Cell Phone Handset Company Founded By Apple Exec Gets First RolloutCell Phone Handset Company Founded By Apple Exec Gets First Rollout

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Digit Wireless Inc., the keypad design company founded by former Apple Computer executive David Levy, has won its first U.S. rollout of the Fastap keypad, which uses a two-tiered key input design to offer alphabet keys in an overlay design alongside traditional numeric keys for handsets.

LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company, which offered the AX490 camera-phone through Telus in Canada, has signed a pact with Alltel Inc. to offer the phone in all of Alltel's 39 states. Mark Connon, CEO of Digit Wireless, said that while Alltel's Blackberry networks are aimed at enterprise business users, the LG AX490 phones will be marketed to a wealth of consumers as a full-featured $59 phone.

Fastap uses two physical tiers of keys to allow for dedicated text messaging in a handset, without requiring the type of special I/O substrate used in manufacture of PDAs or other handheld devices with full QWERTY-style alphanumeric keypads. Consequently, Connon said, it will be easy for other handset manufacturers to move to a Fastap input form factor without serious disruptions to manufacturing lines.

The LG AX490 phone features a Bluetooth port, a VGA camera with flash, and dual speakers. Wireless operators can configure some of the "hotkey" features of the keypad for special audio and image management functions. The LG phone is a CDMA-based handset, but Connon said that Digit Wireless will soon integrate its input technology with phones from all air-interface camps, in all global regional markets.