Kinpo launches first smart phone

Rock Hsu, chairman of Kinpo Group, holds up the iDo mobile phone, the first model the company has produced under its own brand name. PHOTO: WANG YI-HUNG, TAIPEI TIMES

Kinpo Group (金仁寶集團) unveiled its first own-brand smart phone yesterday un the "iDo" name to compete head-on with rivals Dopod International Corp (多普達), Mitac International Corp (神達電腦) and Hewlett-Packard Co.

The firm, whose core businesses span from electronics manufacturing to original equipment manufacturing (OEM) of handsets, also plans to launch high-speed third-generation (3G) mobile phones under this brand name next year, company executives said at a press conference.

"My dream of the past 30 years has finally been accomplished," said Rock Hsu (許勝雄), head of Kinpo Group, while expressing strong confidence in the company's move, citing long-term planning and the group's integration of resources.

Sinclair Kuo (郭賢明), president of Kinpo Electronics Inc (金寶電子), said the group has been investing in smart-phone research and development for more than seven years, but only decided to enter the market recently when it judged the overall environment to be ripe.

"Now all the key applications in the sector are ready and mature, including wireless communications, global positioning systems [GPS], WiFi Internet access and 3G technology, which will help enhance convenience for smart-phone users. We expect to snatch up to a 20 to 30 percent market share in the nation's smart-phone segment next year," he said.

Priced at around NT$20,000 (US$625) apiece, Kinpo's iDo S600 smart phone, which the company claimed is the lightest pocket PC smart phone in the world, is a GSM model that runs Windows Mobile 2003 and sports a 1.3-megapixel digital camera.

The model also features Bluetooth technology, an MP3 player, a personal digital assistant (PDA), three-dimensional games and recording functions.

The model hits the market at the end of this month, with the company expecting to sell 30,000 to 40,000 units this year, translating into revenues of over NT$300 million.

The company will expand the target by 10 times for next year, Kuo said, churning out 300,000 phone units to contribute NT$3 billion in sales.

"The division should be able to make profits next year, and in three to four years mobile phone sales will account for over 50 percent of the company revenues," Kuo added.

In order to produce its own-brand products, the group's subsidiary Kinpo Electronics underwent an organizational restructuring last year and established a new division for mobile communications, with a staff of more than 100 people.