Story Filed: Monday, December 06, 1999 10:02 AM EST

HOLTSVILLE, N.Y., Dec 6, 1999 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Symbol Technologies (NYSE:SBL) today announced that its handheld bar code laser scanners are in use by mall shoppers to integrate the glamour and convenience of shopping on the Internet with the traditional shopping experience of examining merchandise at retail stores. It's currently being test-marketed in Atlanta, GA.

Shoppers are using the Symbol CS 2000 scanner to scan items at participating mall retailers and build a "wish list" which they can post to a personalized web page at FastFrog.com. The list can be organized and e-mailed to friends and family for gift- related occasions.

Additionally, Symbol's SPT 1740 pocket-sized computer, which features an integrated bar code scanner and wireless communications, will be launched in a test market this month, also in Atlanta, GA. The product will be called YourSherpa.com and is geared toward the time-starved professional. YourSherpa.com will allow mall customers to select items from multiple stores, but simply pay for everything once and leave the pick-up and delivery to YourSherpa.com employees.

This new way of shopping was introduced by the Simon Property Group (NYSE:SPG), North America's largest REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust ) and the owner of 253 shopping malls in the United States. Through its recently launched subsidiary, clixnmortar.com, Simon plans to leverage the company's physical mall space, 2.3 billion shopper visits a year and its relationship with mall-based retailers.

The initial phase of the national product rollout is expected to generate more than $7 million in revenue to Symbol over the next nine months.

With FastFrog.com, mall shoppers register with a valid form of identification at a mall kiosk (The Pond), set up a unique password, and check out a Symbol scanner which is dubbed the "ZapStick." The "ZapStick", the Symbol CS 2000, is a diminutive, easy-to-use, thumb-shaped scanner optimized for dot.com applications. Shoppers then build their "wish list" by simply scanning an items' bar code. The item information, including a description and price, is downloaded to the kiosk when the scanner is returned and the wish list is posted to the website.

"This represents the next evolution of commerce, blending the overwhelming brand importance and social experience of mall shopping with the convenience of e-commerce," said David Simon, CEO of Simon Property Group. "By merging well-branded existing physical retail with the connectivity of the Internet, clixnmortar.com will leverage our current mall portfolio and complement our retail partners."

"Symbol's mobile computing appliance and scanning technology solutions are increasingly being implemented to maximize the benefit of e-commerce on the front and back-end of the Internet. E-retailers are streamlining their warehouse and delivery logistics and gaining competitive advantage with our technology, while our devices are being used by an ever-expanding universe of both workers and consumers to access and deliver web information," said Tomo Razmilovic, president and chief operating officer, Symbol Technologies.

Symbol Technologies Inc. is a global leader in mobile data management systems and services with innovative customer solutions based on wireless local area networking for voice and data, application-specific mobile computing and bar code data capture. Symbol's wireless LAN solutions are installed at more than 45,000 customer locations, and more than seven million Symbol scanners and application-specific scanner-integrated mobile computer systems are in use worldwide. Symbol and its global network of business partners provide solutions for retailing, transportation and distribution logistics, parcel and postal delivery, healthcare, education, manufacturing and other industries. Information is available from Symbol at 1-800-722-6234 and at www.symbol.com

Copyright (C) 1999 Business Wire.

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Thanks Anna!