New Devices Back Up Phone Contacts, Data

By Joseph Palenchar -- TWICE, 5/22/2006

Las Vegas — At least two suppliers at last month's CTIA Wireless 2006 show demonstrated new solutions for backing up a phone's contact list and transferring it to a new phone.

In a related introduction, a third company unveiled a dealer-level solution for transferring a consumer's contact list and handset-stored multimedia content from one handset to another.

In consumer backup solutions, Los Angeles-based Advanced Wireless Solutions showed a palm-sized battery-operated device called Backup-Pal, which backs up a phone's directory at the touch of one button.

Backup-Pal comes in multiple SKUs, one of which allows for IrRA transfer between the device and most IrDA phones on the market. Separate SKUs are designed for USB-equipped phones. And a third SKU uses a serial cable packaged with interchangeable tips to connect to most phones of a specific brand. A package could contain from one to three tips, depending on the number of tips necessary to cover a majority of the phones for that specific brand, the company said.

To ensure compatibility with future phones in the market, Advanced will supply updated adapters/tips to distributors and retailers and put them on sale through its Web site. Retailers also have the option of stocking separate adapters/tips.

Backup-Pal is available in April on the company's Web site and in mid-May to distributors. The suggested retail is $39.99 for the serial-cable version and IR version and $49.99 for the USB version.

Also for do-it-yourselfers, Susteen of Irvine, Calif., will release a Bluetooth version of its DataPilot Kit, which backs up contacts, ringtones and pictures and video to a PC, and allows transfers from the PC to a user's new phone.

Susteen attributed the launch to the growing installed base of Bluetooth phones. The company's other kits use cable and cable adapters.

A Bluetooth USB adapter for the PC is included in the kit at a suggested $59.95. It's available May 1 on Susteen's Web site.

For dealers who'd like to charge for transfers from one handset to another, Cellebrite USA of Franklin Lakes, N.J., plans May availability of its Universal Memory Exchanger, said to be the only such device on the market to support 90 percent of U.S. cellphones.

Cellebrite's product offers one-touch phone-to-phone transfer of contacts, pictures, MP3s, videos and pictured and SMS logs. Carriers and retailers usually charge $10 for the service, the company said.

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