Comdex: Mobile and wireless previews

From...

By Bob Brewin

(IDG) -- In a preview for journalists of mobile and wireless products at Comdex Fall 2001, Tokyo-based Ricoh has showcased a new product that combines a wireless LAN and a digital camera in one package.

Aimed directly at enterprise markets, the new Internet Mobile Observation Equipment (iMove) combines an RDC-1700 digital camera with a hand-size wireless 802.11x card capable of transmitting moving images at the rate of 10 frames per second over the Internet, according to Jeff Lengyel, marketing manager of the digital camera division at the company's United States division in San Bernardino, California.

Lengyel says that the iMove, which sells for $2,500, could also transmit still images at a three-megapixel resolution.

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Target markets for the iMove include the transportation industry and construction industry, where the new product allows off-site supervisors to observe the progress of remote jobs. According to Lengyel, one corporate customer, which he declines to identify, is already using the equipment to remotely inspect "suspicious" cargo.

Other vertical industries targeted by Ricoh for the iMove include security, remote monitoring and insurance -- for real-time damage assessment by remote claims adjusters. Ricoh is also targeting the health care industry, where the new product can be used for patient monitoring and medical education.

Each camera has its own Internet protocol (IP) address and can operate over the industry standard 802.11b as well as newer and faster (54M bit/sec. vs. 11M bit/sec.) wireless LAN protocols. The iMove system is definitely an enterprise and not a consumer product, says Lengyel. "We will not sell this into the consumer market."

Microsoft used the Comdex preview to highlight a growing line of Pocket PC products available from a number of manufacturers, including a new version to be introduced by Tokyo-based NEC. Ed Suwanjindar, Pocket PC product manager for Microsoft's mobility group, calls the new NEC handheld "very enterprise-focused," with built-in scan-disk utility, secure digital storage options and an ability to handle a number of add-on wireless options.

The new NEC offering comes in a $599 package that's almost indistinguishable from similar models produced by Compaq Computer, whose version of the Pocket PC has become a corporate favorite.

Waterloo, Ontario-based Research in Motion displayed a version of its popular BlackBerry device that complies with the European Global Service for Mobile Communications (GSM) standard. Mark Guibert, Research in Motion vice president for mobile, says the company plans to introduce similar products for GSM carriers in the U.S. market, including Bellevue, Washington-based VoiceStream Wireless.

Research in Motion announced a business relationship with VoiceStream last week that Guibert says "will lead to the introduction of a product.''

Dell Computer used the press preview to introduce what spokeswoman Anne Camden calls the "most powerful, under-four-pound'' notebook computer on the market. The Dell Latitude C400 packs a 1.2-GHz Intel mobile Pentium II into a 3.6-pound notebook that incorporates a built-in wireless LAN antenna.

A fully loaded C400 featuring the 1.2-GHz processor will sell for $2,299, Camden says.