Wireless PDA keyboard hits the UK
Published: 20 Sep 2002 11:34 BST
Canadian firm Pocketop Computer has brought to the UK its wireless keyboard, which it says will work with almost any PDA that has an infrared port.
You can see a photo of the Pocketop here.
The Pocketop, which first hit stores in North America in March this year, is about half the size of competing products such as the Stowaway keyboard, said David Ferguson, vice president of sales and marketing. Furthermore, unlike the Stowaway, a single Pocketop will work with a range of devices.
"We had an email from one guy who had four Stowaways," said Ferguson. "One for each PDA he owned." Pocketop works with most PDAs that have an infrared port, said Ferguson -- including Handspring Visors, Palms and most Pocket PC devices such as Sony's Clie and HP's iPaq. "It depends on the operating system and there are some devices that have IR ports that we don't work with," said Ferguson. "But the list is pretty comprehensive and drivers are currently being written for the Toshiba e310 and e740. We're now doing the final testing, will be posting those in next week or two."
Screen-rotation software allows Palms and other devices that have the infrared port on the top to be used sideways or even upside down.
Pocketop is also considering producing drivers for mobile phones based on the Symbian operating system, although a decision has not been made yet. Bluetooth is another option being considered, but again there are no specific plans, said Ferguson. "Bluetooth would be very natural and obvious move for us," he said. "Bluetooth will be a core part of the future of mobile computing. Also, we aren't huge believers in converged device. For the majority of consumers the idea of modularity will be the favoured solution. You will have Bluetooth phone, a Bluetooth PDA and a Bluetooth keyboard."
The Pocketop is available from widget.co.uk for £79.99 including VAT.
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