Rumor: HTC to Manufacture Next Treo?

Besides, is anyone not contracting to China at this point anyway?

Besides, is anyone not contracting to China at this point anyway?

Tapwave, Sony and Garmin are all making better quality devices. Sonys are made in Japan. I believe Garmin is made in Taiwan + Tapwave in the US. Palms/Treos were made in US, Hungary, Mexico, Brasil + China, now almost all future models will be made in China. Palm's quality has slipped badly in the past three years (the build quality on Palms started to nosedive after they stopped making IIIxe + Vx) and it looks like this isn't about to get any better.

I don't know about your CLIE, but I've used several of their models including S300, S320, N760, UX50 and they have all been rock solid.

You like me! You really like me!

And you're an idiot because:
Taiwan is not China. I happen to live in Taiwan. It's not a very cool place, but that doesn't mean they don't make good quality manufactured products. If Palm is able to find a responsible company, they can get at least as high quality as in the U.S. There are poor quality manufacturers in your homeland, too.
Then consider the wages that are paid in factories: in the U.S. it's at least minimum wage. In Taiwan, it could be a quarter that, or less. If you want to buy a PDA 100% US-manufactured, those wages are going to be a large part of the price. Think about that next time you whine that something's too expensive.
Just to fuel your racist reactionism: Many of the factory workers in Taiwan are Filipino. How does that affect your patriotic sensitivities?

My Zodiac says "Assembled in China" on the back. And yes, its build quality is quite impressive.

Oliver

Your remarks were not racist, simply ignorant.

You don't really understand the concept of economies of scale and massproduction at all, do you?

Sure, palmOne could bring the production "back" to North America, but would you buy the product if it was priced at $1000 upwards?

Clearly not. Pseudo-patriotism usually goes out of the window when it comes to opening up your own wallet.

Oh, and BTW - was the Treo 600 ever manufactured in the USA at all, so that it can be "brought back"?

Atul Chitnis
http://atulchitnis.net

saying you want them to bring production back to america for quality is BS, have them bring it back for more jobs for our many unemployed people because more and more companies are outsourcing the assembly, which in turn takes away from the job pool avaliable to us americans

And you're a reactionist, because he clearly indicated he knew the difference in both posts, and actually complimented the quality from Taiwan when he said, "Tapwave, Sony and Garmin are all making better quality devices.... I believe Garmin is made in Taiwan"

You may remove your foot from your mouth at your leisure.

Oh my. I'll assume English is not your first language and ignore your little seizure. If you read my post again, perhaps you'll see that I was indicating that Taiwanese-made goods are of better quality than Chinese-made goods. While Made In Taiwan used to imply lower quality (in the 1970s), that country's manufacturers have made huge strides in the past 30 years. In fact, I've found that Taiwanese goods are frequently superior to those made in the USA and most other countries.

I don't expect you're man/woman enough to apologize for yur psychotic break.

Freedom of speech, baby. Gotta love it,

Oliver

Which model do you have? I saw one of the high end ones last year and thought it was made in the USA. In any event, your comment goes to show any country can make quality goods. Palm needs to either use a better manufacturer or pay their Chinese production company enough so that they can build Palm better handhelds.

Freedom of speech, baby. Gotta love it,

Your remarks were not racist, simply ignorant.

I disagree. Country of manufacture still can predict a lot about quality. USA-made Toyotas, Hondas, and BMWs may "consistently outperform their GM, Ford, and Chrysler counterparts", but they also consistently are lower in quality their Japanese counterparts. Which tells me that for some reason Japanese and German workers may make better vehicles than their American counterparts. My opinion, but borne also out by quality ratings published by a number of independent groups.

And why is it that Japanese and Taiwanese goods seem to be made better than those (of similar price) from other countries?

Freedom of speech, baby. Gotta love it,

Oh, and BTW - was the Treo 600 ever manufactured in the USA at all, so that it can be "brought back"?

Actually, my grasp of economics probably far exceeds what yours could ever be. Palms made in the USA would be somewhat more expensive than those made in China as labor costs here are exponentially higher. But it can be done - and without having to sell goods for ridiculously inflated prices. Much of PDA production is automated and components needed are generally few in number and available "off the shelf". People like you that give up and claim it's hopeless trying to compete with countries like China in the manufacturing industry don't understand how serious a mistake that is.

Freedom of speech, baby. Gotta love it,

HTC is based in Taiwan, but it was my understanding that they had plants in China. If this is not true, I stand corrected.

Freedom of speech, baby. Gotta love it,

Freedom of speech, baby. Gotta love it,

LOL. You really need to learn to read a little deeper into things before posting such comments.

Let's see how long it takes you to figure *that* out, and how long it will take for your next nonsensical remark to appear. My gues is - hours for the former, seconds for the latter.

Have a nice day, my dear "economist".

Atul Chitnis
http://atulchitnis.net

"Taiwan is not China. I happen to live in Taiwan."

Yeah, but you guys have not declared independence from China, and China is a communist military dictatorship that has nuclear weapons targeted at American children. I see no evidence of you guys trying to establish a better quality of life in your country. I buy Made in the USA, or barring that, Made in one of the G7 Countries -- UK, Canada, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, and the USA -- because other nations either are not democracies or do not support basic human rights such as life liberty and the pursuit of property. (Jefferson was originally going to write "property", but changed it.)

" There are poor quality manufacturers in your homeland, too."

Perhaps, but in the great nation of the United States of America, if you point at the White House and start screaming expletives, you will not be arrested. Our leaders are elected. We have private property. We have a requirement for due process being pursued before a man is deprived of life liberty or property. None of these things are true in 3rd world plutocracies, and DEFINITELY not true in China, a communist military dictatorship.

In China, if you protest against the government, they run you over with a tank, and there will no consequences to this, as they are a dictatorship.

"Then consider the wages that are paid in factories: in the U.S. it's at least minimum wage. In Taiwan, it could be a quarter that, or less."

You say this as if you approve of it.

" If you want to buy a PDA 100% US-manufactured, those wages are going to be a large part of the price. Think about that next time you whine that something's too expensive."

I don't. I once paid $200 for a PC case because it was Made in the USA. I am a capitalist and I believe in voting with my pocketbook. I have absolutely no problem with paying higher prices to avoid human suffering. Everything I am wearing right now is Made in the USA.

"Just to fuel your racist reactionism: Many of the factory workers in Taiwan are Filipino. How does that affect your patriotic sensitivities?"

America is a nation, not a race. There are Americans who happen to be of Asian decent. They have all the same rights and freedoms as other Americans.

--Brian, 26 male, Silicon Valley, former US Navy submariner

The site has lost its "zing" though. There used to be a lot more tips, juicy scoops, flame wars and a sense of humor aamong posters few years ago. Mike Cane is the only one keeping the tradition alive, but I worry about his health. No sign of him here for days (except this pathetic "tip") - could the end be near?

You like me! You really like me!

Where are all the regulars here? One by one they've disappeared. Were they all killed by PPC hit squads, or just bored with Palm/Palminfocenter?

Makes me wonder how accurate Alexa data is. (The low Palmgear traffic is also surprising.)

http://traffic.alexa.com/graph?w=379&h=216&r=2y&u=palminfocenter.com/&u=

http://traffic.alexa.com/graph?w=379&h=216&r=2y&u=brighthand.com/&u=

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http://traffic.alexa.com/graph?w=379&h=216&r=2y&u=cliesource.com/&u=

http://traffic.alexa.com/graph?w=379&h=216&r=2y&u=palmgear.com/&u=

http://traffic.alexa.com/graph?w=379&h=216&r=2y&u=palmstation.com/&u=

Freedom of speech, baby. Gotta love it,

Freedom of speech, baby. Gotta love it,

Freedom of speech, baby. Gotta love it,