Advanced Landline Phones Debut
By Martha McDonald -- TWICE, 1/17/2000
Voice-over-Internet phones, Web-browsing phones, e-mail phones, and video phones were among the advanced landline phones that made their debut at CES.
Voice-over-Internet phones, intended to deliver low-cost long-distance calling, were displayed by companies such as Panasonic, which unveiled a 900MHz phone incorporating Net2Phone voice-over-Internet technology. It's scheduled to ship midyear, said John McNenney, national marketing manager for telecommunications.
The phone will give users the option of making standard local and long-distance calls or using the Netcall button for making long-distance Internet calls. A one-time sign-up fee of $25 is required for access to the service, and after that, long-distance calls will be billed at less than 5 cents per minute.
Also on the drawing boards at Panasonic is an Internet phone system than can operate up to eight handsets. The company expects to ship it at about $150 in the second or third quarter.
Panasonic also plans a midyear introduction of a web phone with a color screen at a retail price of about $600. Two models are planned: an analog version with a 56-Kbps modem and a model that operates through the company's planned residential gateway.
Casio Communications (formerly Casio PhoneMate), announced plans to offer long-distance Internet calling through a relationship with I-Link of Draper, Utah. A planned business phone will use the Internet to provide six phone numbers on one line. The service will also come to consumer phones, said marketing VP Dennis Cox.
In PC-linked phones, Cygnion's previously announced CyberGenie was displayed, and RFC Distribution of Singapore launched its pcPiper, a 900MHz digital spread-spectrum phone with USB connection. When linked to a PC, the pcPiper allows access to e-mail, voice mail, voice memos and other messages from the PC.
The pcPiper's handset includes an LCD screen to guide the user through the various functions and directories. The suggested retail price of $249 includes the handset, base, charger and PC software. It ships in February.
The CyberGenie CG2400 from Cygnion, a company that just split off from Ericsson, is a two-line 2.4GHz multi-handset phone system that links to a PC via USB to provide advanced features. They include a virtual personal assistant that answers the phone and sends calls to the appropriate recipient. The phone also provides off-site access to voice mail, e-mail, faxes and memos at any time when the user calls into the system from any telephone in the world. Speech recognition and text-to-speech engines enable the device to read e-mail and voice mail messages to users.
Designed for the SOHO market, the CyberGenie can operate up to 10 handsets. It is shipping now at a suggested retail price of $499. Additional handsets are $129.
In other news, InfoGear's second-generation iPhone was displayed.
The $399 web phone, which is available, has been upgraded to include a 56-Kbps modem. The corded phone, which also features a touchscreen and keyboard, lets users communicate by phone or e-mail, access information on the web, and conduct transactions such as online shopping and home banking.
InfoGear offers ISP service at $19.99 a month for unlimited Internet use or $9.99 a month for 10 hours. Users can also use their own POP3 ISPs.
Meanwhile, Royal said it plans this summer to ship an e-mail phone, the RoyalCall, at a suggested $129.99. The corded phone features a full-size pullout keyboard and 10-line display. Other versions, including a cordless model and a unit with an answering machine, are also planned. There will be a monthly fee for the service, but the phone will work with other ISPs.
A new device for managing incoming calls is the Maxx from PremiseNet, formerly known as Matthews Communications. Developed by voice-mail inventor Gordon Matthews, the Maxx is a call-management system that handles two lines and 12 extensions.
The product lets users check voice mail and use the intercom while another person is making an outside call, all on the same line. It also answers and screens incoming calls in a number of ways, including a do-not-disturb feature that stops the phone from ringing and sends calls to voice mail.
The Maxx ships in February at $799 for a call manager and one module; additional modules are $169.
Video phones were also show stoppers at CES.
I-See-You of Holliston, Mass., showed a less-than-3-pound portable model. It is H.324 compatible so it can communicate with PCs as well as with other video phones.
The $1,200 phone incorporates a 33.6-Kbps modem and operates over standard phone lines. It incorporates a 2 x 3-inch color LCD screen that shows motion pictures of who is calling at 15 to 20 frames per second.
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