www.celiocorp.com

The attention and praise we’ve received for the REDFLY Mobile Companion since its launch has been great, and we’re excited that more and more people are experiencing firsthand how the smartphone can become their primary computing device if only given the REDFLY Mobile Companion’s larger screen and keyboard.

Thanks to increased production volumes on the REDFLY Mobile Companion, we’ve been recently able to reduce the per-unit costs to make the REDFLY and we want to pass along the savings to our customers and retailers.

Starting now, the REDFLY C8N, with its 8-inch screen, 8-hour battery life, and media port will now have an MSRP of $249 (that’s a price drop of $50), while the REDFLY C7, with its 7-inch screen and 5-hour battery life, will now be priced at an MSRP of $199. We’ve been running a few promos off and on where you could get a C7 for $199 after a $30 rebate, but now you can get that price all the time without a rebate.

Both the C8N and C7 can be purchased here and at various web retailers.

Posted in REDFLY General | No Comments »

Over the weekend, we posted an update to the REDFLY Mobile Viewer Beta software for Windows XP and Vista. This update is recommended for all REDFLY Mobile Viewer Beta users.

Please visit www.celiocorp.com/install to download the new REDFLY Mobile Viewer Beta build (build No. 192).

Changes in Build 192:

• A new feature called Event Notification is now available. If you have your phone connected to your laptop and RMV running and connected to your phone, any phone call or SMS text message you receive will pop-up a small dialog in your system tray with that notice.
• A new feature called Network Sharing is now available. This feature is not yet working for all smartphones we support, but when it is enable on many phones, you may choose via a setting in the Options dialog whether to use your PC network connection in the Mobile Viewer or instead isolate that connection and communicate outward through your phone’s data plan.
• Several small issues with scaling the viewer console window have been corrected.

Celio Corp also released new beta builds of the REDFLY smartphone driver software and REDFLY Mobile Companion firmware. All REDFLY Mobile Viewer Beta users or users of REDFLY smartphone driver beta software are encouraged to update the driver software on their phones.

Visit www.celiocorp.com/smartphone to download the new beta phone driver software.

Posted in REDFLY General | No Comments »

We now have RAM mounting kits available in the REDFLY store. The installation process is fairly easy and you can do-it-yourself with simple tools without the need to drill any holes. The flexible and adjustable mounting post mounts to the front passenger seat rail. It takes about 15 minutes to complete the installation.

The kits come in 3 flavors…

1)
RAM Mount - REDFLY Kit ($79.95)
3 pieces needed to mount your REDFLY Mobile Companion (without a phone).

2)
RAM Mount - Phone Kit ($39.95)
2-piece, add-on kit to the above RAM Mount - REDFLY Kit in case you just buy the RAM Mount - REDFLY Kit and later decide you want to also mount your phone to the side.

3)
RAM Mount - REDFLY & Phone Kit ($119.95)
All 5 pieces needed to mount your REDFLY Mobile Companion and phone (just like in the picture you see here).

Posted in REDFLY General | No Comments »

Check out this video of students at Trinity Intermediate School in Keller, TX. The school developed a program sponsored by the Pearson Foundation and the Mobile Learning Institute that included Verizon Windows Mobile phones, the REDFLY Mobile Companion and GoKnow!’s Mobile Learning Environment software. Pretty cool. The kids can collaborate on research, share documents, get info from Wikipedia, turn in assignments, and much more – all with their smartphones.

One nice feature of the REDFLY Mobile Companion is that it stores absolutely no data or settings on the device itself (everything stays on the smartphone). Because of this, it’s easy to have a small pool of REDFLYs shared amongst multiple users. Anytime a user connects, his or her settings, Today Screen, apps, etc. are all just there (since the REDFLY is just mirroring the smartphone itself).

Posted in REDFLY General | No Comments »

We received some great exposure at the Citrix Synergy show early this month. There was a high volume of interest and traffic at the booth we shared with Sprint. The REDFLY/smartphone combination is an amazing way to give users access to a Citrix environment without the hardware costs or hassles of a laptop, netbook, mobile thin client, etc.

As part of the show special, until June 30, 2009 you can get great deals on the REDFLY Mobile Companion and a variety of cool Sprint phones at http://citrix.sprintorders.com.

Virtualization guru, Brian Madden named us Showcase Vendor of the Week. You can see his video here. (Fast forward to the 18 minute mark to see REDFLY running Citrix Receiver on Sprint phones.)

Here are two Citrix TV videos featuring Sprint and the REDFLY.

Finally, if you haven’t tried Citrix on your Windows Mobile smartphone and/or a REDFLY, Citrix has a new demo environment that you can play with.

Go to http://citrixcloud.net to get the software and a free login.

Posted in REDFLY General | No Comments »

Trudy Walsh at Government Computer News posted a nice review of the REDFLY Mobile Companion this week.

It’s no secret that when it comes to netbooks, laptops and Wi-Fi in Government, there really is no easy solution to the security concerns and costs related to infrastructure and implementation. Many departments are rife with problems because of the strict policies in place that prohibit Wi-Fi networks and/or laptops/netbooks on the premises entirely.

Many of us in the private sector take for granted the fact that we can just grab our laptop off our desk, head across the hall to the conference room for a meeting, and still have email, Internet and network access.

Our team has met with quite a few people in the military and federal agencies that deal with sensitive information routinely. In many agency offices, Wi-Fi networks are not allowed for security reasons. In some government buildings and installations, laptops, netbooks or UMPCs are not allowed in or out. However, in almost every case, smartphones are allowed. While the smartphone offers a secure way to give them Internet and email access, the people we talk to still complain about trying to type lengthy messages, view attachments or work on Office docs on their phones because of the small screens and keyboards.

Through a new partnership with Government Reseller NetCon, Celio Corp is working to change that. The partnership will allow government departments to get fixed, predetermined pricing on all REDFLY products and accessories including the REDFLY Mobile Companion through a GSA schedule contractor.

The REDFLY Mobile Companion gives government employees a larger screen and keyboard to get work done without adding any additional security risk to the mix.

While some government agencies are OK with the use of a Mobile Thin Client (looks like a laptop but has no hard drive) – setup requires extensive IT infrastructure on the back end to give someone desktop access via a Mobile Thin Client. REDFLY gives many of the same benefits without the hassle.

Because there is no storage or operating system on the REDFLY, it may be admitted into facilities where laptop computers are not allowed. Government agencies get a laptop-like way to use their smart phones, without the security risks most laptops present. In many cases the REDFLY works with the already approved and deployed smart phones without violating policies or forcing IT to set up a new device, making it both a secure and cost efficient solution.

One other cool thing is that using Citrix or RDP, guest users can even work on a full Windows desktop (via their smartphones and REDFLY) inside of a secure facility being productive over the 3G wireless network from inside an otherwise inaccessible building.

Posted in REDFLY General | No Comments »

Now that thousands of people have had the chance to download and use the REDFLY Mobile Viewer software, we want to gather as much customer feedback as possible during the rest of the beta period for the Mobile Viewer.

To encourage customers to participate in a new REDFLY Mobile Viewer feedback survey, everyone who completes the survey will automatically be entered in a random drawing for a chance to win 2 free round-trip airline tickets from anywhere in the continental U.S. to Hawaii. The drawing will be held around June 6, 2009.

If you’ve already downloaded the REDFLY Mobile Viewer beta, you should automatically receive an email with the survey invitation sometime before May 6th (you don’t have to do anything, the email with the invite will be sent to you).

Anyone who downloads the REDFLY Mobile Viewer beta in the future (from now until June 1, 2009) will receive an email with the survey invitation within 7 days of downloading the beta installer.
To download the free REDFLY Mobile Viewer beta, visit www.celiocorp.com/viewer.

This giveaway promotion is only open to residents of the continental United States. Employees of Celio Corp or their direct family members are not eligible.

Posted in REDFLY General | 6 Comments »

I’m thrilled to report that in just over two weeks, more than 4,000 people have downloaded the REDFLY Mobile Viewer beta software for Windows XP and Vista.

We’ve received great feedback from beta users so far and are please that it’s been well received.

We see the Mobile Viewer as a great way to expose the REDFLY technology to a broader audience. It fits very nicely into our product portfolio with the current Mobile Companion line and future products. Want to see which REDFLY is right for you? Take a look at this comparison page.

Posted in REDFLY General | 2 Comments »

Christopher Lawton wrote a nice piece titled, “Making the Connection” in The Wall Street Journal today discussing new products making it easier for mobile workers to connect to the Internet.

The REDFLY Mobile Companion is one of Lawton’s featured solutions and he spoke specifically about the Memphis Police Department’s REDFLY deployment to its 1,200 officers.

Here’s a link to the article online.

Take a look at the companion video to the article below.

Posted in REDFLY General | No Comments »

Celio Corp will have a booth (No. 556) at the 2009 Citrix Synergy conference May 4th – 7th in Las Vegas. If you plan to attend, register at http://citrixsynergy.com and enter this special registration code, SPON32.

Citrix Synergy 2009 will provide a holistic view of how you can break from the costs and complexities of the distributed computing model and make application delivery a strategic priority.

The REDFLY Mobile Companion is a great enabler of Citrix technology. Using just your smartphone and a REDFLY (no PC or laptop required), you can work with full Windows applications using REDFLY’s larger screen, keyboard and touchpad. With Citrix XenApp and/or XenDesktop deployed within your company, you can give your mobile workforce tightly controlled access to full desktops or even only individual windows applications (no desktop needed or provided).

Click here to see one of my other blog posts featuring more about REDFLY with Citrix and see a video demo of the REDFLY in action running Citrix.

Posted in REDFLY General | No Comments »

Will the new Mobile Viewer cannibalize Celio’s REDFLY hardware sales?

CTIA was a big occasion for Celio Corp. The announcement of the new REDFLY Mobile Viewer, now in Public Beta, allows users to extend their smartphone applications to the display and keyboard of their laptop or desktop PC. The Andrew Seybold Choice Awards named the REDFLY Mobile Companion the most Innovative Mobile Service. And Celio announced support for an additional 18 Windows Mobile compatible phones.

In the course of Celio’s CTIA briefings an analyst asked, “Will the Mobile Viewer cannibalize Celio’s REDFLY hardware sales?” That’s a great question. We’ll answer it here.

Celio’s mission, which we state in every presentation and announcement, is to create, define and drive the technologies that allow the smartphone to become the primary mobile computing device.

The Mobile Viewer is directly in line with that vision. Clearly, the ability to instantly view and use the smartphone’s applications from a laptop or desktop PC has wide applicability and it opens REDFLY functionality up to a new assortment of users. But could it reduce the acceptance and sales of the REDFLY Mobile Companion itself?

In a word, no. Consider this: Gartner is reporting that even in a down market smartphone sales increased by 3.7% for Q4 2008 and analyst firm iSuppli is projecting growth of more than 11% for 2009, which by even conservative estimates would mean an additional 183.9M smartphone unit sales.

For some users, the ability to use smartphone applications from existing laptop PCs is sufficient. But for tens of thousands of others, the convenience of using smartphone applications outside of the office - and without having to carry or fire up a laptop PC - makes the REDFLY Mobile Companion form factor the winning key. In fact, the REDFLY is regularly eliminating the need to buy and support additional laptops for field force workers such as police officers, mobile healthcare professionals, and myriads of other mobile service providers.

For us, it is all about giving users more ways to interact with their smartphones as the smartphone becomes the primary computing device. If you or your company’s IT Staff want an instant-on, low TCO, no maintenance hassle (no PC upkeep, virus protection, etc.) larger screen and keyboard for your smartphone - REDFLY Mobile Companion is right for you. If you don’t mind waiting for your laptop to boot, keeping two data plans, maintaining two sets of apps, or need the full computing abilities of a laptop (Photoshop, video editing etc.), but still want a larger screen and keyboard for your smartphone usage - REDFLY Mobile Viewer is for you.

If Celio’s mission is to drive and create the technologies to enhance smartphone computing in a way that meets every user’s needs and desires, then clearly the Mobile Viewer is one of the necessary components of that vision. Even more clearly, Celio’s overall market share and hardware presence will continue to mirror the growth of smartphone usage.

Posted in REDFLY General | 5 Comments »

The REDFLY Mobile Companion, was named the Most Innovative Mobile Service at the 19th Annual Andrew Seybold Choice Awards Dinner April 2nd. Celio joins previous winners such as Research in Motion, T-Mobile, and Qualcomm to take home this prestigious award.

We at Celio Corp are extremely proud to add the Seybold Award to our list of accolades validating the REDFLY vision for the future of smartphone computing.

Posted in REDFLY General | 2 Comments »

This week we released a major phone driver and REDFLY firmware update.

The new phone driver and REDFLY firmware combination increases communication speeds over USB and Bluetooth while providing more stability and adding support for more third-party applications such as Opera 9.5.

As part of the software update, 18 new Windows Mobile phones were added to the list of REDFLY supported phones bringing the total to 54.

This software update is recommended for all REDFLY users.

Visit www.celiocorp.com/install to download the updates and view installation instructions.

Remember, for optimal performance, you should always update your REDFLY Mobile Companion firmware to a version matching your phone driver software. Download both the appropriate operating system version of the driver software and the REDFLY firmware to your phone before beginning the installation. This is also true for the REDFLY Mobile Viewer application, whose version should match your phone driver as well.

Posted in REDFLY General | No Comments »

I’d like to introduce you to the latest addition to the REDFLY product line.

This week at the CTIA show in Las Vegas, Celio Corp expanded the REDFLY product line adding a software option for smartphone users - the REDFLY Mobile Viewer software for Windows XP and Vista. The REDFLY Mobile Viewer combined with two existing REDFLY Mobile Companion hardware models give smartphone users a variety of ways to get real work done on a smartphone.

The REDFLY Mobile Viewer lets you conveniently use your favorite Windows Mobile applications at full size on your PC and experience many of the award-winning REDFLY Mobile Companion benefits when your smartphone is connected to your PC.

What can you do with the REDFLY Mobile Viewer? Text message friends and family throughout the day. Keep your work and personal lives separate while multitasking on one device. Go from 8 viewable cells to 50 while using Excel Mobile right on your phone. See more of any smartphone application at resolutions up to 1024×768 pixels - all using the full-size keyboard and mouse you already enjoy on your PC to control your phone.

Visit www.celiocorp.com to find out more about the REDFLY Mobile Viewer and download a FREE beta version of the software.

Which REDFLY product is right for you? See a comparison of products and features.

Posted in REDFLY General, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Ephraim Schwartz over at InfoWorld penned a nice column today about REDFLY titled, “Turning smartphones into desktops on the go.”

Ephraim brings up an interesting point; is REDFLY’s success completely dependent on the smartphone’s future growth curve, or can REDFLY actively help the smartphone live up to its potential spurring more widespread adoption? Here’s a quote from the article:

“In one sense, the success of RedFly depends more on the current and future capabilities of the cell phone than on the business smarts at Celio. If the cell phone becomes the single most important computing device for remote users, then of course RedFly goes along for the ride.

But if looked at from the other side, RedFly is not a passive participant. Rather, RedFly is the device that will allow a cell phone to become a business user’s single most important mobile computing device.”

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »