The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday unveiled the world's first dual-network application services, hoping the innovative application would help Taiwan become a leader in mobile technology. The network also seeks to help communications equipment manufacturers become the nation's third trillion-dollar industry.
"Taiwan is changing its strategy from a follower in the past to a pioneer through integrating new technology and offering new solutions to stimulate new demands," Minister of Economic Affairs Ho Mei-yueh (何美玥) said at a press conference yesterday.
Dual-network integration refers to technology that combines cellular networks with wireless local area networks (WLANs), which means that WLAN and General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) or the third-generation telecom technology can be integrated into one dual-network mobile phone, allowing users to enjoy online services through both mode which complement each other.
The application can provide users with seamless communications through the combined advantages of both a cellular system's rapid switching, wide coverage and WLAN's fast transmission and lower cost.
Cooperating with over 10 information technology and communication service providers, including Acer Inc, Taiwan Cellular Corp (台灣大哥大), and Microsoft Taiwan, the ministry built a model in Taipei City's Nankang Science Park (南港科學園區) to demonstrate the new technology.
The service, for instance, provides workers in the park with various functions, including access to personal e-mails and instant messages or connection to any printer in the park through wireless transmission. Other services allow parents to view their children in the park's daycare center through a surveillance system. The launch of dual-network technology signals the inauguration of the M-Taiwan (mobile-Taiwan) scheme, Ho said, adding that the government plans to spend NT$7 billion to build seamless communication space across the nation in the next three to five years.
The program is expected to boost wireless Internet users to 8 million people and help the nation enter the world's top five in competitiveness of mobile commercial applications, she said.
It would also help propel the nation's communication equipment manufacturing sector to the trillion NT dollar mark by 2008, Ho said.
Taiwan's semiconductor and flat-panel display industries are already worth trillions of NT dollars a year. The nation's communication equipment makers generated production value of NT$463.9 billion last year, up from NT$311.4 billion in 2003, and are estimated to create NT$550 billion-worth of output this year, according to figures provided by the ministry's Industrial Development Bureau.
Betting on the potential of the dual-network technology, Taiwan Cellular is slated to roll out dual-network service packages with a variety of BenQ or Dopod-labeled mobile phones costing around NT$10,000 after the Lunar New Year holiday, said Lancelot Wang (
SETBACK: Apple’s India iPhone push has been disrupted after Foxconn recalled hundreds of Chinese engineers, amid Beijing’s attempts to curb tech transfers Apple Inc assembly partner Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known internationally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has recalled about 300 Chinese engineers from a factory in India, the latest setback for the iPhone maker’s push to rapidly expand in the country. The extraction of Chinese workers from the factory of Yuzhan Technology (India) Private Ltd, a Hon Hai component unit, in southern Tamil Nadu state, is the second such move in a few months. The company has started flying in Taiwanese engineers to replace staff leaving, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named, as the
The prices of gasoline and diesel at domestic fuel stations are to rise NT$0.1 and NT$0.4 per liter this week respectively, after international crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to rise to NT$27.3, NT$28.8 and NT$30.8 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to rise to NT$26.2 per liter at CPC stations and NT$26 at Formosa pumps, they said. The announcements came after international crude oil prices
SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控) is weighing whether to add a life insurance business to its portfolio, but would tread cautiously after completing three acquisitions in quick succession, president Stanley Chu (朱士廷) said yesterday. “We are carefully considering whether life insurance should play a role in SinoPac’s business map,” Chu told reporters ahead of an earnings conference. “Our priority is to ensure the success of the deals we have already made, even though we are tracking some possible targets.” Local media have reported that Mercuries Life Insurance Co (三商美邦人壽), which is seeking buyers amid financial strains, has invited three financial
CAUTION: Right now, artificial intelligence runs on faith, not productivity and eventually, the risk of a bubble will emerge,’ TIER economist Gordon Sun said Taiwanese manufacturers turned more optimistic last month, ending a five-month streak of declining sentiment as concerns over US tariffs, currency volatility and China’s overcapacity began to ease, the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) said yesterday. The manufacturing business confidence index rose 1.17 points from June to 86.8, its first rebound since February. TIER economist Gordon Sun (孫明德) attributed the uptick to fading trade uncertainties, a steadier New Taiwan dollar and reduced competitive pressure from Chinese producers. Taiwan’s semiconductor industry is unlikely to face significant damage from Washington’s ongoing probe into semiconductors, given the US’ reliance on Taiwanese chips to power artificial
RSS