Attendance at IT Month sets record

After a successful show in Taipei, exhibitors are taking their discounts and glitzy promotions to central and southern Taiwan.

The trade show in Taipei, which ended on Sunday, attracted nearly 75,000 visitors in its nine days, a record high for the event's 23 years, said Lee Chi-hsien (李季憲), an official at the Taipei Computer Association (台北市電腦公會). The association is a co-organizer of the annual industry gala.

After a short break, the show will open again on Dec. 17 in Taichung, on Dec. 27 in Tainan and on Jan. 9 in Kaohsiung.

During the event in Taipei, notebook computers and digital cameras sold briskly, according to exhibitors.

"We're very satisfied with our sales figures during the trade show in Taipei," said Hank Horng (洪漢青), an executive with IBM Taiwan's personal computing division.

The company, which sold around 6,500 laptops during the Taipei show, waged a price war for some of its low-end notebooks, which were priced as low as NT$27,500 per unit.

But it was high-end products selling for more than NT$50,000 that brought in the cash, accounting for 40 percent of total sales during the Taipei show, Horng said.

"We may further cut the prices of our products for the shows in central and southern Taiwan, where our market share is incredibly low," he said.

But the range of discounts for laptops may be subject to a tight product supply. According to Horng, demand for the liquid-crystal panels used in computer displays, laptops and flat-screen televisions has tightened since the third quarter.

IBM rival Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦) has also experienced a shortage.

"We can't deliver orders placed later than the third day of the show until the end of December," said Rex Liu (劉邦慶), an Asustek manager. "Even so, we sold over 7,000 laptops during the Taipei expo."

Unlike its rivals, which slashed prices to boost sales, Asustek is sticking to a strategy of providing gifts for customers who buy their products during the shows in central and southern Taiwan.

Asustek has a market share of about 30 percent in that part of the country, Liu said.

Digital camera manufacturers also made big gains during the Taipei show. Sony Corp sold about 6,000 digital cameras during the show, allowing it to expand its market share in the country, said Sony Taiwan senior manager Sophie Tsai (蔡宜凌).

In contrast, liquid-crystal display (LCD) monitors saw a slight drop in sales due to the supply shortage.

"Demand for the flat-panel monitors increased 40 percent to 50 percent compared to the same period last year, but we can't take advantage of this growing demand due to insufficient supplies, especially of 15-inch displays," said Danny Yao (姚鴻州), a product manager at BenQ Corp (明基電通).

Consumers hope the price of LCD monitors will drop, but manufacturers said their price cuts will be limited because of the shortage.

"I expect only lukewarm sales in LCD monitors during the upcoming shows," Yao said.