Bluetooth wireless technology is a short-range radio standard that provides new opportunities for wireless devices. Originally, Bluetooth wireless technology was designed as a way of eliminating the cables attached to nearly all consumer electronic devices. However, the goals for Bluetooth wireless technology grew as its designers recognized that it enables a new kind of wireless network between electronic devices.
Since 2001, Java developers have had the opportunity to develop applications for a variety of wireless devices and cell phones. In 2000, the Java community recognized the importance of creating a standard extension to the Java programming language for use with Bluetooth devices. A standard application programming interface (API) for Bluetooth was needed because each Bluetooth software protocol stack had its own API for application programmers. These proprietary APIs meant that a Bluetooth application had to be ported to different Bluetoothstacks to run on different devices. Apart from the work involved in writing the code, interoperability testing on the various devices costs time and money for the involved companies. A standard API would help alleviate all these problems.
A team of experts from across the industry was assembled for this effort under Java Specification Request 82 (JSR-82). The result was a specification for Java APIs for Bluetooth wireless technology (JABWT). Since the release of JSR-82 in the spring of 2002, Bluetooth wireless technology has become a standard feature in cell phones with many of these phones also having support for JSR-82.
