DOVE CANYON, Calif., April 26, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- BICO, Inc. (OTCBB:BIKOE) today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Drucker and Falk, LLC, a third party fee manager of apartment homes, to pilot its WebPhone product line at a number of selected locations. Drucker and Falk is listed as one of the National Multi-Housing Council's top 50 largest fee managers, overseeing nearly 27,000 apartment homes across the Southeastern United States.
The pilot portion of the deployment is designed to demonstrate the performance of the WebPhone, reaction to it by apartment residents, and the ability to deliver ads to the WebPhone from interested merchants and vendors surrounding the pilot properties.
BICO expects to enter into further agreements with Drucker and Falk and its respective property owners that would secure additional appliances to be deployed upon the successful completion of the pilot program. The company also is in advanced discussions with several property managers and owners in other regions of the country to participate in similar pilot deployments.
"With the growing number of consumers signing up for 'no call' phone service, as well as pop-up and spam blockers, advertisers continue to have difficulty reaching the apartment resident," said Richard Greenwood, CEO of BICO. "At the same time," he noted, "Internet advertising continues to become more cluttered due to its dynamic growth. Given our unique advertising delivery model, BICO is well positioned to leverage both of these emerging market trends."
"The apartment communities will benefit from decreasing costs by allowing the leasing office to email or generate e-notices to the resident, rather than manually creating and distributing them, and allowing residents of these communities to submit electronic requests rather than delivering them to the leasing office. Property owners and managers will be able to offset costs and generate ancillary income through their share in a portion of the advertising revenue generated over each WebPhone," said Rick Rundles, Executive Vice President of BICO.
BICO is both a distributor of Internet appliances and an advertising and content publisher, primarily focused on the multi-housing and hospitality industries. It delivers content and other fee-based services, including ISP, telephone services, video conferences, and e-commerce fulfillment directly to its appliances. Much like a magazine publication sells advertising space based on its circulation and readership, the BICO WebPhone business relies on generating advertising revenue from local merchants who service apartment communities, and have the willingness to place ads on the screen of the WebPhone.
Founded in 1938, Drucker and Falk, LLC, is one of the 50 largest fee managers in the U.S., managing nearly 27,000 apartment homes with the Southeast states of North Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia.
This news release may include comments that may be deemed to be forward-looking within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Federal Securities Laws. These include, among other things, statements about expectations of future events, financings, revenues, sales of products or advertising, cash flow and performance. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause the company's results to differ materially from expectations. These risks include the company's ability to obtain necessary financing in time to meet contractual obligations to conduct pilot programs or meet other obligations, develop appropriate strategic alliances, raise working capital, successful development and implementation of technology, acceptance of the company's products and services, build a functional infrastructure of servers and other support equipment necessary to support the functionality of the WebPhone deployment, and other such risks as the company may identify and discuss from time to time, including those risks disclosed in the company's current and future filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Accordingly, there is no certainty that the company's plans will be achieved.