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Palm Inc launches in India; eyes Korea, China

Palm Inc, the world's largest maker of personal digital assistants, on Tuesday launched its products in India as part of an effort to expand its presence in the fast growing Asia-Pacific region.

Chng Poh Hwa, Palm's regional director, Asia-Pacific, told Reuters in an interview ahead of the launch that Palm was eyeing Korea and China as its next ports of entry in the region.

"India is a huge market with a lot of potential and we have been looking at it for some time," he said, citing optimism based on the way Indians had taken to mobile phones, indicating a need for mobile devices.

He said Palm sold 50 percent of the PDAs in the Asia-Pacific region, but said this was less than its global 60-70 percent market share mainly because of its absence in China where there are a lot of local PDA makers.

Palm, spun off a year ago from 3Com Corp, established its base in Asia last year and sells in Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and Taiwan.

The Santa Clara, California-based Palm, which is suffering from an inventory glut following the US economic slowdown, has been slashing product prices in the United States to cut stocks, but Chng said entering new markets was not part of the strategy to reduce inventory.

Palm has warned its inventory, which swelled to $102 million in the quarter ending March from $34 million three months earlier, could grow to $300 million this quarter.

"Part of the issue has been that for a long time, Palm had shortage. We were not shipping enough. We went in for multiple suppliers to ensure we had enough for shipping and then just as we turned the tap on, the US economy slid," he said.

Palm is considering opening an office in India, he said, but added it was too early to set a timeframe.

India pricing lower than US

Palm is introducing four models in India - the entry-level Palm m100, Palm m105, Palm IIIc and Palm Vx, priced at Rs 8,000, Rs 11,500, Rs 16,500 and Rs 17,000, respectively, exclusive of local taxes and levies.

Hwa said these prices, exclusive of the import duties, were lower than in the United States, because Palm wanted to make an aggressive entry into the Indian market.

Palm's products will be distributed in India by Ingram Micro India and Tech Pacific Technology (India).

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