A Russian handheld computer is sweeping the American market, and should reach the UK before Christmas. But this is only the first part of a plan for world domination. The Cybiko "inter-tainment computer" may be aimed at teenagers, but an adult version is planned. Palm may not know, but it faces a stiff challenge.
The Cybiko is a small, cheap ($99.95), plastic handheld computer: its looks give no indication of its potential impact. Its real power only emerges when you flip up the aerial on the back and find yourself in immediate contact with up to 99 more Cybiko users. The handheld's built-in two-way radio makes it a digital walkie-talkie. You can swap text messages with other users, and play games.
Since it is based on short-range radio, text messaging is instant and free. That makes the Cybiko much more attractive than a mobile phone.
Games are free, too. Cybiko Inc puts a new game on the web every day, and there are already more than 200. If you have a PC, you can download games and copy them to your Cybiko. If you don't have a PC, you can get someone else with a Cybiko to send them to you using the built-in radio.
While a Cybiko is connected to a PC, it can also pick up electronic mail, although it is clearly not practical unless the handheld also has a $19.95 memory module plugged into the expansion slot on the back. Other plug-ins on the way include an MP3 player, an FM radio, a GSM phone, and a wireless modem.
The Cybiko was developed in Moscow by Cybiko Inc, which was founded in 1999 by a young Chinese-Armenian, David Yang. He was already running a successful software company, Abbyy, which develops artificial intelligence products. He came up with the Cybiko when stuck in hospital, he says, "and for the first time in my life, I had nothing to do."
Yang researched the idea in six countries including the UK. "Originally, we were targeting people about 20-30 years old," Yang says, "but we found the highest interest was in the 13-17 range. We decided to go for that market because it is huge - 200m kids - and they don't have anything today. I invested my own money, my father invested, my company invested_" Today, Cybiko Inc also has investment backing from Sun Technology and its subsidiary, Vesta Capital Partners, which are owned mainly by the Khemka family, from India. America Online's AOL Investments is another backer, and AOL will provide Cybiko with access to its proprietary instant messaging systems.
With Cybiko computers being made in Taiwan for the US market, the Russian company is already operating globally, though the software and hardware development is still done in Moscow.
The Cybiko is now spreading across the US like influenza. Launched in April,"full-scale commercial sales" began in September with a shipment of 42,000 units. That has now climbed to 500,000.
The growth pattern follows from the Cybiko's limited range, which in the US is only 50-100m indoors, and 100-200m out of doors. If you have the only Cybiko for miles around, its uses are limited. However, once a few people have them, there is a strong incentive for their friends to get them as well. And as with mobile phones, once critical mass is reached, almost everyone has to have one.
The free chat facilities and continuous supply of free games could make the Cybiko a "must have" accessory for teenagers in many schools.
Better still, the Cybiko also has the ability to "hop" signals. Two Cybiko owners can thus communicate via a series of intermediate machines, owned by other people, in a peer-to-peer network. Yang says: "It will be able to go over up to 10 hops. In big markets, we already have enough density to cover the whole of Manhattan."
In Europe, things should be better still. Yang says the European system will use a different radio frequency, and local laws allow more power. This will give Cybikos a range of up to 1km outdoors.
"For the adult market, we have different usage scenarios," he says. The Cybiko already synchronises with Microsoft Outlook 2000, and the new hardware will be more like an organiser than a games machine. "And," says Yang, "not only will we provide Cybiko computers, we will also provide cartridges for Palms and PocketPCs like the [Compaq] iPaq." Rival devices will thus be absorbed into Cybiko networks.
Cybiko Inc also offers "a wireless internet gateway to connect [handhelds] to the local network in your office," he says. "When you are walking across the car park, or going up in the elevator, you will already be reading your email and checking your messages." The CyWIG software - which is free and runs on a PC - is also being tested in shopping malls in America. (See www.cybiko.com/download/application/cwig.asp).
The fact that Cybiko communications are free is a big incentive for companies to use the system. Yang says people don't want to pay $30 or $40 a month to a mobile phone or pager company for connectivity in their own homes and offices.
Of course, many companies are already planning to install systems that perform the same functions as the Cybiko, using Bluetooth and standard Wi-Fi wireless networking (see www.wi-fi.org).
Yang says: "The second generation Cybiko will be Bluetooth-compatible, but Bluetooth has several disadvantages for us: the range is only 10m, and it does not do peer-to-peer networking." Basically, he thinks Bluetooth devices will add to the appeal of Cybiko networks, not replace them.
Wi-Fi wireless networking offers more serious competition but Yang says it has the disadvantage of requiring a base station. Also, wireless networking with handheld computers such as Palms and PocketPCs is more expensive than with Cybiko's proprietary system, which is already available in a device that costs less than $100.
Yang says Cybiko Inc considered using an existing operating system before writing its own. However, Palm OS was not up to the job, which required multi-tasking and multi-processing, while Microsoft's Windows CE, used in PocketPCs, needed too much expensive memory. Cybiko's operating system has a 30K core and the whole thing only takes up 70K.
Bluetooth is the agreed standard for personal area networking: it is expected to become ubiquitous once it has been reduced to a single cheap chip and the software drivers are included in things like Windows. Wi-Fi is the agreed standard for wireless local area networks, and for connecting PCs and handhelds to internet networks: it could become ubiquitous by the same route.
But the Cybiko is hard to resist, and at the price, it should sell by the shed-load. Whether the system will still be around in 10 years is another matter, but it will be fun while it lasts.
