Bluetooth challenging customs

**silver_corolla** · August 2nd, 2005 10:28 AM

The short-range wireless device is challenging age-old customs in Qatar and other Gulf Arab states where the mingling of the ***es remains taboo and many marriages are still arranged by family elders. Most mobile phones are equipped with Bluetooth and when it is activated, a user can "see" others within a 10-meter radius.

DOHA -- "Oh my God! It’s him!" squeals 21-year-old Fatima as her mobile phone beeps, alerting her to an incoming message.

She explains to her giggling friends that she has just been contacted by a man she’s had her eye on -- although she has yet to meet him -- via the Bluetooth technology in her mobile phone.

The short-range wireless device is challenging age-old customs in Qatar and other Gulf Arab states where the mingling of the ***es remains taboo and many marriages are still arranged by family elders. Most mobile phones are equipped with Bluetooth and when it is activated, a user can "see" others within a 10-meter radius.

Moments later Fatima receives another message, this time giving the man’s name and mobile phone number. "It was a lot harder to meet guys before these new phones," she says as she replies to the message.

Bluetooth was created with the corporate world in mind but its popularity has mushroomed, espe-cially in restrictive societies in the affluent Gulf, whose modern cities and large foreign work force belie a deeply conservative local culture.

Qatar is less restrictive than neighboring Saudi Arabia, which practices a strict version of Islam that forbids unrelated men and women from mixing, but Qataris still find it difficult to socialize without parental or social anger.

"I don’t think anyone in the research and development field ever imagined this technology to be used in these kinds of ways," said Bob Evans, a Doha-based information technology consultant.

"What was designed to be a tool for enhanced communication and technological convenience has also opened the door to all sorts of use. And people are having a bit more fun with it than was intended."

In Saudi Arabia, authorities have cautioned against using mobile phones for "immoral" purposes, which includes distributing pictures of unveiled women. -- Reuters

**1D4LV** · August 2nd, 2005 10:34 AM

kala ko customs dito sa pinas....yung mga malalakas mangikil.

**BlueBimmer** · August 2nd, 2005 11:11 AM

luma na yan dto db hehe

**Psylocke** · August 2nd, 2005 11:15 AM

bluejacking

**j_avonni** · August 9th, 2005 02:01 PM

Bakit ba tinawag na bluetooth?

**boybi** · August 9th, 2005 02:07 PM

Originally Posted by happy_gilmore

kala ko customs dito sa pinas....yung mga malalakas mangikil.

akala ko din meron kaso yung bluetooth sa bureau of customs

**silver_corolla** · August 9th, 2005 02:10 PM

Originally Posted by j_avonni

Bakit ba tinawag na bluetooth?

The heart of the Bluetooth brand identity is the name, which refers to the Danish king Harald "Bluetooth" Blaatand who unified Denmark and Norway. In the beginning of the Bluetooth wireless technology era, Bluetooth was aimed at unifying the telecom and computing industries.

**NightRock** · August 9th, 2005 03:53 PM

Yan ang in ngayon dito sa middle east para maka pang ligaw ang mga arabo hehehe

**RedHorse** · August 9th, 2005 04:20 PM

Originally Posted by NightRock

Yan ang in ngayon dito sa middle east para maka pang ligaw ang mga arabo hehehe

samantalang dati ganito sila sa mall/supermarket.... bubuksan ng chicks ang bag nya, sasalubong yong arabo sabay laglag sa bag ng kanyang calling card.. then maghihintay na lang si lalaki ng tawag ni babae EB na sila next time sa loob ng GMC suburban

yugyugan na sa gmc pa lang wohoooo