Philips Electronics NV yesterday announced a modem for its Compact Disk-Interactive system so that the thing can be used for home shopping and professional sales applications; the TeleCD, due to be launched in Europe this summer, incorporates a modem into existing CD-I players, opening links to live databases and creating an electronic catalogue where consumers can buy products – one idea is that retailers should put their catalogues on compact disk so that users can identify items in the catalogue and automatically place their orders over the phone; Philips also told Reuter that the CD-I system was selling better than expected after a very good Christmas season, and did not dispute estimates that 70,000 to 80,000 players have been sold worldwide in just over a year, half in the US where it launched in October 1991.
