Mitac International Corp (神達電腦), a leading manufacturer of desktop and mobile computers, launched what it claims is the world's first all-Chinese clamshell smartphone and announced a software-partnership program with four Chinese software developers in Shanghai yesterday, the company said in a statement.
The new clamshell phone was developed in cooperation with China's Chinese Electronics Corporation Telecom (
Mitac plans to sign agreements with Linktone Consulting Co (掌上靈通), Hexin Software Technology Co (核新軟體), Shanda Internet Development (盛大網路) and Hwawei Electronics Co (華衛電子).
Linktone provides wireless services for more than 200 million mobile phone users in China, Hexin specializes in identity authentication software, whereas Shanda works in online entertainment, the statement said.
The new partnership plan aims to do the same for the smartphone market as an earlier plan to expand the Chinese market for the Mio Digi-Walker range.
"Mitac will partner with business software companies possessing vertical market solutions, application software R&D capabilities and industry sales channels to jointly develop smartphone and handheld devices -- providing corporate users as well as niche markets with tailor-made personal digital information-processing solutions," the statement said.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained