MOBILE ORIGINS
Bluetooth traces its beginnings back to the 1990s. It was conceived by Dr Jaap Haartsen at Swedish mobile giant Ericsson. Things really stepped up in September 1998 when the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) was formed to develop and promote the technology.
The group released Bluetooth 1.0 in 1999, and a year later it began to be used in mobile phones and desktop computers, making its way to laptops and printers in 2001. In the middle of the decade, the Bluetooth headset – which allowed people to communicate hands free – became a common sight.