about "the comfort of a full-size keyboard in a form factor that works with handhelds -- and only requires the use of one hand. "

http://frogpad.com/

The FrogPad promises the comfort of a full-size keyboard in a form factor that works with handhelds -- and only requires the use of one hand.

With only 20 keys, FrogPad "offers full functionality and ease of use, making it the keyboard of choice for the mobile worker," Marroquin told NewsFactor.

Fifteen keys that read like a far-out poet doing In-Synch -- FARWPOEHTDUINSY -- enter the letters FrogPad claims cover 86 percent of the English language. Five additional keys handle space, number, symbol, enter, and shift/caps lock.

The space key toggles to green letter keys that cover the other 14 percent of the English language. The number key toggles to additional functions, such as escape, insert, and backspace.

Do You Frog?

Marroquin and her 4-year-old firm -- whose Yahoo-styled slogan is "Do You Frog?" -- are targeting a market of portability seekers who want ergonomic comforts in a smaller space.

"The only element that has kept personal computers from being smaller is the keyboard," she writes in a recent white paper on the subject. "The opportunity to have full functionality and full computing power in a handheld device can now easily be accomplished with FrogPad's revolutionary, single-handed fully functional keypad design."

The primary benefit of FrogPad is "that it is full-sized; users are not trying to manipulate tiny keys," said Ramamirtham Sukumar, associate professor of marketing at Rice University's Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management.

Sukumar -- who also serves as Director of Research Sciences at market research firm IPSOS-NPD -- said he "is fairly confident that the FrogPad will see a successful market."

Moose and Squirrel, Mouse and Frog

On a desktop populated by mice, Marroquin says she wants to add a frog.

The first FrogPad is right-handed because "research indicated that right-handed mouse users preferred right-handed FrogPads," she explained. A left-handed FrogPad will be available in the first quarter of 2004.

One potential market for FrogPad is people with disabilities that limit their movement on one side.

"Christina Hansen is a lovely, twenty-something woman who suffered a stroke that has limited movement on her left side," Marroquin said. "She's found the FrogPad to be a godsend."

"I can tell you many great things about FrogPad," Hansen told NewsFactor.

In another example, an inquiry on the "Frog Blog" asks when the left-handed keyboard will be available. "I suffer from Repetitive Strain Injury in my right hand," the right-handed writer says. "Should I wait for the left-hand version or buy the right-hand version to use with my left hand?"

FrogPad may have freed some hands, but it has also unleashed a barrage of chat-room snickers, Marroquin said. "About what a person might be doing with their free hand," she quipped -- "I won't go there."