The Bluetooth SIG has been hard at work on the next generation of its short-range wireless technology for years, and yesterday the group unveiled the result: Bluetooth 3.0.

Bluetooth 3.0 + HS features a blend of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi technologies to deliver transfer rates of up to 24Mbps – that’s about eight times the speed of today’s Bluetooth 2.0 +EDR.  Basically, when Bluetooth 3.0 needs to send or receive data fast, it enlists 802.11 tech (Wi-Fi) to make it happen.  When no data-heavy transfers are needed, the 802.11 part of the team goes to sleep to save power.  Using the high-speed transfer will require more power while in operation.

With that speed, Bluetooth will have the ability to transfer live video from one device to the other, or to make quick work of any media or data syncing with a PC.  This ability also opens up Bluetooth to more media-centric devices like camcorders, digital cameras and TVs. 

There wasn’t much talk about what improvements – if any – Bluetooth 3.0 will offer for more typical uses, like wireless headsets.  We hope there is at least some quality-boosting goodness when it comes to wireless audio devices like stereo headphones and cell phone headsets.

According to Engadget, while some Bluetooth 2.0 hardware could be upgraded to 3.0 if a Wi-Fi adapter is also onboard the device, upgradability isn’t going to be an option for mobile devices like Windows Mobile Smartphones or the Apple iPhone.  The earliest we can expect to see Bluetooth 3.0 products is the beginning of 2010 with inclusion in mobile devices likely to follow months later.