Singapore Creative Technology on a high with Bill Gates backing

A Bill Gates plug for Creative Technology's latest device has proved a timely spur for the Singapore company as it takes on the powerful Japanese groups in the highly competitive global electronics field.
The Microsoft chairman described Creative as his company's "favourite partner" as he talked about its Zen Portable Media Center (PMC) device during a keynote address at this month's International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
The Zen PMC, capable of storing up to 50,000 digital images, 80 hours of video and 5,000 songs, was voted top product in the audio and visual category at the Las Vegas meet.
The award marked the second straight year the Singapore company, listed locally and on the tech-heavy Nasdaq, has won honours at what is regarded as the world's largest consumer electronics show.
The Zen PMC, which is slated to make its commercial debut in the second half of this year, is the latest device in Creative's strategy to move away from its PC-product base and into consumer electronics.
Creative chairman Sim Wong Hoo, who put Singapore on the global technology map in 1989 when his Sound Blaster card transformed the humble PC into a mini home entertainment machine, is driving the expansion.
Creative, started by Sim in 1981, has sold more than 120 million Sound Blaster units and more than 70 percent of the world's PC audio systems now use its music card technology.
Sales topped 701.8 million US dollars in fiscal 2003.
But with the growing commoditization of PC-related products in recent years, Sim has steered the company towards digital consumer electronics to tap on the growing demand for portable hi-tech gizmos.
In recent years, Creative has rolled out products such as the Nomad Jukebox digital audio player and a line of digital cameras, pitting the company against Japanese stalwarts such as Canon and Olympus.
The diversification strategy has paid off as more than 50 percent of Creative's revenues are now attributed to outside the PC market.
Analysts, however, believe Creative is still at a disadvantage to the Japanese companies, who have a head-start in the field and a huge marketing war chest.