Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦), the nation's largest motherboard maker, is planning a foray into the booming Indian market with its PDA range of cellphones, according to an Indian news report.
The company plans to launch its phones in the Indian market next month, India's PTI news agency reported on Saturday, citing Asustek president Jonathan Tsang (曾鏘聲).
"We will gradually increase our mobile products in India once we launch our PDA phones," Tsang told the PTI.
The mobile phones are priced at US$600 worldwide, he said.
Asustek started production of PDA phones in the last quarter of last year and just launched its second PDA phone, the P525, on June 15.
The new PDA phones are embedded with Microsoft's Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system and powered by Intel's XScale 416MHz microprocessors, according to the company.
Asustek has sold around 100,000 PDA phones in the first half of the year, the company said on June 20 at an industry forum, where Microsoft Taiwan invited partners including Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), Gigabyte Technology Co (技嘉科技) and Advantec Co (研華) to show support for Microsoft's Windows Mobile and Embedded solutions.
At the forum, Asustek also exhibited its first third-generation (3G) clamshell smartphone, the P305.
The company may start selling the P305 phones as soon as September, local media reported last week.
Global shipments of Asustek phones are expected to reach 3 million units this year, including 500,000 brandname phones, Sunny Han (韓德行), marketing director of Asustek, said on June 15 at a product launch.
Han said the company introduced eight new handsets in the first half of the year and planned to launch three new models in the third quarter, including one PDA phone that supports 3G high-speed Internet surfing and mobile video services.
Asustek, also known for manufacturing notebook computers and graphics cards, launched the F3J series of notebook PCs in Chennai, India, last Thursday.
The company plans to launch its Lamborghini model in India next month, the PTI reported.
To fulfill the increasing demand worldwide, Asustek is expanding its production facilities in Taiwan and abroad. Last week, the company announced the opening of its Nanhui plant in Shanghai, where the focus will be on notebooks, LCD TVs and handheld electronics devices, Digitimes.com reported last Thursday.
The company's Suzhou plant in Jiangsu Province mainly targets motherboards and desktop PCs.
When asked whether Asustek would set up manufacturing facilities in India, as opposed to expanding its existing manufacturing facilities in China, Tsang told the PTI that the company was considering the Indian angle and would decide after examining the logistics, cost and other factors.
A survey would be done in this regard, he said.
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