"Those are the kinds of applications we're focused on initially," Gina Clark, vice president of business development and marketing, said in an interview from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nev., where the Motorola deal was announced.
Among the advantages of the WOZ system over current radio frequency identification technologies was in distance covered. While current RFID antennas can pickup signals within a couple of dozen feet, WOZ's technology could track people and goods in a radius of miles, Clark said.
Los Gatos, Calif.-based WOZ, a play on Wozniak's nickname, is the most ambitious entrepreneurial effort by Wozniak since starting Apple with Steve Jobs in 1976. WOZ was founded in 2001.
Motorola plans to develop WOZ-based products through its broadband-communications unit, which also makes modems and television set-top boxes. The new tracking products, part of Motorola's "connected home" strategy, would be sold through direct channels and service providers. A timetable for availability was not disclosed.
"Our strategy is to work with select market leaders that will uphold and support our philosophy of developing useful and easy-to-use products," Wozniak said in a statement. "Motorola not only supports that philosophy, but also provides a strong brand and distribution channel necessary to deliver WOZ-based solutions to consumers on a massive scale."
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