New Brand Looks To Put Color In Cordless

North Kingstown, R.I. — The fiercely competitive cordless phone market will get even more crowded in 2005 as a new company, Comtrek Technology, announced its entry last month.

The company is run by Robert Giordano, a former GE executive who ran the company's entry into the telecom business and is now Comtrek CEO. The new cordless competitor will initially target the sub $50 price point “gift market” with a series of 2.4GHz analog cordless phones with color LCD screens, Giordano said.

The line, which will initially consist of four phones shipping to dealers in the fourth quarter, will be the first cordless models to hit such price points while offering a color LCD.

Giordano noted that the company will look to distinguish itself from the field with the inexpensive color screen and a “high value” industrial design.

The first products will be shipped only to “major dealers who contributed to the [Comtrek] strategy and the final product offering,” Giordano said.

The products include the CT4250, which features a 1.4-inch color LCD with a resolution of 98 by 67 lines. It offers a selection of five wallpapers, 10 caller ID logs, three ringtones, 20 phonebook entries and channel selection.

The phone also features a low battery alert, headset jack, belt clip and a talktime of five hours with a standby time of five days. It is wall-mountable.

The CT4450 will build off the 4250 by bundling an extra handset.

The CT4650 features a color LCD with five wallpapers and 10 caller ID logs, three ringtones and 20 phone book entries. It offers a digital answering machine in the base station with 15 minutes of recording time and two minutes worth of programmable out-going message time. The answering machine also offers a programmable security code.

Users can remotely access the answering machine through a cordless handset.

The CT4850 builds off the CT4650 by packaging a second handset in the box.

According to Giordano, the company will also bring to market a line of 5.8GHz digital phones with a 1.5-inch color LCD display.

Future developments call for the introduction DECT technology “as an evolutionary replacement for 5.8GHz, which is collapsing in price close to 2.4GHz,” Giordano said.

Future products will also retail above $50, he added.

Additionally, Giordano said the company would look to “merge mobile and home applications” alongside products designed “for specific uses, such as a kitchen phone.”