While LeapFrog will keep its focus on kids and educational toys, Anoto aims to expand the Pentop Computer business into other areas for adults and corporate use, including new Internet capabilities.
For e-commerce, such as ordering flowers, a pen owner would register for a Pentop account and provide a credit-card number and a list of preferred suppliers of goods and services.
Once this is done, orders can be made online by using the pen to jot down what you want on the custom paper. The pen sends the information, using wireless, Bluetooth technology to communicate through a cell phone or over the Internet via a connected cradle.
Anoto is also working on other applications such as scheduling. For example, writing down an appointment will cause the pen to respond with an alarm when it's time for the meeting and a voice telling what the meeting's about. The alarm can also be used to remind people to take medicine.
Logitech International, a Swiss company, licensed the same technology for an earlier version of a digital pen, but that pen offered only one-way communication. The new Pentop Computer goes a step further by allowing the user to get an immediate response and then act upon the information.
"This is ultimately a billion-dollar industry, built on a platform that is already a success. We turn every page in your notebook into a Web page and any service you can do online,'' said Jim Marggraff, a former executive vice president of LeapFrog who recently was appointed chief executive of Anoto's U.S. subsidiary in Oakland.
In December, Anoto raised $20 million for the development of this new product line. Since it was formed in 1999, investors have put $200 million into the company.
Merrill Lynch analyst Lauren Rich Fine said in a report that although sales of the Fly Pentop Computer is off a good start, she has concerns about the long term potential. She put the Fly in the category of an "expensive toy bought but not used for long."
But Marggraff has high hopes for the future of the Pentop Computer.
"I think everyone in the future will have a communication device, a writing utensil and a pad," he said. "While the tech world's focus is screen-based, we focus on paper."
flypen
For e-commerce, such as ordering flowers, a pen owner would register for a Pentop account and provide a credit-card number and a list of preferred suppliers of goods and services.
Once this is done, orders can be made online by using the pen to jot down what you want on the custom paper. The pen sends the information, using wireless, Bluetooth technology to communicate through a cell phone or over the Internet via a connected cradle.
Anoto is also working on other applications such as scheduling. For example, writing down an appointment will cause the pen to respond with an alarm when it's time for the meeting and a voice telling what the meeting's about. The alarm can also be used to remind people to take medicine.
Logitech International, a Swiss company, licensed the same technology for an earlier version of a digital pen, but that pen offered only one-way communication. The new Pentop Computer goes a step further by allowing the user to get an immediate response and then act upon the information.
"This is ultimately a billion-dollar industry, built on a platform that is already a success. We turn every page in your notebook into a Web page and any service you can do online,'' said Jim Marggraff, a former executive vice president of LeapFrog who recently was appointed chief executive of Anoto's U.S. subsidiary in Oakland.
In December, Anoto raised $20 million for the development of this new product line. Since it was formed in 1999, investors have put $200 million into the company.
Merrill Lynch analyst Lauren Rich Fine said in a report that although sales of the Fly Pentop Computer is off a good start, she has concerns about the long term potential. She put the Fly in the category of an "expensive toy bought but not used for long."
But Marggraff has high hopes for the future of the Pentop Computer.
"I think everyone in the future will have a communication device, a writing utensil and a pad," he said. "While the tech world's focus is screen-based, we focus on paper."
flypen
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