Nokia Unveils World’s First All-In-One Communicator For The Americas

PCS1900 version of the revolutionary Nokia 9000 Communicator to hit the market in 1997

(September 19, 1996)

Nokia today announced the introduction of the PCS1900 version of the Nokia 9000 Communicator at PCS ‘96 in San Francisco. The revolutionary Nokia 9000 Communicator combines digital voice and data services and personal organizer functions into a single, small-sized and easy-to-use unit. The Nokia 9000 will be available in volume in the U.S., Canada and Latin America in the second half of 1997.

In addition to voice calls, the Nokia 9000 Communicator enables users to send and receive faxes, e-mail and short messages as well as access Internet services and corporate and public databases. The new product also provides users with organization functions such as electronic calendar, address book, notepad and calculator.

The initial launch of the Nokia 9000 Communicator at the CeBit trade fair in Hannover, Germany, last March caused a stir in the media, among potential customers as well as service and software companies all over the world. This response, along with the industry demand seen since the GSM version began shipping August 15, shows that there is a great need for this kind of integrated communications device.

“Digital cellular technology and the quality of networks have matured to a stage where Nokia sees a great opportunity to take a giant leap towards the wireless pocketable office for mobile subscribers in the Americas,” said K-P Wilska, President of Nokia Inc. “In addition, there has been considerable interest from companies who wish to optimize the Nokia 9000 to serve their specific customer needs,” added Wilska.

The operating system platform provides an open development environment so customers will be able to add new innovative functionality as it becomes available from service providers, software developers and Nokia. The operating system platform, called GEOS, was developed by Geoworks, who with Intel collaborated on the development of the Nokia 9000. Intel supplied the 24 MHz, 386 processor and flash memory used in the product.

Nokia was the first manufacturer to supply digital wireless data cards to connect laptop computers and wireless phones for wireless data transmission. The introduction of the Nokia 9000 is a major step for Nokia and the industry in the area of mobile data products and demonstrates Nokia’s continued leadership in wireless data communications.