Expanding into the high-growth home entertainment market, Benq Corp (
The TVs are equipped with wireless reception capability, allowing for greater mobility, said Liu Shih-hao (劉士豪), a flat-panel engineer at Benq.
Benq's TV can be moved from room-to-room without the need for a cable hook-up, because a handset-sized receiver is part of the unit. The receiver works in conjunction with a transmitter that is connected to a DVD player or conventional TV set.
The TV can function wirelessly at distances of around 5.5m, Liu said.
The idea is that users can, for example, take their thin-screen TV from the living room to the bedroom for more relaxed viewing.
"Our market survey found that many people enjoy lying in bed while watching TV," said Jerry Wang (王文燦), vice president of Benq's marketing development office.
The company is hoping to enter the LCD TV market, which is expected to see a 200 percent growth in production within the next three years, Wang said, citing a Market Intelligence survey. This would be a market size of 26 million units in 2005.
The company is scheduled to launch its LCD TV in September at a price of NT$30,000 for 15-inch models and NT$60,000 for 20-inch units.
Benq forecasts revenues of US$3.1 billion this year compared with US$2.1 billion last year, Wang said. Its first-quarter sales almost doubled to a record NT$23.4 billion (US$669 million), boosted by demand for flat-panel displays and computer-storage products.
But the company's shares fell yesterday as investors worried that sales may turn weak in the second quarter because of declining demand for handsets, said Lin Ming-lung (林明龍), an analyst at the Yuanta Core Pacific Management Co (元大京華投顧). Benq shares fell NT$1 to NT$64 on the TAIEX.
"Based on its handset inventories, Benq may delay the launch of its new C300 handset until August," Lin said.
Despite poor market sentiment, Benq said its May sales rose 123 percent to NT$7.94 billion (US$232 million) from NT$3.6 billion a year ago, according to company spokesman Alex Liou (劉維宇). The company reported NT$8.3 billion in sales for April.
``We sold more than 1.6 million handsets in May, which is a record for us," but sales of flat-panel monitors and CD-ROM drives fell because of seasonal factors,'' Liou said.
The company will see better-than-expected shipments handsets and demand for CD-ROM drives will begin to stabilize from a volatile situation, he said.
The computer trade show at the Taipei World Trade Center, which is open to the public today, will close at 4pm.
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