A recent patent application filed by Apple describes its vision for a new Personal Area Network (PAN) that would link RF modules in everything from clothes to accessories which would communicate with each other and connect to the Internet.
The PAN would include both short range (WiFi and Bluetooth) and long range (GSM, EDGE, etc) communication “which would be able to communicate with and identify themselves to any other modules around and, potentially, piggyback their way onto the Internet."