Personal digital assistant (PDA) manufacturer and operating system designer Palm Inc said yesterday that sluggish consumer sales have forced the company to focus on customizing its products for businesses.
"Because of the economic slowdown, Palm expects that gains in [sales to] businesses will make up for the loss in the consumer sector this year," said Connie Chiu (
"Palm's business sales account for 40 percent of its total US market sales, however, Palm has acquired less than 10 percent in north Asia," she said. "We therefore believe there is a lot of room for growth."
In the US, companies such as Citibank and Chase Manhattan, along with Harvard University Medical School and about 60 hospitals already use Palm PDAs.
In Taiwan, insurance companies such as Cathay Life Insurance Co Ltd (
Other target industries in Taiwan are sales teams, medical institutions, financial service organizations, retail distributors and information technology companies, she said.
But one market pundit says that with no fast and stable wireless network in place, PDA efficiency is not yet at its optimum.
"Without mature wireless services and software applications, the PDA's mobile performance is limited," said Su Yu-yi (
For example, sales personnel cannot update inventory records and send orders back to their home office efficiently without a cheap and fast wireless transmission network in place, Su said.
While software has been created for the medical and manufacturing sectors, PDA providers must customize software for use in other industries, he said.
Another local PDA manufacturer -- Compaq Taiwan Ltd -- got the jump on Palm last year, sending its sales of PDAs to businesses up 30 percent in the first half over the final half of 2000.
"The business sector is becoming increasingly important for Compaq versus consumer goods," said Richard Shieh (
Compaq employs the Windows CE operating system.
Compaq has targeted medical institutions, retail distributors and manufacturers, Shieh said.
Asked to compare the two operating systems, MIC's Su voiced confidence in Windows CE.
Since companies require devices that can easily integrate with their database and supply chains, "the Windows CE operating system, which has better compatibility, is a more powerful tool," Su said.
A wide gap in the two systems may be the bottom line.
"The cost of a PDA with Windows CE is twice the price of a Palm, and this is a major drawback," Su said.
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