Taiwansoft sets itself tough target

Models display Digimaster's first high-end 5-megapixel digital camera, Q-Shot, and digital video camera, Camwalk, at a press conference yesterday. The company aims to take one-fifth of the nation's digital camera market this year by expanding its lineup. PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES

Taiwansoft Technology Inc (台灣超軟), which sells consumer electronics under the Digimaster brand, aims to take one-fifth of the nation's digital camera market this year by expanding its lineup, a company executive said yesterday.

"Taiwansoft has been selling lower-priced cameras since 2001. Now Taiwansoft is at a crossroads in expanding to cater to the needs of our customers," said Taiwansoft general manager Scott Huang (黃思齊).

Huang, former head of the Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia Oyj in Taiwan, said he did not expect camera phones to replace digital cameras soon.

"Limited memory space and slow transmission speed remain some of the major obstacles for handset vendors to overcome," he said.

Huang made the remarks on the sidelines of a ceremony to launch the company's first high-end 5-megapixel digital cameras. The new models cost NT$11,900, compared to older Taiwansoft models usually priced below NT$8,000.

With up to 12 new cameras in the pipeline this year, including at least three high-end models, the local consumer electronics maker hopes to more than double its unit sales to about 120,000 units, up from 75,000 units last year, Huang said.

Taiwansoft forecasts that the total market for digital cameras in Taiwan will reach 600,000, meaning the company would garner 20 percent of the market.

Taiwansoft, which also sells liquid-crystal-display TVs under the Digimaster brand, said it would work closely with its local original equipment manufacturers including Ability Enterprise Co (佳能企業) and Primax Electronics Ltd (致伸電子) to hit the target.

The company, which is organizing an initial pubic offering in Taiwan next year, also hopes to boost its revenues to about NT$1 billion, 20 percent up from last year.

BenQ Corp (明基電通), the nation's biggest handset maker, is running neck-and-neck with Taiwansoft in the digital camera sector. BenQ warned that the recent sharp price cuts by Japanese vendors and sluggish demand in the first half could dash local companies' hopes of higher growth.

"The price cuts by Japanese companies like Sony Corp and Nikon Corp, which have long dominated the local market, will likely cut into local brands' sales this year," said Danny Yao (姚鴻洲), an executive of BenQ's Asia Pacific region.

The prices of some models have been slashed up by up to 40 percent, he said.

"First-quarter sales are surprisingly weak. And we haven't seen a rebound yet, which should have set in along with a gradual recovery in some information technology gadgets as it did before," Yao said.

BenQ aims to sell 100,000 digital cameras this year, Yao said.