At the CTIA Wireless 2001 Convention today, Socket Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCKT; PSE: SOK) demonstrated for the first time a Windows-powered Pocket PC using Socket's Bluetooth wireless plug-in card to print to an Epson Stylus Color 777 printer.
Socket's Personal Network Card is a CompactFlash plug-in card that fits in the expansion slot of Pocket PCs from Casio, Compaq and Hewlett Packard. The Personal Network Card allows Pocket PCs to exchange data wirelessly with a variety of Bluetooth-enabled devices at ranges of up to 30 feet. In the demonstration, the Epson Stylus Color 777 printed a Pocket Word file sent from a Pocket PC to an external Bluetooth transceiver attached to the printer's data port.
"This is the first time that we've shown how Bluetooth can allow standard Pocket PC applications such as Pocket Word to print wirelessly to popular printers like the Epson Stylus Color 777," said John Doub, director of Socket's Bluetooth program. "Instead of the static, line-of-site connectivity of an infrared IrDA port, Bluetooth brings true mobility to cordless printing because it supports omni-directional wireless access, operates at over 10 times the range of IrDA, and enables instant, on-the-fly networking."
"We are excited to be working with Socket to help make Bluetooth-based wireless printing available to people who use Pocket PCs and Epson consumer ink jet printers," said Mitch Kadish, Senior Product Manager, Connectivity and Internet Devices for Epson America. "As Socket has demonstrated, a major benefit of the wireless revolution is that Bluetooth will make it even easier for people on the move to produce hard copy output."
The Bluetooth Personal Network Card is now available to qualified application developers who participate in Socket's Bluetooth Evaluation Program. For information about the evaluation program, visit http://www.socketcom.com/btintro.htm.
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