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Cell Phones, Our Way of Life

Posted on: Wednesday, 19 October 2005, 15:00 CDT

By Kevin Smith, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Calif.

Oct. 18--EL MONTE -- Cell phones have become a way of life for many of us -- especially business travelers.

But staying connected means your phone must always be charged. And that's where AZIO Corp. comes in.

The Walnut-based firm is debuting a USB phone charger to allow users to recharge cell phones using laptops or PCs.

For international travelers, the device means not worrying about an additional voltage adapter as long as their computer can be safely plugged in.

"Business travelers will like this and students, too," said William Chen, AZIO's vice president of marketing. "Students are always talking on the phone and running around going to class. I think this will be a good product for them."

The USB charger comes with a cigarette lighter adapter for travelers who need to charge their phone in the car.

"Internationally, cars all have the same voltage so you don't have to worry about wall sockets," Chen said. "If it doesn't work in a wall socket it will work in the car."

The AZIO device is the first phone charger to market that powers a cell by USB power. The product is expected to be available in time for the holidays and will sell for about $12.95.

"We're in talks with Wal-Mart, and they are very impressed," Chen said. "They said they've never seen anything like it, so we think we have a pretty good chance of making that happen."

AZIO also plans to make the product available via the company's Web site, www.aziocorp.com. Revenue last year totalled $20 million.

The firm has been in a 3,000-square-foot facility in El Monte, but it is gearing up to move to an 8,000-square-foot space in Walnut.

"We're moving because we're expanding," Chen said. "We're talking to a couple of the big (retail) guys and we need to get a bigger warehouse to stock all of the inventory we need."

AZIO employs about 15 workers in the U.S., mostly in sales, marketing and technical support. The company also operates a production facility in Dong Guan, China that employs approximately 700 workers, according to Chen.

AZIO Corp has built its reputation on delivering high quality technology peripherals that add value and extend the life of customers' existing consumer electronics devices.

With a special nod to the oft-overlooked Mac user, AZIO has a dedicated design and development team working explicitly to bring innovative, functional and artful Mac-related products to market.

"I travel quite a bit and became very frustrated with the lack of convenient methods for charging my cell phone while going from meeting to meeting," said Steve Hsiao, vice president of AZIO Corp.

"We presented our engineers with the problem and charged them to find a solution. This new product really represents what AZIO Corp is about: new and innovative products that really fill a need."

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To see more of the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.sgvtribune.com.

Copyright (c) 2005, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Calif.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: San Gabriel Valley Tribune

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