As some of you probably know, the laptops and even desktops that carry HP, Dell, Toshiba, and other "name" brands aren't actually made by those companies. While the OEMs design them, smaller companies known as Original Device Manufacturers (ODMs) actually make them, with companies like Compal doing the brunt of the assembly.

For years, these ODMs were headquartered in Taiwan, with the design left to the U.S. and Japan. Now, the emergence of China has meant that the supply chain has shifted: China's now doing more of the manufacturing, and Taiwan is trying to influence design. (The U.S., meanwhile, is becoming more of a marketing operation.)

All of this is just a preamble to an unusual spam I received today, from a company called Chainpus. They may have mistakenly identified me as a potential business partner from being in the media, or I may have just ended up on their address list. Anyway, here's one design that intrigued me.

The BGP100 is touted as a conversion kit for PDAs and smartphones, turning them into small game consoles. In my mind, this makes some sense. I've never been that fond of cell-phone minigames, and I've never really felt the need to shell out for a PSP or Nintendo DS, as I'm not on the train all that often. But if a company wanted to come out with a PDA-type device that played a few games, it would allow you the option of bringing along a controller of decent quality. Sure, it's an extra thing to lug, but ergonomics has emerged as a key feature for these devices, in addition to games.

According to Chainpus, the controller clamps on to the PDA or smartphone, and uses Bluetooth to connect to it, rather than a physical connection. The company claims to be in "mass production".