Amstrad launches email phone

Amstrad today unveiled a telephone with email and fax capability, developed in conjunction with BT.

The e-m@iler personal communication centre, priced at £79.99, enables users to send and receive email, send a fax and store contacts' numbers and email addresses. Each email session will cost users 12 pence plus local call charges.

Amstrad chairman Sir Alan Sugar said the company hopes to sell more one million units to UK homes during the next two years, making the "kind of penetration that BSkyB has done with satellite receivers".

The e-m@iler, which has a back-lit LCD screen and pop-out keyboard, features a digital answering machine and an address book databank that can store up to 700 names. All contact details can be transferred to and from a portable address book called the Pocket Dock-it.

Sugar said the phone's low price will be subsidised through the sale of advertisements on the device's screen. The phone can download adverts during off-peak hours and display them to the user at a later date.

The 12-pence charge will apply for receiving multiple emails in one session. But the cost could mount up for sending separate emails throughout the day.

The device - which will be sold by Amstrad's new subsidiary, Amserve - will be available from Wednesday in Dixons stores. There will be 500 units available in each store for the next three months. Bulk shipping will follow.

Despite the current trend for interactive services through the television, Sugar said he does not believe TV based email will catch on. He said email could be brought to the masses only through a standalone device.

"The Amstrad e-m@iler will increase email penetration closer to US levels due to its price and performance," said Sugar. "Most people don't know how or don't want to use a PC. The e-m@iler is easy to use, as long as you've two fingers you can send email."