Motorola Inc.’s Messaging Systems Products Group unveiled PageWriter, the first wireless device based on the company’s Memos messaging platform.
The two-way pager features the familiar QWERTY computer keyboard and a flip-up, high-resolution display for a graphical user interface.
Slightly larger than a deck of cards and weighing about 6.3 ounces, PageWriter is designed for narrowband personal communications services networks using Motorola’s ReFLEX technology.
Jackson, Miss.-based SkyTel Corp. and PageMart Inc. of Dallas will be the first paging carriers to offer the device, Motorola said. Pricing strategies for those distributors were not announced but Motorola said it would sell PageWriter direct for $400. The product is in beta test but is expected to be commercially available in the first half of next year.
“Motorola’s FLEX technology is providing the foundation to take the paging industry into the next century,” said Hector Ruiz, vice president and general manager of Motorola’s Messaging Systems Products Group.
“PageWriter, utilizing Motorola’s Memos operating platform and ReFLEX two-way transport protocol is the first in an exciting new evolution of advanced messaging devices,” he said.
Memos’ client-server design lets the PageWriter device operate with 256 kilobytes of random access memory plus one megabyte of flash memory. Its rechargeable nickel metal hydride battery provides more than a week of usage from a single charge, the company said.
In addition to its NPCS capabilities, Motorola said PageWriter can be connected to a personal computer to allow users to install new software applications, upgrade the system software, back up data onto the PC’s hard drive or type address information into the PageWriter directory with the computer keyboard. An optional Infrared accessory also is available for connecting with a PC.
