It was an unusual and unsettling day for the employees and neighbors of Gold Apollo, a Taiwanese tech firm situated in a quiet office park about half an hour outside of Taipei.
On the third floor of building “B,” a crowd of media gathered in the hallway outside Gold Apollo’s glass-front entrance, still adorned with Lunar New Year decorations wishing prosperity. Inside, the company’s CEO and founder, Hsu Ching-kuang, sat at a table with police officers. Behind him, a whiteboard displayed the model number “AR-924″—the same model of pagers that had exploded in an attack on Hezbollah members in Lebanon, half a world away.
The blasts, which took place on Tuesday, had killed at least nine people, injured 3,000, and intensified an already volatile situation in the Middle East. Images of the pagers, showing stickers resembling Gold Apollo’s branding, led international attention to focus on the small Taiwanese company.
Earlier that day, Hsu found himself facing the media, denying any involvement in the production of the pagers used in the attack. He explained that the devices had been manufactured by a European company that was licensed to use Gold Apollo’s brand. “This product was not ours,” Hsu said, visibly distressed. “We are a responsible company. This is very embarrassing.”
Founded in 1995, Gold Apollo employs 40 people. By Wednesday, the company’s website was down, though it was unclear when it became inaccessible. Archived versions of the site, however, displayed a dedicated page for the AR-924 pager model, describing it as a “configurable, flexible design.”
As the morning wore on, more reporters arrived. A company staff member briefly stepped out to promise an official statement was on its way. Meanwhile, inside, a uniformed police officer sorted through papers, some containing photos of the exploded pagers.
Hsu eventually reappeared to make another statement to the media, again denying that the company had supplied the pagers. His voice wavered slightly as he addressed the cameras.
As the press swarmed around Hsu, a security guard collected statements left on the floor by reporters and photographed them for his manager, who was trying to understand the cause of the commotion.
Before long, the media attention shifted to Europe, leaving behind a bewildered delivery driver who had arrived with a package for one of the Gold Apollo employees.
