Hand-held computer giant Palm Inc. has landed in Japan, setting up a subsidiary and releasing two new models with a fully localized operating system, company officials announced Thursday in Tokyo.
"This is an exciting day for Palm," said Carl Yankowski, visiting chief executive officer of the California-based company, which claims to have 70 percent of the hand-held computer market worldwide with more than 5 million users and 7,000 types of application software.
Yankowski came to Japan to announce the establishment of Palm Computing K.K., a wholly owned Japanese subsidiary with capital of 10 million yen. The firm is to be headed by Representative Director Graig Will.
The company in mid-April will begin marketing a Japanese version of the Palm IIIc, which boasts a 256-color liquid crystal display, and Palm Vx, a black-and-white model with less power consumption, at 300 stores across the country.
The retail price of the Palm IIIc will be 49,800 yen and Palm Vx 41,800 yen.
Until now, Japanese versions of Palm's products have been marketed under IBM Japan Ltd. and not under Palm's own brand name.
The palm-size computing pads help users manage schedules, phone directories and other personal information on an LCD screen.
Users can input letters and figures by writing them on the screen with a stylus.
Yankowski said the secret of Palm's worldwide success is simplicity, with a focus on users' needs and not on what technology can do. He summarized the strategy with the phrase "less is more."
He predicted that Palm products will eventually incorporate mobile phone functions with connectivity to the Internet. He said two major advantages they have over smart mobile phones are their larger displays and graphic user interfaces.