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World's First Disposable Cell Phone Makes Its Debut
July 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Hop-On Wireless' disposable cellular
phone rang off the walls at the National Association of Chain Drug Stores
Convention at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The innovative,
technologically advanced device, the first of its kind, attracted major buyers
from the country's top mass-market retailers.
Martin Weiner, Hop-On's Vice-President of Marketing and Sales, estimates
that in excess of 27,000 stores will stock the Hop-On cellular phone. The
phone is now in production and will be shipped in mid-September/October.
The manufacturer, Hop-On Wireless, a division of Hop-on.com, Inc. (OTC: HPON) expects its $30-wallet size phone to become the next "grand slam" home run in the fast-growing world of disposables. It comes with an earpiece, especially appealing to consumers in New York State, where hand holding a cell phone while driving has just been outlawed. Jon Van of the Chicago Tribune reported that the cell phones and similar instruments combined have caused the public pay phones to be less profitable causing an increase charge to $.50. The current initial $.35 charge gives the caller 3 minutes and $.25 for the next 3 minutes and on and on. The Hop-On Wireless phone, made of environmentally friendly, biodegradable plastic, offers 60 minutes of out-bound, domestic phone time. For emergencies, it's especially handy. When kids go back to school, parents can pack it in their backpacks, along with lunch and schoolbooks, in case of an emergency. Drug store chains and convenience stores will be a major outlet, analysts predict. In the near future, features such as incoming and international capabilities, prepaid plans, Internet access for sports scores, weather reports, stock quotes and other business data to be added to this recyclable, voice activated, digital disposable phone. Hop-On Wireless is working on an international edition coming soon at major airports. Much like picking up a magazine at an airport newsstand, you'll soon be able to grab a phone for your trip, to wherever, across the globe. "Today's market for disposable cell phones is a $5 billion industry," says Peter Michaels, Chief Executive Officer of Hop-On Wireless. "It could easily grow to $11 billion," he says. According to the FCC, the cellular phone sector earned revenues of more than $52.5 billion last year, up from more than $40 billion in 1999 while the number of subscribers soared more than 27 percent to 109.5 million in 2000, representing 39 percent of Americans having a mobile phone, the June 20th report said. According to The Yankee Group, a Cambridge, Mass., based market research firm, a continuing upsurge in wireless subscribers to a projected 1.26 billion in 2005, will have a global wireless penetration rate of nearly 20 percent. To visit the website, log on to www.hop-onwireless.com. MAKE YOUR OPINION COUNT - Click Here SOURCE Hop-On Wireless [] 
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