Notebook computer vendors saw a rise in domestic sales during the last two months because of strong demand from students before they return to school this month, company officials said yesterday.
"Our notebook business in the education sector accounted for 40 percent of total sales in July and August, which was beyond our expectations," David Kao (高偉淙), Hewlett-Packard (HP) Taiwan Ltd's marketing development manager, said in a telephone interview.
The company's local market share increased 5 percent for the same period year-on-year, he said, citing statistics provided by International Data Corp (IDC).
HP pushed lower-priced notebook models with good online-gaming performance, he said.
He said that models priced below NT$40,000 were received extremely well and HP is to introduce five to 10 new models within the next two months to increase its market share.
Meanwhile, Toshiba also reported strong sales growth during the summer months.
"Our notebook sales grew 66 percent in July to August from the same period last year, which was a new record, pushed partly by lower-priced models," said Alice Cheng (鄭美華), marketing manager of Grainnex (新禾科技), the sole distributor of Toshiba notebooks and personal computers in Taiwan.
As undergraduates are returning to campus in mid-September, the company is gearing up to promote Toshiba notebooks among these potential buyers, Cheng said.
She expects sales in the fourth quarter to surpass those in the third, as the annual IT Month electronics exposition in December will definitely boost sales.
Apple Computer, meanwhile, said that it will continue to work toward getting a firmer foothold in the local education sector, according to an official who requested anonymity.
The company will concentrate on this sector in this quarter because of the back-to-school effect, the official said.
IDC Taiwan forecasts the nation's personal computer and notebook shipments
to grow in the traditionally busy second half of the year.
Notebook shipments totaled 140,943 units in the second quarter, up 12.8
percent quarter-on-quarter and 6.4 percent year-on-year, stimulated by the
rollout of more low-priced, entry-level models and keen price competition,
the research house said in a report released last week.
The top three laptop vendors, Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), Acer Inc and HP,
took a combined 71.5 percent domestic-market share, while Toshiba Corp of
Japan replaced Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) — formerly known as IBM Taiwan
Corp's PC unit — in fourth place, according to IDC.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure