US Order is rolling out SmartTime Internet Services, which the company claims is the first Internet-based service designed exclusively for non-PC information appliances including wireless devices.
“Consumers, for the first time, will be able to retrieve selected information from the Internet without a personal computer by using a new generation of telephones, pagers and personal communicators,” US Order said.
The SmartTime Internet Service includes unlimited E-mail delivery over the Internet; text messaging to alphanumeric pagers directly from a phone keyboard; electronic directory assistance for phone numbers and addresses of almost 125 million U.S. households and businesses; remote backup and retrieval of a name, number and address in a personal directory; current stock quotes; sports scores; five-day weather forecasts for 1,200 cities; nationwide lottery results and daily horoscopes, the company said. The service costs about $8 per month.
“The Yankee Group forecasts that there will be more than 30 million small-screen devices, capable of accessing our SmartTime Internet Service, in the United States by the year 2000,” said John Backus, the company’s president and chief operating officer. “Our mission is to deliver simple information and communication services to these … customers.”
The company said it can deliver information to a variety of devices, with different screen sizes and characteristics, all of which speak different languages. Backus said the technology to allow pagers and personal communicators to access the network will be in place next year.
US Order said the service will be marketed to consumers through third party device manufacturers and service providers.
Colonial Data Technologies is the first authorized reseller of the service, which is available on the Intelifone and Telesmart smart landline telephones. US Order last month announced plans to merge with Colonial Data into a new company.
Licensing discussions are also currently underway with other smart telephone, pager and personal communicator manufacturers, paging companies and telephone companies, US Order said.
