March 18, 2003
Airtexting
The Wall Street Journal, reporting fromCeBIT, describes a phone called Kurv, made by Kyocera Wireless Corp, targeted to teenagers and which should launch second half of 2003. In addition to featuring a color display, integrated camera, MP3 player, FM radio and a multimedia-messaging platform that resembles PC-based instant messaging, it can also airtext.
The company believes airtexting will be one of it's most popular features, especialy in night clubs. To airtext, you type in a text like 'call me' then wave it back and forth in the air. As the phone moves, a row of blinking red lights along the top of the phone leaves the phrase trailing behind it. Very cool.
For more insight into what the youth market goes for, read this interesting study published last May in The Shifted Librarian, where teenagers say what they want from a cellphone, ranging from the concrete (music, messaging and games) to the abstract (style, personality and individuality). Wildseed actually tested airtexting which was a big hit. However, a cellphone that used Morse Code Messaging, only drew blank stares. Just for the record, I once ran into a British website offering morse code ringtones, and oddly also a «silent» ringtone. I'm not quite sure who would pay for that... for more on this company's very original set of tones, click on ringtonia.com
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