#HANDY RENTAL INSTALL#
#HANDY RENTAL ANDROID#
#HANDY RENTAL SOFTWARE#

Americans, in particular, often travel with carrier-locked phones, so a simple SIM card rental service can be challenging, and he expects them to be an important target market for the service. Kwok said that Hong Kong received over 42 million international travelers last year alone.

When a user rents out a device, the company puts an authorization hold on their credit cards, so in the event of a device getting broken or lost, the amount to fix or replace it is charged to the card.

#HANDY RENTAL ANDROID#

So far, Handy has 2,000 phones in its inventory, and is looking to strike up bulk deals with Android manufacturers to increase its stock. It’ll also allow tethering, so for the price, you could tether a laptop in a pinch and get some surfing done outside of a Wi-Fi zone.

#HANDY RENTAL INSTALL#

What I found surprising about the UI was that the company will also let you install apps from Google Play, which many firms don’t allow. Just show the phone at the venue and you’re set, said Kwok. It’s still populating the Singapore version with more content, but its Hong Kong version includes deals with tours and ticketed items such as ferry rides that you can book through the app.

#HANDY RENTAL SOFTWARE#

Handy’s devices are primarily Samsung Galaxy Note phones, and its software developers have put a custom UI on them that opens at a landing page with deals and recommendations for sightseeing and restaurants. “We weren’t planning to launch in Singapore till the second quarter of the year, initially,” he said. Kwok, who was born in the US and raised in the Hong Kong, said the decision to expand so soon in Singapore was in large part accelerated by the local tourism board’s offer to allow Handy to set up a service desk at its visitor center along the Orchard Road shopping street. So far, it has placed its service counters at tourist hot spots, such as at the Hong Kong International Airport, as well as the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai and a visitor center run by the country’s tourism board located in the Tsim Sha Tsui district. It started in April last year, and in September launched Handy in Kwok’s home country of Hong Kong.

The firm is less than a year old, but today has 75 people working for it. The Handy brand comes under its CEO, Terence Kwok’s startup effort called Tink Labs, and is its first and only project thus far. The company offers smartphones for rent to travelers at $9 (HKD 68) a day-$12 (S$15) a day in Singapore-and the price includes unlimited 3G data and international calls. “I’m particularly glad we could keep the employees who are just awesome people,” said Miller.Handy, a smartphone rental service out of Hong Kong, has launched operations in Singapore. The former employees of Elyria Rent-All were hired by Handy, including branch manager Dennis Smith, who will manage the Elyria branch for Handy. “I’m probably a bit more willing to take risks than a lot of other people.” “You have to recognize an opportunity and jump on it,” Miller said. “I went to see him and offered to buy the business.” Miller made a deal to acquire Hawes’ party inventory and after the tools and equipment were sold at auction, Miller brought in tools and equipment from his other stores and took over the facility on the Monday after the auction.ĭespite the economic slump in the Cleveland area, Handy opened two new branches during an 11-month period from December 2008, when it opened in Kent, Ohio, and November 2009 with the opening in Elyria. “I found out that Brad Hawes was going to have an auction in early November and close the business,” Miller told RER. Miller said the deal for the new branch began in late October. Handy now has seven stores in northern Ohio as well as an Aladdin Rents party rentals store. Handy Rents recently acquired the party rental inventory of Elyria Rent-All, Elyria, Ohio, and moved into the Elyria Rent-All facility, where the Eastlake, Ohio-based company is renting tools and equipment as well as party gear, Handy Rents owner Mike Miller told RER.

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