The popular FRS category continues to evolve into new form factors, with this year yielding the rise of a new market niche: the portable base station.
Some portable base stations are basically battery-powered FRS units that can also plug into a wall jack to double as an intercom or "always on" FRS. Others are more powerful intercoms, offering more features, and are larger than FRS but still portable. Still other base stations are intended for stationary use only.
Leading the pack in this market niche is Unwired, with several new models, joined by Audiovox. RadioShack and Topaz3 are also offering stationary base stations.
Unwired, which introduced the first stationary base station product last year, said its UFR-BS10 continues to gain in day-to-day sales, indicating an expanding niche, according to president Larry Richenstein.