Created by LevelStar (U.S.), this P.D.A., called the Icon mobile manager plus docking station, isn't the first P.D.A. designed for visually impaired users. Yet, it’s different from the rest. Icon comes with a detachable Braille or regular full-size keyboard, which is easier to use for taking extensive notes and was designed with the Internet at its core.

For instance, Icon offers a function called news stand that lets users subscribe to online newspapers every day, rather than go through the process of entering passwords and linking to Web sites as required by most book-reading technologies.

The Icon's Linux operating system gives users flexibility to add functions that aren't on most Microsoft Windows-based P.D.A.s, said Steven Booth, an access technology specialist with the National Federation of the Blind (U.S.).

The company co-founder Marc Mulcahy said, "There's a need for some new blood in the industry and products that understand how we really use the Internet." Mulcahy is blind since birth.

He hopes that his products, which will be sold through its website, will find a niche as affordable devices targeted at individual buyers. The Icon Mobile Manager sells for 1,395, (approximately Rupees 62,775) and the keyboard docking station for 395 (approximately Rupees 17,775).

Booth said Mulcahy's strategy is promising, but he cautions that selling technology for visually impaired people is a difficult business.