CellPort Labs Inc. is redesigning and enhancing its universal car kit for both cellular and personal communications services applications.
Car kits provide power and hands-free talking capability for portable handsets, but most are designed for use with only one type of phone.
Boulder, Colo.-based CellPort introduced a universal car kit more than a year ago that was distributed through cataloger Hello Direct.
It featured a pocket adapter interface for specific phones but stripped most of the electronics away to a separate base. This reduced the cost for both manufacturer and end-user.
Earlier this year, CellPort took back its technology and added several new features including dynamic battery charging for phones with lithium ion packs, the ability to remote-mount the base electronics, improved radio frequency coupling, a re-programmable pocket adapter, an enhanced hands-free audio circuit as well as an interface gateway to the company’s new MobileWeb server/controller technology.
“Our universal car kit will undergo extensive field testing before we move into production, and units should be delivered to our first customers in the fourth quarter,” said Pat Kennedy, CellPort’s chief executive officer.
He expects the finished product to be commercially available at slightly more than $100.
“We’re able to accomplish that price point because of AT&T Wireless Services (Inc.’s) support to create an open baseline car kit interface,” Kennedy noted. “In contrast to some carriers who are talking about safety, AT&T is walking the talk and coming to the table with financial and purchase order support,” he added.
Kennedy said his company also is in negotiations with two auto suppliers for implementation of the technology in vehicle models.
In related news, CellPort received an additional patent on its universal wireless connectivity technology.
