Asset sale brings some hope to Tiny customers

Watford Electronics said on Tuesday that it had bought the assets of Tiny Computers, following the collapse of Granville Technology.

However, there was no word from administrators Grant Thornton on the fate of the outstanding assets of Granville Technology, which owned the Time and Tiny Computers brands as well as the manufacturing company VMT.

The deal will bring some hope to customers of Tiny Computers and Tiny.com, the main consumer sales arms of Granville Technology, who can at least expect to receive on-going maintenance and support from Watford. That company posted a statement on its Web site yesterday asking customers of Tiny Computers who "would like information on applying for an extended warranty" to fill out an application form that included the make, model and reference number of their systems.

Watford has said that it wants to support all existing customers but would consider each request on a "case by case" basis. The new owners will be welcomed by existing Tiny customers who are in possession of their systems but will not apply to the many customers ordered products from Granville Technology that were never delivered.

Granville Technology went into receivership in July and there has been much speculation over its future. The official spokesman for the administrators, Grant Thornton, did not respond to requests for comment.

Meanwhile, a Web site that was popular with Time and Tiny customers and employees has been closed down. The site, tinycon.com, published a statement apologising for "defamatory comments and statements were made on the site in relation to Granville Technology Group Limited".

The site was the second site which had aimed to offer support and advice for ex-Time and Tiny customers and employees. The first had also closed down for legal reasons.