Motorola plans to make Simon simply better.
**MOTOROLA NEWSCARD PLUGS INTO SIMON’S POTENTIAL
**On Wednesday, the pager manufacturer announced that it will market a pocket-sized device, called a Newscard, that will receive and store as much as 40 pages of electronic mail messages and other data.
The Newscard will work with Simon, a handheld cellular telephone with built-in fax machine and computerized notebook that can send electronic messages. Simon, one of several personal communicators introduced this year, was developed by IBM and will be tested and sold by BellSouth for use on the BellSouth Mobility cellular network. Simon was unveiled at a wireless communications convention near Orlando on Tuesday.
The Newscard works like a computer diskette that can receive information without being connected to a computer. It runs off a common AAA-size battery. Using a paging network - the same system that carries beeper signals - data and electronic messages can be sent to the Newscard.
BellSouth MobileComm plans to offer customers the opportunity to get sports scores fromall in short text that can be received by the Newscard and read by Simon. In addition, the Newscard can receive lengthy electronic mail messages and other computer data.
“This product is aimed toward the mobile professional,” said Jean Coppelbarger, spokeswoman for BellSouth MobileComm. “If you’re an architect, a salesperson, a real estate agent, you name it, you could have a need for information while you’re on the road.”
The Newscard can be plugged into Simon to retrieve the information that has been sent to the Newscard. In addition to being a cellular telephone, Simon operates as a miniature computer, but has little memory of its own.
Other Newscards have been introduced that can be used with the Apple Newton personal communicator and with Casio or Tandy portable computers, which do not have built-in cellular telephones.
All the Newscards will be manufactured at Motorola’s Boynton Beach plant.