Zoleo Inc. has launched a global messaging and personal safety solution for smartphone users that automatically transitions between satellite, cellular and Wi-Fi connectivity.
According to its manufacturers, the compact messaging device allows users to experience reliable global messaging even when they are outside mobile coverage.
Users connect the device via Bluetooth to a free app on their smartphone or tablet to provide a unique messaging experience that utilises satellite company Iridium’s network of low earth satellites to ensure coverage outside the fringe of terrestrial coverage.
Morris Shawn, president of Zoleo, said that to date, no other company had conquered the ‘killer app’ of mobile communications — messaging.
“Zoleo’s messaging capability reflects a deep integration of capabilities between the user’s smartphone, the Zoleo mobile app, the Zoleo device and a sophisticated back end messaging infrastructure,” he said.
In their release this week, Zoleo emphasised the personal safety implications of the device, allowing users to check-in, access hyper-local weather forecasts, and 24/7 worldwide SOS alerting when venturing off-the-grid. Users also receive a dedicated SMS number that can be shared with contacts that they want to be accessible to.
Michael Capocchi, vice president of Zoleo, said that the product is designed for anyone who lives on the fringe of mobile coverage or who travels out of mobile coverage for work or recreation, extending the user’s smartphone coverage and routing messages over the lowest cost network available.
“These messaging features, along with SOS and GPS location reporting, make the Zoleo messaging experience far more seamless and familiar than anything on the market today,” he said.
The device provides over 200 hours of battery life, carries an IP68 water resistance rating. It is designed to operate in temperatures ranging from -20°C to 55°C and is shock-resistant, dust-resistant.
Zoleo Inc. is a partner company of mobile voice and data communications satellite company Iridium Communications, Inc.
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