American Mobile Satellite Corp. introduced a service called eLink, a two-way wireless messaging application with integrated personal information manager functions.
Using a modified version of the RIM 950 pager from Research In Motion Ltd., the eLink service will use AMSC’s Ardis wireless packet data network.
Other than two-way wireless messaging, AMSC said the eLink service automatically will forward e-mail sent to a desktop account to the pager, as long as the desktop e-mail system is based on Post Office Protocol 3, a common Internet e-mail standard. MCIMail and AT&T Worldnet are both POP 3-based, as are most local area network e-mail systems like Microsoft Outlook and Notes.
Users may set up a profile on the company’s Web site that allows them to filter which e-mail they want to receive on the RIM device, based on sender and subject line. This profile can be changed at will to fit the circumstances.
“The other cool part is when you answer back … to the recipient it looks to them it was sent from the desktop,” said Dan Croft, AMSC vice president of messaging services. He added that the user’s desktop computer need not be activated to forward messages.
Aside from messaging, key modifications to the RIM device point to the niche AMSC is trying to attract with eLink. The device will contain certain personal information management functions that can be synchronized with desktop counterparts. Microsoft Schedule+ and Outlook, Lotus Organizer and Symantec ACT! PIM software are included. Finally, the RIM 950 comes with a docking cradle that can both recharge the nickel metal hydride battery and synchronize data with desktop computers.
The RIM device contains 2 megabytes of memory so users can download other applications to it as they see fit. AMSC said it has agreements with WolfeTech Corp. for its PocketGenie information services application and with Mobeo Inc. for wireless stock trading. These applications won’t be included in the device at the time of purchase.
The device is icon driven, as opposed to a text menu.
“It’s what we consider an extremely easy interface,” Croft said. “The PIM functions are fully integrated with our wireless messaging functions,” he added, so when using the address book in Outlook, users can send an e-mail directly.
These hardware features demonstrate how AMSC plans to differentiate the service from rival BellSouth Wireless Data L.P.’s Interactive Paging Service, which also uses the RIM device (albeit without the same PIM functions and icons) and transmits over a packet data network.
AMSC said it will position eLink as more of a personal digital assistant than as a competitive product to two-way pagers. When BellSouth came out with the Interactive Paging Service, the company compared it with SkyTel Communications Inc.’s services and devices directly in print advertisements. BellSouth has backed away from that strategy since forming an alliance with Paging Network Inc. to sell the service.
“There are some fundamental differences in the positioning of the product,” Croft said. “We’re not positioning this as an upgraded two-way pager. We intend to market this as a wireless two-way Internet device. It’s a personal information manager. It’s not positioned as a two-way pager … It’s a different category.”
Through an earlier-announced strategic alliance, SkyTel is reselling the eLink service, but won’t position it in competition with its two-way offering.
“We are targeting the Internet space as opposed to the paging space,” Croft said. “Our philosophy is that this is a service people will not want to upgrade to from a one-way device. Our target market is people who see value in devices such as the PalmPilot.
“What we’re hoping is that people who have a need for a PIM or a personal organizer usually have some need to do something with the information that’s contained in their organizer,” hence a wireless connection, he added.
Croft said to look for further resale deals with other companies in the coming months. He said AMSC’s sales force also plans to sell the product directly.
“One reason we started this agreement with SkyTel is because we don’t have a large army of a sales force,” he said. “Our organization has a highly trained but very small sales force.”
However, the deal with SkyTel is more than a resale agreement.
“SkyTel has announced their intention to fully integrate the device and our network over their network,” Croft said. “They want to make it as transparent as possible, so a customer can migrate to the RIM device from a PageWriter.”
SkyTel customers subscribing to the service will be able to get all SkyTel content services on the RIM device. Those buying directly from AMSC will not.
Expected to be commercially available in June, AMSC is offering two pricing plans for the eLink service-an unlimited monthly service agreement for $60 a month, or 24,000 characters a month for $25. Suggested retail price for the device is $359.
