PageMart Wireless Inc. announced it began shipping the Synapse Pager Card, which allows wireless messaging on 3com Corp.’s PalmPilot Organizer.
The card-developed by PageMart, 3Com and Motorola Inc.-upgrades all Pilot, PalmPilot and IBM WorkPad models to the functionality of the Palm III and adds a paging feature. With the Synapse card, the PalmPilot can read messages of up to 300 characters on PageMart’s network, as well as handling e-mail and Web-based messaging.
However, the Synapse card cannot be added to the Palm III, which has no paging capabilities.
Financial analysts at Toronto Dominion Securities Inc. believe the PalmPilot-PageMart connectivity will prove a noteworthy boon for PageMart. “We believe that PageMart is well-positioned to realize significant incremental growth from this service,” the company said in a recent update on PageMart, citing in particular the “techno-friendly” nature of PalmPilot users.
According to Dataquest, a division of the Gartner Group Inc., the PalmPilot holds 63 percent of the handheld computer market, with about 1.6 million customers. While Donna Regenbaum, vice president of marketing at PageMart, would not detail exactly how many of these the company expects to see as subscribers, she said the company believes initial demand will be very strong. “It was a very much- requested factor very early on,” she said of the wireless connection.
For PalmPilot users who desire paging service, PageMart put together a nationwide roaming package for $20. Those who want only local or regional service can subscribe at PageMart’s regular price. The PalmPilot’s operating system allows for added paging-related features not available on traditional pagers, such as sender ID and address-book functions.
Only one-way service is available today. Regenbaum said guaranteed messaging and interactive two-way versions of the Synapse card are “clearly something we’re taking a look at,” but will have to wait until they can make a two-way card at the proper size. “We want to make sure the form factor of the Pilot doesn’t increase,” she said, referring to the larger sizes of most current two-way paging devices. Other sources have said the time frame for offering two-way service over the PalmPilot is two years.
Besides simple alphanumeric paging, PageMart said it hopes developers will create new applications that take advantage of the PalmPilot’s wireless connectivity, stressing the availability of the software development kit. “The ability for third-party applications will really drive this product,” said Bridget Cavanaugh, senior manager for corporate marketing. The kit allows developers to integrate their applications with paging functionality.
“We expect to see a lot of creative and innovative applications,” Regenbaum said.
The card is available through direct sales channels of both PageMart and 3Com, including their respective Web sites and 800-number brochures. Plans are underway to add retail channel distribution agreements as well.
