Sometime around 1991 I was put in touch with a guy in Chicago who had developed an innovative product and was looking for people to help market it. Being in Canada, it was an opportunity to have my own territory if I was interested.
First it is necessary to understand that at this time small portable cellphones didn’t exist for the general public. The only cellular options were built-in car phones, and something called a “bag phone”, which was a fairly bulky and heavy cellphone-and-batteries in a bag.
The product was basically a car phone built into a rugged aluminum briefcase. The large required batteries were under a false bottom in the briefcase, and a charging connector was on the outside of the case. A small metal antenna was mounted on the top of the case, as were some status lights and switches.
So basically this was like a super large and heavy bag phone. Where it differed greatly was that it came with a computer terminal that attached in the case on velcro strips and could communicate through the cellphone. Also available was a portable fax machine that could attach to the same velcro (in place of the terminal).
The target market for the fax machine were professions such as lawyers, real-estate salespeople, etc — anyone who in those days relied heavily on FAX communications. The terminal market was hoped to include all sorts of areas that could use a rugged and portable computer terminal connection — like for example on a construction site, law enforcement, etc.
I liked the concept even if I was unsure if it would take off. So I got a unit (including both the terminal and the fax machine), and tried my hand at marketing it. Again, I re-used the Soft-Touch name. I recall that I did bring it to several businesses for a demonstration, but although they were all impressed, none turned into sales.
One interesting story: Shortly after getting my own unit, I received a support call from the Four Seasons hotel in Chicago. They were experiencing a computer problem and it was affecting their operations so it was considered urgent. Having given them my “cellphone” number, they contacted me on this device. I was driving on the 401 highway in Toronto at the time.
When they heard that I was driving, they figured that they would not be able to have my help until I got to my destination but I told them I would try. I pulled off onto the shoulder of the highway and used the computer terminal to access their system in Chicago via the built-in cellphone. I found and corrected the problem in about 10 minutes, then called them back to let them know. They were astounded! No one else had the capability in those years to do that while on the road.
As innovative as the system was, it was probably a bit ahead of its time. In any case, small portable cellphones were commercially available within about a year, so this went nowhere. Once again, I showed my tendency to jump into something that was a bit too innovative for its time.
The attached photos show the terminal, and also a couple of construction site photos that I took for potential marketing purposes.
