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Wristwatch Phone Proves Popular

Entire inventory sold out in 20 minutes, Japanese company says.

Martyn Williams, IDG News Service

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NTT DoCoMo put its recently announced wristwatch telephone on sale for the first time on Wednesday and the gadget proved to be a hot item.

The phone went on sale via NTT DoCoMo's Web site on Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. at a cost $318 including an accessory pack. The company sold 1,000 of the Wristomo devices, which is all of the initial batch it was offering for sale, in less than 20 minutes, said Masafumi Sera, a spokesperson for the Tokyo mobile operator.

The Wristomo looks like a thick digital watch with matching thick strap that clips around the user's wrist. When in use the strap unclips and folds out to be almost straight and then the watch is held to the face like a conventional cellular telephone. The earphone is at one end of the strap and the microphone at the other end.

Device Details

Designed to work on Japan's PHS (Personal Handyphone System) network, the watch is made by Seiko Instruments and features a small LCD through which some wireless Internet content and e-mail can also be accessed. It measures 6.8 inches by 1.6 inches by .7 inches and weighs 3.9 ounces, said the company. Talk time is 120 minutes and standby time is around 200 hours.

It's the first wristwatch telephone to be sold by NTT DoCoMo but not the first prototype shown by the carrier. A similar device was developed for use by officials during the Nagano Winter Olympic Games in 1998 although it never got to the commercialization stage. Other companies have also displayed similar products including Motorola and Samsung Electronics, which said it plans to begin selling a wristwatch phone during 2003.

When NTT DoCoMo first announced plans to sell the Wristomo it said it hopes to sell a few thousand units of the device and take feedback from users for use in possible future products. NTT DoCoMo plans to put another 1,000 of the Wristomo phones on sale via the Web on May 15 at 10 a.m.

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