Although mobile TV was a red-hot topic at the latest CeBIT technology show in Germany, the service is unlikely to catch on soon in the local market, analysts said, citing the absence of applications.
"We have yet to see any killer applications for mobile TV services," said Su Shu-chin (
Su, who had been involved in the research for BenQ's first third-generation (3G) mobile phone, spoke at a symposium yesterday organized by the Department of Industrial Technology under the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
Su said that it was still too early to say if users would embrace TV broadcasts on their mobile phones as easily as they did camera features.
"We didn't realize that camera phones would receive such an overwhelming response from global consumers when they were introduced, but `a camera] has since become a basic feature in handsets," she said.
There are still a number of issues to be ironed out before mobile TV services will be able to take off on a larger scale, she said.
One issue that needs to be addressed is ensuring stable video reception while users are traveling on the highway or even the upcoming high-speed railway, or else consumers will be frustrated and shun the service, Su said.
Before these services are introduced, the details of dividing billing between content providers and telecom firms, as well as establishing a payment mechanism for subscribers, will pose another challenge, she said.
However, this does not mean mobile TV services are destined for failure, she added.
"Mobile TV will create extra viewing time for users outside their homes, and working out how to attract them by offering interactive, value-added applications will be the key," Su said.
These applications should offer services beyond the common features like games, ticketing and video-on-demand services, she said.
Providing consumers with a simple-to-use interface will be another selling point, Su added.
Vibo Telecom Inc (威寶電信), the latest entrant to the nation's 3G industry last year, unveiled a drama series for 3G mobile phones early last month.
The 3G drama PS ... I Luv U takes into account the unique characteristics of video streaming and factors such as visual composition on mobile screens, as well as the appropriate episode length for phone viewing.
The show has been wildly popular among its 60,000 subscribers, said an official from Vibo's marketing and communications division.
Meanwhile, Chinese Television System (華視) and Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) will join forces in the third quarter in a trial run for a project dubbed Digital Video Broadcasting: Handhelds (DVB-H), which sidesteps the 3G network.
Users who acquire DVB-H phones will be able to watch TV programs over digital TV networks instead of a cellphone network.
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
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy