The cellphone car kit was seen by many as a death blow to the car phone, but Lipton Griffin International GM Greg Lipton says the car phone still has its place and sales are increasing.
Lipton says Motorola car phone sales in SA increased by 7% to the year ending in August 2003.
"There is an increase in car phone sales because luxury car manufacturers are offering to install the phone when the car is manufactured. The increase in the number of second-hand car sales with users looking to make their cars more stylish has also added to the number of sales," he says.
Lipton says the functionality and reliability of Motorola`s latest car phone offering - the M8989 -gives the user reason to opt for a car phone instead of a car kit.
"The M8989 is the only dual band car phone on the market, which means that Cell C users can use the phone. The phone also has consistent reception because of its powerful 8W performance at 900MHz, compared to the average 2W on a cellphone," he says.
Added features on the M8989 include two SIM cards slots for the user, 25 phone book slots for voice tags, voice navigation through the phone`s menu, data capability, a three-minute voice recorder and all the other usual functionality of a car phone, he says.
"For cellphone users who like to change cellphones on a regular basis, the car phone is ideal because it has a one time installation, whereas every cellphone model has it own car kit which then has to be installed.
"When the user gets into the car, they simply have to turn off their cellphone and their calls will then be diverted to the car phone via the dual SIM," he says.
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