THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 3, 1994 TAG: 9409030477
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMES SCHULTZ, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 105 lines
You can pick one in bimini blue, or maybe you're in the mood for vibra pink. There's one in teal green and another that's purple. Can't decide? You can still go with basic black.
When you finally buy that pager, it won't just be an eye-grabbing accessory. It could be your lifeline to the outside world; it might even elbow aside your house telephone.
``A pager is the cheapest form of communication. It's cheaper than a home phone,'' claimed Jeff Anderson, marketing director for Atlantic Cellular Services in Virginia Beach. ``Pagers is the fastest growing segment of our business. `Generation X' is your big consumer right now - kids 18 to 29 years old.''
With pager in hand, Generation Xers - sometimes working two jobs, always strapped for time and cash - can forego monthly phone charges. Using a pay phone to return a call costs only a quarter a pop.
Twentysomethings aren't the only pager patrons. In the nanosecond nineties, parents are using pagers to keep track of latchkey teens. When their pager beeps, homebound kids return the call, reassuring concerned parents that no mischief is afoot.
Grown daughters and sons give elderly parents pager numbers in case of illness or accident. Moms-to-be rent pagers to flag down significant others or dads-in-waiting when the water breaks. And pager users don't have to languish by the phone waiting for the service call from the plumber or cable TV installer.
``Pagers are booming,'' said Charles S. Goldfarb, vice president and general manager of Paging Network of Virginia, Inc. in Chesapeake. ``Low cost is the key. You can rent a pager (monthly) for the cost of two people eating at McDonald's.''
You can buy a low-end pager for as little as $30, or rent one for around $9 a month. Top-of-the-line models will set you back $250 to own, and between $20 and $30 to rent.
Monthly service charges are extra, starting at a few dollars and up, depending on the kind of geographical coverage desired and whether or not you want to leave a personalized voice message.
For professionals on the go or on the road, pagers have become one of the career essentials.
``We always go our separate ways,'' said Stuart Evans, 19, who works with his mother and brother in the restaurant business in downtown Norfolk. ``It gets chaotic when you're trying to track down one person. In the restaurant business, everyone seems to have a pager. It's very easy to stay in touch.''
Sometime next century, prognosticators foresee the melding of pagers, phones, computers and fax machines into the same package, maybe as part of a lightweight modular unit. No cables or line attachments would be necessary for this ``wireless'' instrument.
For now, pager technology allows for digital radio transmission of phone numbers or text messages. The average pager is usually no bigger than a cassette tape case and comes with a tiny display screen.
Within a year, voice paging should become available. Callers will be able to leave a voice message that pager owners can call up at the press of a button.
Although the first generation of the new machines are likely to be expensive, vendors say users will be able to screen calls, returning only those deemed most important.
`` In the next year and a half (pagers) will blossom into every possible scenario imaginable,'' Atlantic Cellular's Anderson said. ``There are all kinds of digital messaging services coming. Satellites will be shot up. You'll be found wherever you are.''
According to marketing studies commissioned by pager manufacturer Motorola, user numbers worldwide are on the upswing. There are an estimated 20 million regular users in the United States, a figure predicted to balloon to 50 million by the year 2000. Internationally, user numbers are predicted to more than quadruple, from 70 million to 300 million, in that same period.
Combined with prices 75 percent lower than those of a decade ago, a recent Motorola news release contends that there is ``unprecedented demand among personal users.''
But older generations may remain skeptical of the technology, seeing pagers not as efficient communications gear but as another irritating and intrusive invention. Dinner-time telemarketing calls are bad enough, but can you really turn off a pager?
To gain the widest possible acceptance, pagers also will have to shake something of a bad reputation as the device of choice for drug dealers. Vendors insist they do the best they can to monitor sales to suspected druggies, but they can go only so far.
``We can't draw the line for adults who come in with lots of cash,'' Anderson said. ``I have never sold a pager to anyone under 18. That's where we draw the line.''
Bell Atlantic Paging is among those who think that consumer interest is bound to grow. The company opened a Virginia Beach retail outlet two months ago to sell 10 different kinds of pager.
The firm is eying direct sales to college campuses. Homesick freshmen and job-hungry seniors alike, Bell figures, will want to stay in constant touch with parents and recruiters.
Vendors insist the pager is outgrowing jet-setting company presidents and over-extended executives, and is ready and available for the likes of you and me. If it isn't yet the two-way wrist radio made popular by the Dick Tracy comics series, it may yet become so.
``Pagers will always be here,'' predicted Steve Mishoe, sales manager for Dial Page in Chesapeake. ``There will always be new products and services introduced. It's catching on.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
About pagers
by CNB