“The enterprise segment is our top priority”

Having launched two new products - the Treo 600 smartphone and the Tungsten T5 in India to cash on the Indian appetite for hi-end handhelds, PalmOne is finding competitors like HP and Research In Motion (RIM) snapping at its heels and eating into its turf. Undeterred by this development, PalmOne Asia Pacific wireless business unit Regional Director, Daren Ng remains confident that the company would maintain its consistent position as the numero uno handheld player. 

How has your foray into the Indian market been so far? 

Firstly, we are happy about PalmOne's performance in India. The company has had a 70% share this Q1 in the handheld space, according to Gartner. Our strategy is to meet the demands of the local community. 

India and south Asia will continue to be our area of focus. We are not using India as a dumping ground, but as a high growth market to launch new models. We are actively pursuing the enterprise segment for our handhelds. We have already bagged sales force automation orders from a major FMCG player and a pharmaceutical company in the country. Other sectors like insurance are under evaluation. 

PalmOne is also focused on building partnerships with application developers and SIs for mobility software solutions. In the enterprise segment, TVS Electronics is one of the largest providers of Palm OS solutions. We have in place a partner program called Plugged In, which is a forum for developers to share views and information. We have also invested into a dedicated
hotline for customers. 

Are you also pursuing the retail route?

Retail is an important part of our strategy. We are evaluating key retailers in three major cities - Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. We have already spoken to Creative Infotech and Ample Communications in Bangalore. The interest is certainly there. However, the enterprise segment would definitely be top priority.

According to a Gartner report, PalmOne's worldwide market share in the last quarter fell by 13% and rivals like HP and RIM are closely gaining more ground. Does PalmOne have any specific plans to tackle this?

Market share fluctuates from quarter to quarter. There's a positive way of looking at our growth. Compared to a Goliath like HP, which is the provider of computer hardware and peripherals and is also into handhelds, PalmOne is dedicated and focused only on handhelds. We continue to dominate the market despite the presence of large companies.

In terms of strategy, it is always about making sure our fundamentals are good and make products that are acceptable to the local market. Secondly, we want to sustain our community of solution developers. Customer support is also very important for us. 

There was a report that PalmOne is moving out of China and two distributors have pulled out of the PalmOne business. Can you elaborate?

No, There is no way we are backing out of China. We have an office there. We had to make some difficult choices and have appointed a new distributor Worldlink. Our market share in China is around 5%, since the local manufacturers are strong. We are trying to increase our presence there. 

Would PalmOne be shifting to operating systems like Windows and Linux?

As of now, PalmOne has no such plans. We are happy with the Palm OS. However, one can never say never. But right now, the response to Palm OS is very encouraging.

BANGALORE