In the wake of its poor performance in the third quarter, BenQ Corp (
"The nation's laptop market saw sales of 20 percent less than the expected target in the third quarter," Danny Yao (
Yao attributed the flat market to the less-than-ideal stock market performance, declining consumption confidence driven by the soaring crude oil prices, and domestic inflationary environment.
As the effect may linger, "we are conservative about the market climate in the last quarter," Yao said.
BenQ is not the only laptop vendor to be cautious about the market outlook.
The local branch of International Business Machines Corp was also cautious about the personal computer market for this quarter, Laurence Hwang (
He said the caution was warranted, even though the latest laptop processors from Intel -- for linking notebook computers to the Internet with wireless fidelity, or Wi-Fi, technology -- were expected to help boost sales of laptops.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
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