Desi handheld-cum-mobile to hit market soon

Nancy Sudheer

MUMBAI: Skorydov Systems is now looking at expanding its channel network across India. At the same time, the company has announced plans of launching its second product following the initial success of its PC Slate. It is also in talks with Tata Telecom and D-Link (Singapore) for manufacturing its products in India.

Skorydov is planning to launch a handheld-cum-telephone having GSM and CDMA technology in another six months. It would be a smaller version of the PC Slate, which was launched in August 2001. The PC slate is just like a Tablet PC and has been developed in India with parts sourced from all over the world and manufactured in Korea.

"The PDA will be just like the Palm but can also be used as a telephone. The pricing has not been fixed as yet but it will not be a low cost PDA. None of our products are targeting the low cost segment. It’s wrong that India is a price sensitive market because this segment is present in all countries," said Saakar Yadav, MD, Skorydov Systems.

The configuration of the new handheld would include WiFi and will sport a digital camera. It would have a 32-bit processor and flash storage of eight-MB or 16 MB. It will also have USB and standard serial port, internal microphone/speaker and rechargeable batteries.

Ingram Micro is the national distributor of Skorydov, which has a channel network of nearly 100 dealers. The company has its network spread out in all the metros– Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune and also a few other smaller cities. "Now we want to expand this network across India but we have not fixed any numbers as yet. Skorydov is not looking at specialized dealers to sell this product," stated Yadav.

The company is also selling its product through the vertical segments and has a clientele from sectors such as banking and telecom. It is currently in talks with Orange. It proposes to provide a complete wireless network to the corporate. To this en, it has lined up tie up with Sixth Sense, an ISP.

For starters, Skorydov would provide WiFi network at Nariman Point, Mumbai. "Skorydov is now looking at launching a new product every year, which will also increase our brand presence. Over the years, the number of new products to be launched would increase, " said Yadav. . "Until today, we have sold 5,000 PC slates in the Indian market. Presently, our products are selling in large numbers outside the country."

(CNS)