Dell Computer Corp, seeking to boost sales to corporate customers, said it will begin selling wireless e-mail and data services provided by closely held Good Technology Inc to businesses this year.
Dell, the largest seller of server computers in the US, also said it will work with Good Technology to develop new wireless hand-held computers and services designed to run on advanced cellular networks. The companies' sales and marketing alliance doesn't involve any equity exchange.
Good Technology provides a wireless messaging system known as GoodLink that's built to work with different types of hand-held operating systems. The company also sells a hand-held device, the G100, that lets users access information and synchronize with servers without using a cradle or installing special software on a personal computer. Dell will begin selling the G100 in the third quarter.
"We got a lot of feedback from customers that wireless messaging was too hard and too expensive," said Tony Bonadero, who oversees Dell's wireless and hand-held businesses. "They would like to see Dell make it more affordable and more standards-based."
Dell and Good are betting demand for wireless messaging will increase as cellular networks improve and common standards pave the way for new functions and lower prices for services.
"Wireless text messaging is very important" to businesses, said Kevin Burden, program manager of the mobile devices group at research firm IDC. "Dell has seen the momentum that BlackBerry sales are gaining and has seen the opportunity."
Good Technology said its GoodLink service gives users continuous access to company information such as contacts, calendars and customer data.
Since Dell began shipping hand-held computers last November, it has climbed to fourth in that market behind Palm Inc, Hewlett- Packard Co and Sony Corp.
Good Technology, based in Sunnyvale, California, plans to raise its third round of institutional venture capital funding this year, Chief Executive Officer Danny Shader said. Good, backed by venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Benchmark Capital, has raised US$76 million since its March 2000 founding, Shader said.
Shares of Round Rock, Texas-based Dell rose US$0.42 to US$29.75 as of 4pm New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique