Estimates from Gartner, the analyst house, suggest that 161 million Bluetooth-equipped devices shipped in 2003. More than double that number, 361 million, will ship this year. By 2005, research company In-Stat/MDR predicts no fewer than 1.4 billion Bluetooth devices will ship. Although Bluetooth is most closely associated with phones, the technology is finding its way into a growing number of mobile and IT technologies. Forrester Research expects to see Bluetooth not just in 77% of phones by 2008, but also in 60% of PDAs and 67% of laptop computers. Market analyst firm ABI expects to see 25 million Bluetooth equipped cars, worldwide, within the same time frame.

Industry estimates suggest that some 1,000 companies around the world are involved in developing Bluetooth devices. Analysts expect to see growing interest in Bluetooth from the B2B sector too.

See also: Statista – Installed base of bluetooth-enabled devices worldwide in 2012 and 2018