We’ve all had trouble pairing our headsets and Bluetooth devices together. I have never been able to use the Bluetooth in my Thinkpad computer because the initial set up seems incredibly daunting…and I’m a member of the Bluetooth organization. Why is this so hard?

The problem is rooted in the multiple unique implementations of Bluetooth at the Operating Systems level. What does that mean?

Currently each manufacturer develops their own unique implementation of Bluetooth. The software they write and their communication with the Bluetooth radio is different every time. The Bluetooth SIG doesn’t interact with manufacturers in software and there are small holes in the Bluetooth technical specification. These holes are interpreted in multiple ways and can cause problems in interoperability.

The problem can actually be easily fixed, however there is a political argument on how much the Bluetooth organization is able to and should put requirements on handset and device manufacturers in the upper software layers. There are also no requirements on what functionalities a Bluetooth phone must do in order for the phone to be called, “Bluetooth enabled”. This is highly prevalent in closed systems such as the iPhone that directly challenges the interoperability requirements of the Bluetooth SIG.

My opinion is that the Bluetooth SIG needs to have software functionality requirements on device manufacturers in order to guarantee interoperability, easy pairing, and more Bluetooth enabled applications.