Brian Beeler published a Note to Dell and Sony yesterday in which he called on the vendors to ship their PDAs for the U.S. market with Bluetooth installed. He cites the Dell Axim X3i and the
Sony Clie TH55 as PDAs that are available with Bluetooth in Europe, but do not have Bluetooth when sold in this country. Beeler says:
Dell came so close to releasing the X3i in the US with Bluetooth, the logo is imprinted on the current X3i antennas. At the last minute, they decided to pull the functionality because their focus groups indicated Bluetooth wasn’t that important. Sony released the wildly popular TH55 just a week ago in the US with a WiFi only version. The odd thing is that Sony has released Bluetooth devices in the US before, but none have been very successful. palmOne has a good story to tell though. They’ve been selling integrated Bluetooth for almost a year and a half. The Tungsten line has been a fantastic seller for them. HP has also sold a few hundred thousand PDAs with integrated Bluetooth. While I can’t be sure how many people actually use the Bluetooth option, at least it’s there for those who want it.
He goes on to say that most Americans don’t even know what Bluetooth is, but that veteran PDA users are more aware of its benefits. I agree with him. If Beeler is correct in his assertion that Bluetooth capability adds about $5.00 to the manufacturing cost of a PDA, it’s hard to imagine why any manufacturer ships a PDA without it. I would make an exception for a product like the
PalmOne Zire that’s meant to sell for well under $100.
The Axim X3i and the Clie TH55 are great devices, but they would be even better if you could use them to dial your mobile phone or sync wirelessly with your laptop.
As Beeler said, users who want Bluetooth do have choices on both major PDA platforms: H-P ships many of their iPAQ models with Bluetooth, and palmOne’s Tungsten models also support it.