A Pocket-Size Cellular Phone From Motorola : Telecommunications: The 7.7-ounce device will hit the market in a few weeks and is expected to sell for about $1,000.

Motorola Inc. took a jump forward in the race to put a cellular telephone in every pocket Tuesday, introducing a new model that weighs less than half a pound.

The compact phone is the lightest in the world, just beating out rival Japanese models.

The company said its MicroTAC Lite Digital Personal Communicator Telephone weighs 7.7 ounces and measures 11.6 cubic inches.

It folds up to nest comfortably in a coat pocket.

While Motorola said it did not set a retail price, a company executive said he expects the phone to sell for about $1,000 when it reaches the market in a few weeks.

And if you don’t mind lugging another 2.4 ounces, the Schaumburg, Ill.-based electronics giant also introduced a second, fancier model.

The MicroTAC Alpha Series Digital Personal Communicator Telephone has a dot matrix color screen that displays names and numbers, a memory bank and a signal strength meter.

If you’re tied up with some important business when the phone rings, don’t panic--both models come equipped with auto-answering features.

The 7.7-ounce MicroTAC Lite model has a talk time of up to 45 minutes, or 24 hours of standby time, and 2 1/2 hours with an extended-life battery.

Its heavier 10.1-ounce cousin, equipped with two batteries, offers 130 minutes of continuous talk time.

Motorola introduced the original MicroTAC in 1989 as the first cellular phone to weigh less than one pound, at 10 1/2 ounces.

Additional features of the MicroTAC Lite include a 911 override that allows the user to make emergency calls even when the phone is locked, storage of 99 32-digit phone numbers and a directory for storage of names and numbers.

“It will be important to keep them in a competitive position against the Japanese and help it capitalize in growth of subscribers,” Oppenheimer analyst Lior Bregman said.

Robert Weisshappel, senior vice president of Motorola’s Pan American Cellular Subscriber Group, told a news conference that the phones initially will be marketed through direct-sales channels and phone carriers rather than at retail outlets.

He said the company is working on lightening the MicroTAC even more and said adding a pager feature is also a possibility, but would not give specifics.

Motorola introduced the first cellular phone weighing less than two pounds in 1984.

It said cellular phones accounted for 30% of the new telephone market by the end of 1990 and are expected to climb to 50% by 1995.

Company officials refused to divulge Motorola’s share of the cellular phone market.