Info Month kicks off in Taipei today

Info Month, a consumer computer and electronics show, kicks off today at the Taipei World Trade Center offering bargains and the latest technologies.

Notebook PCs, desktops PCs, LCD monitors, digital cameras as well as cutting-edge tablet PCs will be featured at this year's event.

"For years, Info Month has been regarded as a great opportunity to buy consumer electronics products, and this year we expect to attract more than 700,000 visitors," said Huang Chung-jen (黃崇仁), chairman of the Taipei Computer Association, which is hosting the show.

More 300 companies will set up 1,380 booths for the 23rd Info Month.

Tablet PCs, which started to hit the local market earlier this month, are expected to be the tech star of the show.

"While the PC market hasn't seen any new inventions over the past few years, consumers are quite upbeat about checking out tablet PCs," said Dennis Chen (陳敬宏), consumer and portable group sales manager at Hewlett-Packard Taiwan.

Weighing half as much as today's notebook computers, tablet PCs are the size of an A4-size flat-panel display but with all the power and performance of traditional computers.

Dealers expecting the tablets to go over well at the show.

"This is the first time tablet PCs are available at Info Month, and we hope to gain more than 1,000 tablet PC orders from this event," Chen added.

But the new technology comes at a price: The HP Tablet PC, equipped with a wireless network interface card, retails at NT$68,888.

Not to be outdone, Taiwanese computer giant Acer Inc (宏電) will also be pumping tablets, and hoping to educate the public as well.

"Info Month is a good opportunity to inform the public about the tablet PC," said Chen Kuo-chin (陳國欽), a sales manager at Acer.

As more consumers realize the attractiveness of the tablet PC, sales will increase as well, he said.

Acer offer its tablet PC equipped with a wireless network interface card at NT$69,900.

US-based ViewSonic and Taiwan's Leo System Inc (國眾) will also showcase tablet PCs at the event.

Meanwhile, another industry professional said the real battleground at the show will be over notebook PCs.

"For the first time, we will offer IBM Pentium IV notebooks at less than NT$40,000," said Lisa Chen (陳慧純), a marketing executive at IBM Taiwan.

She added that IBM will include a three-year global warranty along with all notebooks sold at Info Month.

HP Taiwan also plans to cut NT$6,000 off the price of its Presario 2800 notebook, which will retail for NT$54,900.

For games lovers who want to test the latest game console, Microsoft Taiwan has 10 Xboxes set up at the show.

Other being promoted include personal digital assistants, digital cameras, LCD monitors, printers, scanners and software.

The month-long computer trade show will be open from 10am to 6pm at Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Halls I and II through Dec. 8. The show will then move to Taichung, Tainan and end in Kaohsiung on Jan 13. Admission is free.