RTX-designed Bluetooth headsets from Motorola and GN Netcom win awards in independent test.

A recent independent test conducted by Carnegie awarded first and third place to Bluetooth headsets designed by RTX Telecom. Three criteria were rated - price , comfort and quality of sound. GN Netcom (hereafter called GN) manufactures headsets for Motorola, and both the GN and Motorola headsets were designed by RTX Telecom. Other headsets included in the test were from Plantronics (2), Nokia (5) and Sony Ericsson (4). GN also received acknowledgement for the range of its Bluetooth products. Last year, GN chose RTX Telecom as its development partner of choice in connection with all its wireless Bluetooth hands-free solutions. GN also won two awards for outstanding design at the CeBIT 2002 trade fair.

Interoperability Bluetooth is sometimes criticised for not providing 1.1 interoperability, and this is covered in our article about the Bluetooth congress. RTX Telecom has solved this problem and designed the two headsets that can be used on any brand of Bluetooth enabled cellular phone. GN has also made a dongle that can be plugged into non- Bluetooth phones, thus providing Bluetooth connectivity.

Market predictions

The question in terms of marketing is how many potential users of Bluetooth headsets there really are. Most analysts predict that cordless headsets will be the driving force behind sales of Bluetooth equipment to the cellular phone market. The headset market sales predictions for 2006 are more than 158 million units (source: ARC Group). Growth is also likely to be encouraged by the fact that the use of hand-held cellular phones while driving is illegal in many countries.