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Hong Kong's 1st 'Unicorn' Startup - $1 Billion Valuation

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  1. #11

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    Jun 2006
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    Looks like they renamed to "Handy"?

    It has legs until international roaming contracts become more common place, pretty much only T-mobile in the US so far? More practical would be a basic Bluetooth beacon and tailored app for the hotel providing similar services. Travelers are going to want WeChat, WhatsApp, and basically their phone.

    It's like a cute gimmick but such a volatile business model.


  2. #12

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    Jun 2010
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    There was one of these in the Indigo in Wan Chai when I stayed there in May. It never left the room.


  3. #13

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    Aug 2006
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    Quote Originally Posted by drumbrake:
    There's one of these phones in a hotel I sometimes stay at in Macau. I've never used it. Main reason is that I don't want to enter any of my personal details such as email or other accounts and passwords into the phone - I don't care what they say about the phone being wiped at the end of each day. Instead I'd prefer to use my own phone, and use wifi in restaurants or bars that I visit. Possibly it would be useful for local phone calls, but I rarely have a need for that.
    I take some of the things back about this phone. I was able to use it as a personal wifi hotspot, so I was able to use my own phone and carry the hotel phone without actually entering any information into it.

  4. #14

    Join Date
    Mar 2009
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    They don't actually need you to use it though. Their business is with the hotels, not with the actual clients.

    The hotel can sell it as an extra benefit of staying there whether people use it or not. Its like having 1000 thread sheets, or a choice of pillows. a very small minority would choose a hotel based on this. but its another amenity they can boast about.

    As long as they can get the phone placed in a few hotel chains with a 1000 properties, with each hotel having about 500 rooms...

    shri likes this.