Earlier today, ASUS threw in a special launch party for their PDA products in India. The event saw the launch of two new PDA phones – P526 and M530w from the ASUS camp. ASUS wants to be a key player in the Indian PDA Phone market which currently has a strength of 180k units. Along with the launch of the two new premium PDA phones for business professionals, ASUS also revealed their product strategy for the next couple of years. More details regarding the PDAs, pricing, availability and future releases after the break.

Prior to today’s announcement, ASUS had two PDAs on offer for the Indian customers – ASUS P535 & ASUS P525. Each of these carried a relatively hefty price tag of Rs. 28,000/- and Rs. 18,900/- respectively. Considering they were first-gen products from ASUS to be launched as PDAs in the Indian market, no one can blame them. ASUS is relatively new player in the PDA segment, especially so in the case of India. As a result, their first aim is to create brand awareness. They plan to initially target the top five metros – Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi and Kolkata followed by other cities and towns across India.

Launch of New PDAs:

Today’s special event was primarily for the launch of two new PDA phones – ASUS P526 and ASUS M530W. We had given a brief insight on both these products earlier, and now we see their official launch. Find below more information on both the new PDAs:

ASUS P526:

The P526 is works on Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional OS and is a quad-band GSM phone. It has dimensions of 110 x 58 x 15.4 mm and weighs 115g with 1300mAH battery. The rated standby time and talk time are 150 & 4 hours respectively.

It comes in standard silver-grey finish, sports a 2.6-inch TFT display capable of 65k colors & 240×320 pixel resolution. This PDA phone also features GPS capabilities thanks to the built-in SiRF Star III Chip. On the multimedia front, the device sports 2-Megapixel camera. It features 128MB Flash Memory with 64MB SDRAM; also takes microSD cards for added storage space.

Show ASUS P526 Detailed Specs ▼

ASUS M530w Smart Phone:

M530w comes in two colors and features full QWERTY keypad. It’s 3G capable and is more suitable for users who send and recieve a lot of emails. M530w supports various mail server systems such as POP3, IMAP4, BlackBerry 4.0 and Microsoft Exchange. The pre-installed OS is again Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional. Screen used is a 2.4-inch one capable of 65k colors and 240×360 resolution. The 2-Megapixel camera gives the M530w Business Card Recognition ability.

Show ASUS M530w Detailed Specs ▼

In addition, both the models provide MS Office document editing, Windows Live and Remote presenter features.

Availability & Pricing:

Both the ASUS P526 & ASUS M530W would be available from Monday (3rd December, 2007) via ASUS’ channel partners. India Digital Lifestyle Distributors Pvt. Ltd. (IDLDPL) will also distribute ASUS PDA phones to major mobile phone retails across the coutry.

The P526 model will retail for Rs. 16,990/- while the M530w will set you back by Rs. 20,900/- (MRP).

ASUS is also in talks with various telecom service providers to bundle above-mentioned ASUS PDA phones with their new subscribers. No tie-ups have been revealed so far.

Future Plans:

By June 2008, ASUS India wants to gain a significant share of the PDA phone market in India and be the number one PDA phone provider in India in the next two years. Only time will tell if ASUS is successful in this new endeavor.

Other soon-to-be launched handsets are 3.5G-based P750 which is expected to be available from December, 2007 for Rs. 32,000/-. The P527 is also scheduled for an early-2008 release.

Establishing itself in this saturated smartphone market of India won’t be easy going even for a company like ASUS. Manufacturers like BlackBerry, HTC, HP, PALM and others have already gained a head start by coming to the market early. ASUS is clearly at a disadvantage in that respect. Moreover, ASUS’ channel partners are mostly PC assemblers/vendors which don’t have direct experience & customers related with PDA phones. So, let’s see how this works out for ASUS.

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