Bluetooth: the Christmas present that came to compete with infrared and was thought to compete with WiFi

The wireless device-to-device communication system was introduced 23 years ago with a view to establishing itself as the elementary communication system.

When you look back, you think about how technology has evolved. The cassettes, floppy disks and other information systems that started the journey have evolved in search of the best possible. This does not exempt communication technology, and if we think of data transmission, we inevitably think of Bluetooth.

On 7 December 2000, it was presented to the world as the definitive method of data transmission/communication, and it seems to have established itself, in part. However, it was originally thought that its competition would go further, and with WiFi in its infancy, the public pitted the two services against each other.

However, its origin was focused more on the side of improving what infrared had to offer and revolutionising the wireless industry; but how did it come about?

The context of the logo, name and even colours has a clear protagonist: King Harald Blatand, and no, we are not just going crazy.

For starters, the Scandinavian monarch's surname in English is Bluetooth, but why him? Well, during the 10th century he was responsible for unifying the Swedish Danish and Norwegian tribes by converting them to Christianity. Jim Kardach, creator of this technology saw it as ideal as he interpreted that the Scandinavian king and Bluetooth connected in the same way.

On the other hand, the logo and the colours also had a lot to do with him. The bluish tone comes from the colour of blueberries, the monarch's favourite fruit, while the drawing of the logo comes from the runes Hagall and Bjarkan, which represent the H and B, the initials of his name and surname.

A rather curious story that has accompanied transmission and connection technology over the last 23 years. Did you know all these details about Bluetooth?