Made-in-Singapore handset will make its debut at the PC Show starting today
By
Serene Luo
Mr Lau, director of Foresight Technologies, showing of his firm's elderly- and kid-friendly cellphone. He is hoping that the $78 iNo Mobile, 100,000 units of which have been sold worldwide, will put his company on the local technology map as well. -- ST PHOTO: TERENCE TAN
A SIMPLE-TO-USE cellphone, targeted at the elderly and children, looks set to be the potential star of the PC Show.
The phone's maker, Foresight Technologies, a Singapore company, will be making its debut at the electronics fair, which starts today.
Unlike most current mobile phones that have tiny, dinky buttons, the iNo Mobile has buttons at least three times bigger, so the elderly can press them easily, as well as a torch.
There is a special SOS button on the back of the handset so that if an elderly person gets into trouble, pressing the single button will send emergency calls and text messages to four pre-programmed numbers.
And when the button is released, the phone will also sound a siren to attract attention.
The company's director, Mr Kenneth Lau, wants to 'aggressively increase awareness' of the $78 phone at this year's show.
Organisers expect more than one million people to stream through the doors over its four days.
The PC Show is the second major electronics fair here, following one in March. Two others are also usually held in September and December respectively.
More than 600 exhibitors, including familiar international names such as Epson, Apple and Lenovo, have taken booths at the Suntec City event, which has promotions on anything from pocket-sized projectors to home theatre systems and global positioning devices.
About 1.1 million people visited the same show last year, spending more than $51.7 million in total.
Read the full story in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times.
