NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Filip Technologies™ today announced that its debut product, Filip™, has become the first wearable device with full mobile voice capability to receive Federal Communications Commission (FCC) certification. Filip is a smart locator and phone for kids, worn on the wrist, that keeps parents and kids in touch at the push of a button. Filip is the only wearable device of its kind to receive this certification to date.
With its unique combination of mobile voice and location technologies in a wearable form factor, Filip is ideally suited to meet the safety and communications needs of modern families. Filip offers just the features that parents want without all the bells and whistles, like Internet access, that make smartphones unsuitable for children. Filip keeps parents and children in touch through the ability to make and receive voice calls to and from five trusted numbers approved by the parent using a colorful device on the child’s wrist.
“We are extremely proud to have become the first company to accomplish this breakthrough in wearable technology,” said Jonathan Peachey, CEO of Filip Technologies. “With FCC certification, parents can be assured that Filip has been engineered to comply with the highest standards of safety in the mobile industry. This is a major achievement on our path to launching Filip later this year.”
Filip is part of a new breed of wearable devices gaining popularity among consumers. ABI Research predicts that the wearable device market will grow to 485 million device shipments annually by 2018. Though smart watches have recently taken center stage, these devices merely extend certain functionality from a smartphone to the wrist via Bluetooth. Filip takes wearable technology to the next level, offering a product that is capable of independent voice and location services without being tethered to a smartphone. In the case of children, this is essential since a recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Filip Technologies found that 70 percent of parents in the United States feel that it is not appropriate to buy a smartphone for a child under 13.
The same Harris Interactive survey found that 33 percent of parents with children between the ages of 6 and 12 were likely or very likely to purchase a very small, wearable, child-friendly mobile device that would allow them to call or locate their child in the event of an emergency. The survey also revealed that 78 percent of parents are at least somewhat concerned about their child being able to reach them.
Filip will be available for pre-sale in the fall and will ship in time for the 2013 holiday season.
About Filip Technologies
Filip Technologies develops communication and location-based products and services designed to keep families in touch. Its products combine the two most important elements in family mobile offerings – communications and safety. The company’s flagship product, Filip, is the world’s first smart locator and phone designed for children. Previewed to rave reviews at CES 2013, its patent-pending technology combines cellular voice with geo-location capability in a device small enough to be worn on a wrist. Founded in 2009 by Sten Kirkbak after he briefly lost track of his young son Filip in a shopping mall, Filip Technologies is privately held with offices in London, U.K., New York, NY and Raleigh, NC. For more information, please visit www.myFilip.com.
Filip Technologies and Filip are trademarks of Filip Technologies.