BenQ Corp (
BenQ, which plans to earn half of its sales from selling branded handsets after purchasing Siemens AG's cellphone division, made the remarks after grabbing the top position in the area of 37-inch models in the Taiwanese market during the third quarter.
"Demand exceeded our expectations. We believe the prices of LCD-TVs are falling to an affordable level for consumers," said Scott Huang (黃思齊), a managing director of BenQ's Asia-Pacific division.
Huang said the company could not meet demand from consumers for its 37-inch model. BenQ debuted the model in August, at the price of NT$69,900 each.
In light of the robust demand, Huang said LCD-TV sales would grow to as many as 7,000 units in Taiwan during the current quarter, up 17 percent from some 6,000 units last quarter.
That would double BenQ's LCD sales for the year to over 20,000 units, from about 10,000 units last year, he added.
In other words, the brand -- only 3 years old -- would grab 8 percent of the 260,000 units forecast by BenQ to be sold in Taiwan this year.
LCD-TV sales could grow more than 50 percent to 400,000 units next year, as falling prices stimulate demand, according to the company's projections.
BenQ, however, declined to directly comment on the impact of Sony Corp's launch of the low-priced "Bravia" series around the world in September, as the Japanese firm attempts to regain its past market leadership.
A 32-inch Bravia LCD-TV costs NT$59,900, approaching the price charged by certain local brands.
"We are monitoring the impact of Sony's strategy," said Michael Lin (
BenQ is targeting a different group of consumers, he said. "Sony buyers tend to be elderly people with no desire to learn new gadgets, while most BenQ users are early tech-adopters," Lin said.
Following in BenQ's steps, local electronics makers, including motherboard maker Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦) and computer maker Acer Inc, are planning to tap into the fast-growing slim-screen TV market soon.
Sales of LCD-TVs are expected to nearly triple to 23 million units around the world this year, and to rise to 35 million units next year, according to the forecasts of market researcher DisplaySearch.
"We plan to roll out our first LCD-TV in Taiwan by the end of this year, and then expand to other Asian markets later," said Stephanie Su (
Su declined to reveal details about the new business, but said Asustek would not target the low-priced market.
If the company moves ahead with its plans, it will be the latest move for Asustek in diversifying into the consumer electronics sector, after it started selling its own-brand mobile phones in late 2003.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained