Blogs

Primo Mobile Partners Up with ITE East

By Wong Casandra - on 17 Dec 2010, 5:10pm

The event first started out like most product launches do - a short introduction by the panel, followed by a Q and A session. Usually, that will end with a quick hands-on tour of sorts, before the media is left to their own to mingle and chit chat. But both Primo Mobile and ITE East had other news up their sleeves (on the other hand, the curious location should have given us a heads-up): in the second half of the launch, they announced the start of a unique partnership forged between the local company and ITE College East's Mobile Device Technology Centre. For now, let's take a closer look at the phones.

The Evoluzione is a 2.1 Android smartphone running on a 600MHz processor. The phone features a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash and is set to cost $788 (subject to changes next year).

The Passione, slated to be released in Q2 next year, comes with the Brew 1.6 platform. The phone is designed heavily with the car's build in mind. Price is unreleased for now, but keep a look out if you are a huge fan.

The Passione comes in two editions - here, the yellow Limited Edition one comes with an authentic signature as well as a limited edition certification and serial number. Primo has plans to sell 4,000 copies of this, and 30,000 copies of the normal black edition ones.

While Primo Mobile currently has a service centre for their phones in Funan, they have now eagerly tapped onto available expertise in ITE College East. Yes, that's right, customers have the choice of going down to either Funan or the Mobile Device Technology Centre, Primo Mobile's second authorized service centre, to get their phones serviced (mainly for generic problems; for severe cases, customers are allowed a one-to-one swop). Interestingly, this is the first official partnership that the centre has with a mobile company up to date. While most customers will be apprehensive about leaving their phones in the hands of non-professionals, there isn't much to worry about: the students have been trained in all aspects from customer servicing, product knowledge, retail skills to technical servicing and will be doing this alongside lecturers.

Students will go through simulated scenarios where they are taught how to deal with customer queries.

Students are also encouraged to develop their own apps on different platforms like the Android or Apple OS.

This collaboration will no doubt provide these students with an authentic hands-on experience. Of course, it also stands as a fine example of local businesses working hand-in-hand with the workforce of the future. It is heartening to see such initiatives around especially since it is a good platform for those interested to go into the tech side of business. At the same time, we wonder how many Singaporeans will be open to the idea of leaving their gadgets to students, even if the servicing is not anything too complicated.

Wong Casandra

Wong Casandra / Former Tech Writer

A regular self-confessed gamer, and consumer-tech geek. Also, an amateur photographer who currently shoots on a Nikon DSLR 90. BOOYAH!

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