If it catches on with the high-school crowd, it could be the terror of teachers everywhere: a colorful handheld gadget that allows teens to send messages to their friends in class without the hassle of passing notes. The Cybiko, which looks like a walkie-talkie with a black-and-white LCD screen and small keyboard, aims to fill the age gap between Palm handhelds for mobile professionals and the Nintendo Game Boy for kids.

To capture the teenage market, New York-based startup Cybiko Inc. has seized on their social needs. The gadget fulfills basic organizer functions, but also communicates wirelessly with others of its kind up to 300 feet away. “We want to create a social environment were teens can chat and interact,” Cybiko President Donald Wisniewski said. “We see a huge opportunity with 12- to 16-year olds.” Users can trade messages and even play games with one another. One game even imitates the online shoot-’em-up PC games so popular among teenage boys.

The Cybiko connects to PCs as well, and the company provides free software on its Web site that can be downloaded to the device through a cable. If one Cybiko within range is hooked up to an Internet-connected PC, other Cybikos within range can send and receive regular e-mails from the Internet. There’s an expansion slot in the device as well, which Cybiko says will be able to take an optional digital music player that uses the popular MP3 format. As if the Napster file-sharing program were not enough to scare the music industry, one MP3-equipped Cybiko will be able to send music to other Cybikos.

The Cybiko alerts users to received messages by vibrating. In a slightly presumptuous way, it also alerts users if another Cybiko carrier matching their romantic preferences comes within range. After I had described myself to the Cybiko, it assumed that I was looking for a slightly younger woman who is between 5 foot 3 inches and 5 foot 11 inches in height and — unbelievably — weighing only 60 to 80 pounds. Of course, the preferences could be changed, but I’m still waiting for that “love-tingle” vibration alert. That’s probably the greatest weakness of the gadget: being the only one who has a Cybiko is no fun. Despite an impressive list of features for a $129 (editor's note: the Cybiko is currently on sale at www.cybiko.com for $99.95) device, the Cybiko may have a hard time catching on.

In September of 2000, America Online Inc. bought a stake in Cybiko in a play to establish a stronger foothold in the teen handheld market.