Apple Co-founder To Create Locator Network

Make that his Wheels of Zeus Inc.--a Los Gatos, Calif., startup he founded in January 2002 to develop wireless technologies that would be 'helpful to people's everyday lives.' The company, which has been working in stealth mode, announced its management team Monday and unveiled a few product details.

The company hopes to create a wireless network of location-monitoring tags and base stations to help people keep track of pets, children, briefcases, or other wayward things. The network will use a low-power, long-range radio technology--the same 900MHz spectrum used on many cordless phones--along with global positioning satellite technologies.

The company plans to license its technology and reference designs to consumer electronics and other manufacturers, which will sell the devices for an estimated $200 to $250, said Gina Clark, vice president of marketing and business development.

Specific products will be announced in the first half of 2004.

Ordinarily, such news, especially one that lacks product details and already faces competition in a crowded product market, might receive scant attention.

But the technology has captured increased interest because it is another brainchild of Wozniak, who gained Silicon Valley legendary status as a technical wizard behind the personal computer.

The startup's name is a play on his nickname Woz. Its wireless platform, called wOzNet, capitalizes on his fame.

Despite the growing number of similar devices, such as GPS-based locators for pets and Alzheimer's patients, company officials are confident the technology will find a niche in the 'mid-range' of wireless networks.

In a typical suburban setting, Clark said wOz-based location-monitoring devices will have a radio range of up to two miles between base stations--between the general one-building limit of relatively inexpensive radio-frequency identification or RFID tags, and the larger, more expensive telecommunication networks like those of cellular phones.

A more ambitious goal, however, is to develop a vast community network of base stations, which would be connected to the Internet, allowing, for instance, a pet owner to pick up his lost dog's device signal, and location, in a city miles away.