TelePDA focus on finance

A Hong Kong company is hoping to strike gold with its new GPRS-upgradable PDA (personal digital assistant) phone and Chinese-language paging device for users who need time-sensitive financial data.

The two GSM hand-held computers are produced by Hong Kong TelePDA, a joint venture with Taiwan-based TelePaq Technology.

The TelePDA, which sports a 240 by 340 pixel monochrome LCD screen, uses a Motorola Dragonball 32-bit chip and has 18.5 megabytes of Ram. It runs on the company's proprietary Chinese-language operating system, Tele OS.

The paging device features PIM (personal information manager) functions compatible with Microsoft Outlook, games and an English-to-Chinese and Chinese-to-English dictionary. It can receive data at up to 32 kilobits per second.

The TeleWin 168 PDA is equipped with mobile-phone functions, but users cannot access the Web as the proprietary operating system does not have a browser.

Hong Kong TelePDA hopes to tap into the Greater China market by offering Chinese-language, interactive financial services on its products.

Managing director Tammie Kwok said the company had devoted its research efforts to producing mobile-commerce devices with viable business applications.

'As Hong Kong is one of the world's hubs for international financial services, we think the services offered by TelePDA fulfil the needs of those who are engaged in stock-trading and foreign commodities investments,' he said.

The TelePDA offers real-time stock information, such as stock prices and indices of the main board and the Growth Enterprise Market, stock-price charts, futures, as well as stock-price information from the United States and Britain.

This product would enable investors to make timely decisions on stock transactions, Mr Kwok said.

Dow Jones Newswire and ET Net will provide daily, real-time financial news as well as indices of Hong Kong and major cities.

'It is not only a PDA, we also provide value-added services that a normal PDA cannot offer,' said Mr Kwok.

'Value-added services such as information on stock-market trends and commentary, as well as personal transaction returns, will make this product your real financial assistant.'

He said Hong Kong TelePDA would provide users with interactive business applications such as stock exchange, insurance, ticketing and horse-racing.

Assistant marketing manager Pan Yan said the company would develop a Web browser and an e-mail client in the next-generation products, and provide more m-commerce services.

The two products will be available in Hong Kong through retail stores after next month. Pricing details for the devices were not available.