Red, white and Bluetooth. Bloomberg Boot Camp, a report on today's technology. It's technology that has been around for about five years now... and the companies behind it hope Bluetooth is ready to set off some fireworks. Bluetooth is the name given to short range radio technology designed to replace wired connections between all kinds of consumer electronic devices. It was named after a 10th century Viking king. Cell phone handset maker Sony Ericcson has been one of the leaders in using Bluetooth. Product marketing manager Ted Browne...

"By 2004, they're projecting there will be somewhere over a hundred million Bluetooth devices. I think right now with legislation that we're seeing in New York and other states around the country, the big application is for automobile use."

With either wireless headsets... or even better... car kits that can create hands free connections with any Bluetooth enabled phone that's brought into the vehicle...

"There's a little button that you install in the car and that establishes the connection and if you have it trained for voice recognition, you can do everything hands free. Dial, answer calls, everything like that."

On the downside... most Bluetooth enabled phones work only on GSM cellular networks... such as those operated by AT&T, T-Mobile, and Cingular. Sony Ericsson recently decided to halt development of Bluetooth handsets for CDMA networks... which are used by Verizon and Sprint. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I'm Fred Fishkin.