicle, which is why they were usually referred to as being ‘car phones’. However, manufacturers soon converted these units into self-contained ‘transportable’ phones, which were about the size of a holdall. The first trial of a commercial mobile telecommunications network, Bell Laboratories’ AMPS system, took place in Chicago in 1978. However, the FCC did not approve this system nationally until 1982, which meant that Japanese electronics firm NET were able to beat Bell to the punch when they launched their NMT network in Tokyo in 1979. In 1981 the network was extended to include Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.