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True Blue New products prove Bluetooth wasn't a figment of the tech industry's imagination.

By Mike Hogan

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

A funny thing happened to Bluetooth on its way to becoming the world's most-used short-range wireless communications standard. Wi-Fi got there first-to the 2.4GHz radio band, and then to the public share of mind.

The much-hyped Bluetooth protocol ran into a couple of last-minute design problems, a little ol' high-tech recession and concerns about conflicts with its fellow inhabitant of the 2.4GHz band. Analysts have scaled back Bluetooth shipment projections by almost a third.

Meanwhile, products using the Wi-Fi (802.11b) networking protocol have been sprouting like weeds, leading some to suggest that maybe Bluetooth isn't needed after all. Microsoft and Intel-two of nine core Bluetooth underwriters-have waffled in their support of Bluetooth, while going full-bore on Wi-Fi. Will Wi-Fi's success crowd out Bluetooth?