OpenHand to scoop up new channel partners
New indirect focus sees wireless firm looking to recruit 230 additional VARs by 2007
Wireless email provider OpenHand is shifting its focus towards the channel with plans to more than double its reseller ranks.
Tim Belfall, operations director of OpenHand, told CRN: “Last year we were selling direct to customers, with only five or six resellers. In December we established a proper channel strategy with a dealer team to recruit new VARs. Currently we have 170 resellers and want 400 by the end of the year.”
Belfall added that OpenHand is network independent, so resellers can transfer end-users to different network operators and handsets, depending on specific demands.
“The wireless email market is expanding rapidly, and we are building up our reseller side. Currently 60 per cent of sales are through the channel, and 40 per cent is direct to the government. But that will change dramatically. I expect 80 per cent of sales will go through the channel by the end of the year,” he claimed.
OpenHand provides email through handset manufacturers, including Nokia, Palm and iPAQ. Belfall said the handset manufacturers are trying to shift product demand from the high end to the low end by reducing prices.
Steve Muttram, managing director of portable devices distributor Portix, said: “OpenHand is a good proposition and resellers should look towards these types of solutions.
“Four hundred resellers is a good objective, but this is a big target. There will be a core of resellers that understand OpenHand, and the rest will need educating.”
Pierre Lams, co-founder of reseller Handheld PCs, said: “Four hundred resellers is an extremely ambitious target. Working in wireless email we are constantly approached by firms such as Open-Hand. But there are simply not enough resellers that specialise in wireless email.”