Friday, October 03, 2008

HAIER TO LAUNCH LOW-COST COMPUTING DEVICES IN INDIA

Mansi Taneja, New Delhi
Financial Chronicle

China-based firm Haier Mobile plans to bring a low-cost computing device, which could be a PDA (personal digital assistant) or a laptop, to the Indian market.

The company is in talks with an operator in India for the launch, Haier Mobile’s managing director and vice-chairman Arun K Khanna told Financial Chronicle. However, Khanna refused to give any additional details about the product or the timeline for the launch.

Haier also plans to launch 3G-enabled data devices, which would allow users to access the internet at a high speed in addition to faster downloads.

“We are working on 3G-enabled data devices … We plan to bring out the devices before India gets 3G ready,” Khanna added. The data devices would help users to access the internet at a high speed, he said.

The commercial rollout of 3G services in India is expected to start by early next year.

Haier Mobile, which is one of the major code division multiple access (CDMA) handsets provider, has recently forayed into global system for mobile communications (GSM) space. The company has launched three GSM mobile phones and plans to increase its portfolio in the near term.

The company enjoys a market share of 20 per cent in the CDMA space. It is targeting to capture 5 per cent share in the GSM space and increase its share to 28 per cent in the CDMA space. To increase adoption of its handsets across the country, Haier is also designing its mobile phones to suit the specific requirements of people.

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