Gyration has announced its ULTRA R4000 Motion-Sensing Remote with Music Display (see posting). Now that the engineering is in place comes the challenge of marketing it to the public.

According to Gyration’s Greg Smith (VP of Marketing and OEM Sales Worldwide), it took one year actually to develop the new product. “It was about 10 months for a Dell version and two months to create Gyration’s,” Smith says.

Gyration will spread its marketing web wide, trying to get a buzz going amongst the home user community. The R4000 has obvious appeal to several segments, including both the music audience and the PC user who happens to want an all-in-one remote for Web access, selecting music tracks, etc.

Smith says they will pursue both avenues, looking for “any enthusiast of converged digital entertainment in the home.”

The R4000 has a backlit LCD screen provides a nice view of music selections on the remote control itself. This allows the user to do one-click play and volume control from up to 100 feet away. It works with both radio frequency (RF) and infrared (IR).

It seems unlikely that they will try to split the market segments as Smith indicates they feel it will get a good reception from both the audiophile and from the more casual web surfer.

“The LCD screen is especially useful for music fans, but the remote can be used for all manner of Media Center content and other streaming media, such as Joost, You Tube and the like,” Smith says.

The viewing area of the LCD is 39mm x 27mm (1.5in x 1.1in, L x W). The pixel dimensions are 160 x 104.

The unit is built with relative motion control. “This is a key feature for user comfort, as it allows the users to hold their hand in the most comfortable position (e.g. lying on the couch) and then just press the button to control the cursor in that position,” Smith says, adding that an absolute sensor would require the user to hold up their arm and point in a specific orientation. “That would be very uncomfortable and tiresome for long-term use,” he points out.

The gyro in the R4000 is mechanical. It has an internal beam that vibrates at 1.8 kHz. The amplitude of the motion, however, is measured down to 0.6 microns. As such, it is essentially “solid state.” The amount of movement is equivalent to the movement in a silicon chip, Smith notes.

The R4000, which is being manufactured for Gyration in China, will be targeted at the Christmas computer buying season, Smith says. It will not be bundled with music or games. The only bundle they plan for this Fall is the announced bundle with a compact wireless keyboard.

The company has one controller on the market without a LCD. “And,” Smith says, “We have a roadmap with some exciting integrated controllers.”

Look for the R4000 to be promoted strongly at point of sale locations, in newspaper circulars and over the Web.

At the moment they are seeking retail outlets to handle the R4000. Smith says they can not say, at this time, which retailers will handle the controller but that they are looking to confirm stores that will sell it.