British Telecommunications Plc and one of its product suppliers, Taiwan-based manufacturer of electronic consumer products, Inventec Corporation, launched an email and e-commerce telephone today in the UK. The Easicom 1000 has a pull out keyboard and LCD display and allows users to send and receive email, send faxes and access information services through a standard telephone connection with or without an internet service provider. Users will also be able to access an online shopping mall and purchase goods using the phone, a spokesperson told ComputerWire. All the services will be operated by Bizzyline Direct Limited, a company specially set up for the purpose by Inventec.
There are currently only two shops supporting the shopping mall service, AlphabetStreet.com which sells books and AudioStreet.com which sells music – but Project Director of Bizzyline, Amanda Brown, said the company has partnered with Yellow Pages Ltd to sign up more retail outlets. Brown told ComputerWire that many households names would soon be supporting the service and more would follow, resulting in what is described as an evolving shopping facility. Information on the products stocked by participating companies is accessed directly by users along phone lines, bypassing the net. We are not trying to create a parallel web, says Brown, the direct delivery of graphics-free content just makes downloading much faster.
The phone is being sold with five email accounts for those users without an existing account or ISP. But those with an account will be able to collect their mail provided their ISP runs a POP3 server and allows access to it. Bizzyline, effectively setting themselves up as an ISP, will copy users’ email from their provider’s server and deliver it to the Easicom phone.
The phone is available in UK outlets today, retailing at 180 pounds. The ‘pay-as-you-go’ system is charged at 25 pence a minute for email services and at local dialing rates for information and shopping services, with no monthly subscription. There are no current plans to deliver the product outside the UK, but the possibility was not ruled out.
Brown would not reveal how Bizzyline is going to make money providing consumers services free of subscription and with no share of BT’s call charges. Revenues from advertising were ruled out by Brown, but assured ComputerWire that the company has a profitable and sustainable business strategy. With shops and other retail outlets signing up for space in the ‘virtual mall’, perhaps Bisyline are guaranteed income from ‘virtual rent’.
