NEW YORK -- Motorola Inc. Tuesday introduced its two-ounce Wrist Watch Pager, a technology breakthrough that the electronics manufacturer is banking on to create a new consumer market.
The pager, which looks like a large watch and displays usual digital watch functions including an alarm, can store up to eight messages and is compatible with all the existing paging systems in the United States.
The Wrist Watch Pager officially enters the U.S. market Aug. 1 and will sell through mobile communications operators at a suggested retail price of 'less than $300,' said the Schaumburg, Ill., company.
'Combining both pager and wrist watch functions, it is a marvel of miniaturization that will make paging more convenient for millions of current and news users,' said Senior Vice President Morton Topfer.
Motorola also signed an agreement with Timex Group Ltd., the leading U.S. watch distributor, to sell the Wrist Watch Pager within two years -- a bid to bring pagers beyond the corporate realm and into everyday's life.
'Right now, we know that personal use of paging is not as common as its business use,' said Jerry Leonard, general manager of Motorola's paging division. 'The need to stay in touch is important to people on the go in all walks of life.'
By presenting a pager which resembles a common wrist watch, Motorola hopes to substantially increase its market share of the potentially huge business.
'The Wrist Watch Pager may have the potential to shift paging to a consumer demand market,' Leonard said.
Motorola executives said there are 9 million pagers in operation in the United States today -- the world's largest market -- while 150 million watches were sold in the country every year.
According to preliminary tests, the pager was very well received by parents, a group that could be easily reached by their children or the baby-sitter. Other users said the watch display was particularly handy when paged while driving.
The pager's very small dimensions -- 2.5 inch by 1.7 inch by 0.51 inch -- and its tiny circuits require precision assembling. The device is produced by robots at a fully automated plant in Boynton Beach, Fla.
'Through robotic assembly, we also hope to attain Six Sigma Quality -- or not more than 3.4 defects per million parts produced -- during the product's lifetime,' Motorola executives said.
The Wrist Watch Pager is protected by 11 Motorola patents, operates on an advanced chip or microprocessor decoder, several proprietary integrated circuits and a new multi-directional antenna.
Unlike other pagers, which usually need to operate in a vertical position, the Wrist Watch Pager is multi-directional and functions regardless of the position of the user's wrist. The device has two antennas, one on the side of the face, the other in the wristband itself.
The Wrist Watch Pager is powered by a small battery which can provide 45 days of continuous use, Motorola said.
The pager beeps like a normal unit but can be muted and store up to eight messages. A recall function allows the user to review calls received throughout the day.
If granted local regulatory approval, the watch pager will be introduced in Canada, Britain, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan by the end of the year, Motorola executives said.
