Ericsson plans trial Bluetooth services in Japan

TOKYO: Ericsson's Japan unit said on Tuesday that it will launch trial

information and Internet services in Japan using Bluetooth short-range wireless

communications as it seeks commercial uses for the technology.

The project, joined by trade house Marubeni Corp, the Japan unit of handheld

computer maker Handspring Inc and several other computer and online services

companies, aims to develop commercial services by April of next year.

Bluetooth, which allows electronic devices to exchange data wirelessly at

distances of up to 10 meters (33 feet), is already available in personal

computers, while Bluetooth-enabled cellphones are expected to reach the market

by year's end. The trials will include two Tokyo cafes offering rentals of

handheld computers that use Bluetooth to access So-net, an Internet access

service run by a unit of Sony Corp

West Japan Railway Co will offer trial services at one of its stations and on

one of its bullet trains, while a personal computer and software retailer will

use the service to provide product and other information to employees and

customers.

Similar trials are planned for the United States, said Nippon Ericsson K K

President Morgan Bengtsson, and several are also under way in Europe, including

a supermarket test of a system that lets shoppers use Bluetooth to pay their

bills. In Japan, where even credit cards are still rarely used, financial

applications are considered far less promising than entertainment and

information, he said.

Many of the Web sites most visited by NTT DoCoMo Inc's popular

Internet-enabled "i-mode" cellphones, for example, offer

entertainment-related content such as celebrity gossip or baseball scores.

(C) Reuters Limited 2001.