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Start-up offers fingerprint cellphone touchpad
 

Reuters, 21 February 2004
 

LOS ANGELES, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Atrua Technologies, a start-up backed by some of the top names in technology and telecommunications, on Saturday unveiled its first product, a cellphone touchpad with built-in fingerprint recognition as a security feature.

Atrua, funded by the venture capital arms of Ericsson <ERICb.ST>, Nokia <NOK1V.HE> and Intel Corp. (nasdaq: INTC - news - people), said its "Atrua Wings" product worked like the touchpad on many laptops, allowing users to scroll through menus and choose items with the touch of a finger.

The same sensor, Atrua said, also acts as a fingerprint reader, increasing the security of wireless transactions and simplifying the sign-in process on secure Web sites.

"It's basically replacing the navigation button and providing an intelligent, touch-based solution for access navigation and control of the phone," Marc Ostrowski, director of marketing for Atrua, told Reuters.

The company said manufacturing of its product would begin in the second quarter and phones with the Wings technology built in will be on the market by year-end. Ostrowski declined to name partners but said Atrua had confirmed deals with phone makers for 2004 models.

Atrua, founded in 2000 in Silicon Valley, said it has already filed for 11 patents on the technology.

Besides navigation and security features, the company is also pitching its technology as a better way to play games on phones and as a way to increase revenue for carriers.

"The biggest issue right now is network operators in mature markets ... they've reached a point of saturation," said Anthony Gioeli, chief executive of Atrua. "They're not growing by adding that many new subscribers."

Copyright 2004, Reuters News Service