New Service from RadioMail lets Apple Newtons Receive Messages from any E-Mail System
SAN MATEO, Calif. — November 3, 1993 — A new service that allows users of Apple Computer's Newton(TM) personal digital assistants (PDAs) to receive messages sent from any electronic mail system — including the emerging generation of wireless e-mail services — has been introduced by RadioMail Corp.
RadioMail service for pagers is available immediately in the U.S.; the price of $149 per year covers routing of an unlimited number of e-mail messages to pagers. Normal message/equipment charges from paging carriers are extra.
The service works with any Newton unit equipped with a Newton Messaging Card, a credit-card-sized device that plugs into the Newton's PCMCIA slot. Newton Messaging Card, the first of Motorola's family of NewsCard(TM) Advanced Information Receivers(TM), is a custom design specifically for Apple's Newton PDA.
Newton users need not also be subscribers to RadioMail's two-way electronic messaging service to take advantage of the new capability. "With this new service, the growing base of Newton users can receive messages from virtually all e-mail users, including those on wireless e-mail services such as RadioMail," said William Hipp, RadioMail president. "This capability eliminates the need for dedicated paging terminals or for specialized messaging software on the desktop PC."
RadioMail's one-way messaging service for the Newton works by sending messages from a user's native e-mail environment on a desktop or laptop computer (e.g., the Internet, local cc:Mail, public access systems such as AppleLink, MCIMail, Compuserve and America On-Line, or RadioMail wireless e-mail) to the RadioMail gateway. From there the message is transmitted over the nationwide paging network provided by MobileComm(R), a subsidiary of BellSouth Corp., directly to the Newton Messaging Card.
Users register their Newton Messaging Card with RadioMail and are assigned a personalized RadioMail address. By giving correspondents their RadioMail address, Newton Messaging Card users gain the ability to retrieve messages at any time, whether in their offices or on the road.
Alan P. Zabarsky, Motorola Paging Group vice president and director of Interactive Data Systems, said, "RadioMail's new service creates a needed link between paging and the world of telecommunications. This is a key step in making the new generation of PDAs useful wherever you are — at your desk, in a taxi, at a sidewalk cafe or on the beach."
Alain Briancon, MobileComm's executive director of product and service development, said, "We welcome the RadioMail extension to the Apple Wireless Messaging delivered by MobileComm. RadioMail is helping to enable the seamless connectivity from local and public e-mail systems that is critical to the growth of the wireless messaging market."
Hipp said RadioMail is committed to providing two-way messaging service for the Newton and other PDAs beginning in the first half of 1994.
RadioMail Corp. operates a wireless public messaging gateway that provides e-mail and information to intelligent portable computing devices equipped with radio modems. Subscribers are assigned a Radio Mailbox(TM) in RadioMail's computer center, enabling them to send and receive messages over the RAM Mobile Data and ARDIS two-way wireless networks. Subscribers can connect to a wide range of public and private networks, including corporate mail systems such as Lotus cc:Mail, public access systems such as AppleLink, America On-Line, MCI Mail, ATT Mail and Compuserve; and the worldwide Internet and UUCP/USENET service.
Note to Editors: RadioMail is a registered trademark of RadioMail Corporation. All other trademarks belong to their respective companies.
CONTACT:
RadioMail Corp., San Mateo
Ed Forman, 415/286-7800
ed.forman@radiomail.net
or
Ulevich & Orrange Inc.
William Orrange or Janis Ulevich, 415/329-1590
uando@radiomail.net