While the products of the labor of Toronto’s TOPIX Computer Graphics and Animation have been seen on many a screen, a Hong Kong phone booth is an unlikely place to find the company’s handiwork. topix became involved in the interactive telco project through an equally unlikely set of circumstances and beat out a laundry list of interactive shops to get the job.

The project is called the Power Phone, an interactive multimedia telephone service launched on the streets of Hong Kong. Following the deregulation of the phone industry there three years ago, communications company Infa, through its New World Communication arm, wanted to develop a public phone service that would offer additional information via a touch-sensitive kiosk.

The company, which is cozy with the Communist government, wanted to surprise the local industry, so exited the country to develop the service. The son of a company principal attending the University of Toronto brought the contingent to t.o. where officials interviewed many of the city’s interactive and graphics shops before handing the assignment to topix.

topix designed the interactive interface, screen, commercials, interactive flow charts and information guides for the service, delivering a graphic information package to Infa in Hong Kong where it was loaded onto the company’s phone system technology.

The service allows phone users, idly wasting time on hold or waiting for someone to pick up, to punch at a nearby screen to find ferry schedules, entertainment events and other useful information.

The Power Phone is currently only available in downtown Hong Kong but the company is working toward providing the service throughout China and, ultimately, the world.

Infa wigs had also discussed with topix the possibility of the Toronto effects shop going to China to pitch the mainland segment of the business. topix chief Chris Wallace says that’s not likely at present; the technology is still in the early phase and the Chinese telco is in the process of analyzing the service and getting market feedback.

Wallace says topix has developed a significant interactive capability, taking its commercial graphics infrastructure and using it as a springboard to a variety of different types of work. The company has an html and Java programmer as well as a publisher on staff, and has completed interactive projects including Websites for government and private companies.