Fastap keypad technology showcased in CTIA Keynote

Thursday October 23, 2003

The Fastap keypad - an innovative system that eliminates "triple tapping" by providing an individual button for all numbers and letters required on a mobile phone - made a high-level appearance at the CTIA Wireless IT Show in Las Vegas this week. Tom Wheeler, CEO of the CTIA used a Panasonic GD87 demonstration model that incorporates the Fastap keypad to take live SMS questions from the audience during his keynote address.

Digit Wireless' Fastap technology enhances the SMS experience by allowing mobile phone users to select letters, numbers and basic punctuation with the press of a single button. The layout utilises the empty space between the keys normally found on a conventional pad to incorporate extra buttons, increasing the efficiency of the keypad without increasing its overall area.

"We recognize that better data entry is a 'last-mile' issue for the wireless data community" said Tom Wheeler on the demonstration, "Fastap keypads illustrate major progress towards phone and computer convergence in a phone form factor."

The demonstration used the Panasonic GD87 Fastap demonstrator in cooperation with LogicaCMG's SMS infrastructure.