EarthVision Newsletter Archive Sent: Wednesday, July 28, 1999 Subject: EarthVision Cellular News! Be sure to keep a watch for our "special" offers coming on a frequent basis. We are looking forward to serving you! The rumors are true about Sony pulling out of the North American marketplace. Sony announced it will no longer serve markets here and has called off it's production of cellular phones in the US. They pulled out due to a number of defective products and product delays. You will probably find that a number of dealers will no longer stock discontinued phone products. Don't be surprised if the Sony products are dropped off dealer's product lists real quick. As is the practice of EarthVision Cellular, we will continue to carry products even for the obsolete phones. We carry them for the Murata, so we will carry the products for the Sony phones too. If it works for you, it works for us. In 1987, there were only 1 Million subscribers to cellular service. Currently there are 76.3 Million cellular phone users in the United States and growing daily. Market trends show cellular service subcriber totals doubling about every 5 years. 1999 marks the 16th year that cellular phone service has been available. The first cellular phone available was the DynaTac 8000x weighing in at 2 pounds with a price tag of $3,995 each. Prepaid Cellular is expected to double in its use over the next 3 years. Currently prepaid cellular is expected to make as much as 5% of a carriers overall revenue. Which is a hefty sum considering the growth in the number of cellular phone users. New & Longer lasting batteries! A company called Enrev is working on a new technology for the charging system in a battery. Standard Li-Ion batteries charge in about 3 to 6 hours and last about 300 cycles. The new technology should improve the charging rate to 90 minutes and give a whopping 1800 cycles per battery! Good news for the consumer. A boo hoo for us cellular phone product companies. American Electric Power goes Wireless? They are now implementing a test of using wireless meters for reading electric usage! The meters will automatically transmit a signal to the electic company upon command. So if you dog is hungry, better direct him to the postman since he will be bringing the bill. The meterperson may become obsolete! For those of you of whom are wildlife friendly, or just want to know how to do CPR on your cat or dog, visit this site: www.wildlifetracker.com and take a look! They became an affiliate of ours and they also donate all proceeds to charity. CPR on a cat coughing up a hairball is not recommended! A side note: We are currently setting up to offer our customers replacement phones for lost or stolen cellular phones. We know that some customers have stated waiting for long periods of time to get a new phone. We have also heard that if they buy a used phone it comes "as is", or with a 30 to 90 day warranty. We will offer fast delivery of phones if available for the model you are seeking. In addition, refurbished phones (used & rebuilt) will come with a 6 month warranty! If you or anyone you know is interested, send them our way. We will get them a good price along with quality customer service. Tell your friends about our newsletter. We will continue to keep you updated with current happenings on the cellular phone market that may affect you as a consumer. And a few interesting tid bits here and there. Back