PalmOne denies China departure
PalmOne on Thursday denied persistent reports that the manufacturer of personal digital assistants (PDAs) had withdrawn from the China market.
Mainland media this week reported the United States-based company had closed its Shanghai office and co-operation with Chinese manufacturers Lenovo and Founder and Taiwan's Acer Computer had ceased.
Chief executive Todd Bradley dismissed those reports as rumours: 'We've got a growing presence in China. We've already added some sales people ... We've grown share in the last 12 months. It's very much an emerging market for us.'
China is an important manufacturing base for palmOne. Its Zire and Tungsten PDAs are manufactured by Taiwanese companies Asustek and Inventec in the mainland while the recently released Treo 650 smart phone is made by High Tech Computer in Taiwan.
But selling those products in the mainland has been a more difficult task, with PDAs running a Microsoft operating system dominating the market.
Mr Bradley declined to reveal China sales figures. 'It's a very, very early stage market. But, at the same time, we see it growing aggressively,' he said.
PalmOne sells just PDAs in China. To sell smart phones, it needs a licence, for which a mainland partner is required. 'We'll look at various partners. We're not going to announce a date [to enter the smart phone market] today,' he said.
The company has about 10 staff in Hong Kong and fewer than 10 in China.
In Hong Kong, the company works with mobile operators SmarTone Communications and CSL.
