The paging industry made further progress toward implementing content services last week, as both Motorola Inc. and Arch Communications Group Inc. introduced products and services targeting the space.
Arch said it will offer personalized information services to customers via an agreement with Datalink.net Inc. Datalink.net has compiled a suite of information services via agreements with various Internet-based content providers. The company provides the link between the Internet site and the wireless network.
Through Datalink.net, Arch customers will be able to get customized information services from a dedicated site on Arch’s Web site, which is actually an interface to Datalink.net’s platform.
The service will feature six different categories: news and entertainment, weather, lifestyle, financial, sports, health news and a calendar service. Each contain various sub categories, allowing users to personalize the information down to the specific city for which they want weather reports, companies from which they desire stock quotes and teams for which they want scores, as well as how and when they wish to be alerted.
Arch said the service will be available in the first quarter of 2000. While pricing is still being finalized, Steve Gross, Arch vice president of sales and marketing, said the company likely will charge $5 per category. Gross characterized the Datalink.net agreement as a foundation for Arch’s ongoing content services strategy.
“I would call it the start of it and the core of it, but not the complete offering,” he said, referring to Arch’s content strategy. Previously, Arch offered basic news broadcasts sent to all alphanumeric customers. Gross said Arch hopes the content services will drive the awareness of alphanumeric messaging, as well as provide an added revenue opportunity.
Arch is the second major messaging carrier to use Datalink.net’s content for its information services offering. BellSouth Wireless Data L.P. partnered with Datalink.net in May.
On the device front, Motorola Inc. said its CP1250 big screen text pager is now available, designed specifically to handle advanced information services and content. The eight-line display pager also is optimized to display content generated from Motorola’s i Kno! Internet-based information services architecture. Paging carrier Metrocall Inc. is the first carrier to use the architecture and the new device, Motorola said.
Paging Network Inc. also will use the device, but has yet to announce the launch of its information services suite, expected soon.
