Coby Shows off Internet Radios, Wi-Fi Frames and Netbooks
New Products from Coby at CES
January 10, 2009 By Grant ClauserAt their 2009 CES booth they showed two Internet radios, the IR850 and IR825. Both connect to your home network via Wi-Fi to retrieve thousands of Internet radio stations. They also play FM and include alarm clock features, The 825 will come out at around $79 while the 850 should ship for around $129 and includes more powerful speakers. A model with an iPod doc will likely follow. Compatibility with services like Slacker and Pandora was also suggested.
Digital picture frames have been a big business for Coby this year as a recent NPD report put them at number 1 in the category from November 07 to 08. Most of that business, said senior national marketing manager Mike Farish, came from keychain picture frames. The company hopes to capitalize on that success with their new line of products that includes new keychain models plus standard digital frames in sizes up to 14 inches and the DP858 Wi-Fi frame. The DP858 is designed for easy transfer of pictures from a user’s PC, though Farish noted that retrieval from online photo sharing sites may also be forthcoming.
Also shown was a line of netbook computers in various colors and screen sizes all with Intel Atom processors. It’s not a definite that Coby will ship the netbook--they were being displayed to buyers in order to gauge interest--but Farish said the likelihood was high that they would ship this year. No proposed pricing on the netbook products was disclosed, but Coby was quick to extinguish the rumors of a $99 netbook that had been floating around blogs
