Sony emphasizes usability of Bluetooth products

Still, the harsh reality for Bluetooth proponents is, “Many units might have been shipped, but Bluetooth is not actually utilized by consumers,” said Per Forsberg, general manager of wireless systems at National Semiconductors. “I don’t think Bluetooth has won this race yet.”
In an ambitious attempt to address the usability issue, Masanobu Yoshida, president of the hand-held computer company at Sony Corp., unveiled a proprietary Bluetooth application technology called “Feel,” which is designed to provide instant connectivity among Sony’s own Bluetooth devices.
Yoshida bemoaned the negative “out-of-box” consumer Bluetooth experience, in which buyers typically spend several hours slogging through a menu, pairing Bluetooth devices and setting up rules before they can start connecting devices. Sony’s Feel technology, although still under development, can bring “instant connection-one step, one second” to Bluetooth devices, Yoshida said.