HandSpring Bringing Treo 270 to China

Posted By: Ryan Thursday, November 21, 2002 4:20:22 PM

Handspring has announced the availability of the Treo 270 communicator in China by a partnership with CEC Telecom Co., Ltd.and GrandTech. The new metallic silver Treo will be sold as the CECT Treo 270 and is anticipated to be available in business channels and leading mobile phone and IT stores within the next 30 days.

The CECT Treo 270 will come with a CJKOS Chinese overlay and HanWan handwriting input software at no additional cost. The product will also come in a newly designed box specific to the Chinese market and will include a special software package of Palm OS applications. The combined value of all the bundled software is over 300 RMB. CECT will be responsible for final assembly and manufacturing in China and GrandTech, as Handspring's sole distributor in Asia, will be responsible for marketing and distribution.

"The CECT Treo 270 is a great example of how Handspring can work with local distributors and manufacturers to tailor a product for the specific needs of a market," said Joe Sipher, vice president of worldwide marketing for Handspring. "We believe that the Treo provides the best experience on an integrated voice and data device today, and with the cooperation of CECT and GrandTech we will be able to bring it to a new group of users in China."

Treo 270 KB The CECT Treo 270 is a communicator that combines a GSM/GPRS mobile phone, a Palm OS organizer, wireless email, SMS text messaging and Internet access in a small and lightweight device. Treo is small, measuring 11 x 6.9 x 1.8 centimeters and weighing only 147 grams, but its flip-open design makes possible a large screen suitable for web page viewing and text messaging. The metallic silver colored CECT Treo 270 features a rocker switch for easy one-handed navigation, speakerphone capability and GPRS compatibility.

Treo users can access the Internet through Handspring's award-winning Blazer web browser, which is optimized for use on communicators and handheld computers to provide fast access to almost any site on the Internet, not just those web sites designed exclusively for mobile access. Treo also includes standard Palm OS features like desktop synchronization with Microsoft Outlook and compatibility with thousands of Palm OS applications.

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Surprised

abosco @ 11/21/2002 4:39:04 PM #

Wow, I'm surprised some other Palm OS licensee besides Acer would enter the Chinese market. Does this make only the fourth Palm OS unit available in China, or have the s50 and s60 not been released yet?

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RE: Surprised

twrock @ 11/23/2002 7:29:34 PM #

It doesn't surprise me that HandSpring would want to enter that market. Any company with half a brain knows that potential of the Chinese market. But going in doesn't mean you are going to make it.

You'd better have some savy people on-board in your company that you can trust who really understand the special environment in China and know how to work with it. They certainly don't play by North American rules. Acer already knows how the game is played. If you don't understand the "house rules," you stand a chance of losing big.

World expansion but no joy at home.

Ninja @ 11/21/2002 5:36:11 PM #

Great they can launch in China but they still can't release the d@mn GPRS patch for the US. Yea yea I know That it is supposed to be the carriers and not HS. Well if that was the case it should not have been marketed the way it was. I bought my 270 back in June and still have to use dial up on it. No I will not use the patch available and risk voiding my warranty, but hell at this pace I won't have a warranty to void if they don't hurry up.

RE: World expansion but no joy at home.

bcombee @ 11/21/2002 6:25:27 PM #

TreoCentral reports that Handspring said that the GPRS updates would be available in the US next week. See http://www.treocentral.com/content/Stories/187-1.htm for details.

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Programming help at www.palmoswerks.com

RE: World expansion but no joy at home.

Ninja @ 11/21/2002 6:36:29 PM #

Great, thanks for this info I hope it turns out to be true. After my first post I called HS and was told they have no timetable for the release then came back here and saw your post. I just hope that after almost six months it really happens this time. Sorry everyone I know this is off topic for this thread, I'll be quite now.

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