Digital Ocean Wins First Place Appy Award for Best New Hardware Company, Announces Continued Support of Newton Platform
LENEXA, Kan. — October 28, 1996 — Demonstrating its continued innovative use of the Newton platform, Digital Ocean received the first place Appy Award for Best New Hardware at the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association's (CTIA) Wireless APPs '96 conference earlier this month. The award, one of only four presented by CTIA, was given to Digital Ocean for its integration of CDPD, circuit switched and cellular voice communications into its Newton OS based Seahorse handheld computer.
Seahorse's demonstrations at CTIA included high-speed, real-time connection to Dallas-based American Airline's Sabre information systems, where schedules and other up-to-the-minute flight information were accessed. The practicality of such real-world applications caught the attention of CTIA officials, who judged entrants on the most innovative uses of wireless technology for providing service to customers, improving business productivity and efficiency, and advancing community benefits.
Seahorse's plug-in headset enables it to function as a cellular phone, fully capable of sending and receiving phone calls. This makes Seahorse the only single-unit, pen-based device capable of both Internet browsing and placing a cellular phone call presently available in the handheld marketplace. Important business functions like fax and email transmissions are also fully supported. Information access is at data rates of up to 19.2 Kbps.
Building on its ongoing support of Apple's Newton platform, Digital Ocean recently announced its intention to use the MessagePad 2000 as a platform to create a complete product solution for its target markets. "With 160 MHz StrongARM processing power and seamless data sharing with Mac OS and Windows- based computers, MessagePad 2000 is the ideal platform for Digital Ocean's wireless solutions," Digital Ocean president Jeff Alholm said. "We look forward to working with Apple in conjunction with the release of MessagePad 2000."
MessagePad 2000 will be an integral part of Digital Ocean's continued targeting of major industries and applications including transportation, public safety, field sales and service, airline ticketing, and baggage handling, precision farming chemical deployment, public utility and police NCIC information retrieval. The availability of Digital Ocean's product line based on MessagePad 2000 has not yet been announced.
Seahorse is Digital Ocean's latest creation in a line of Apple-based products. Its combination of CDPD with the award-winning Newton platform allows immediate use of an inexpensive, high-speed wireless data network available for users in most metropolitan areas nationwide. For areas where CDPD coverage is not readily available, Seahorse's modem also supports circuit-switched cellular, allowing you to dial into an Internet service provider using existing cellular voice channels.
Seahorse will ship with CDPD, circuit-switched and cellular voice in Q4 and list for U.S. $3,295. Future models will be available with integrated CDPD (without voice or circuit-switched cellular), GSM, or WLAN to support an even greater number of applications and provide a higher degree of flexibility. Seahorse will also be available with a number of optional modular attachments such as magnetic card readers, laser scanners, diffuse IR, GPS, or smartcard readers.
Digital Ocean is a leading state-of-the-art developer and manufacturer of mobility-based products. Founded with the goal of transforming mobile work by combining wireless data services with handheld and portable computers, Digital Ocean produces a family of pen-based computers that offer a variety of communication options for in-building and remote applications. Digital Ocean also produces a family of wireless LAN devices for the entire line of Apple's desktop, portable, and pen-based devices. The company has numerous patents granted and pending for its development of wireless technologies. Digital Ocean is a Newton licensee based in Lenexa, Kansas.
Note: Apple, MessagePad, and Newton are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Digital Ocean and Seahorse are trademarks or registered trademarks of Digital Ocean, Inc.
SOURCE: Apple Computer, Inc.
CONTACT:
Maurissa Frost of S & S Public Relations, Inc., 847-291-1616, ext. 286 or email: [email protected];
or
Dale Marie Urie, Ph.D., of Digital Ocean, Inc., 913-888-3380 or email: [email protected]