The upcoming 16th Taipei Computer Applications Show will whet consumers' appetites for 3C (computers, consumer electronics and communications) products during the second half of this year, despite the fewer number of exhibitors this year, organizers said yesterday.
"Buying sentiment in the first half was weak and people were conservative in their spending," said Cynthia Chen (
TCA and the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (
PHOTO: CNA
Vendors have also become cautious, with the number of participating companies plunging this year.
There will be only 200 vendors occupying around 1,400 booths, down from last year's 250 vendors with 1,600 booths, according to TCA statistics.
Last year's show was held in conjunction with the first Summer Game Festival at Hall III to showcase the latest game titles, but sluggish prospects this year have led to the cancellation of this year's festival.
"Some game developers have not come up with new titles, and therefore decided to pull out of the show," Chen said, adding that most vendors also prefer to be located under one roof in Hall I where all consumers can congregate, instead of being located in two separate halls.
Microsoft is slated to push Xbox 360 game consoles and Sony plans to promote PlayStation Portable players at the show. But local game developers such as ChineseGamer International Corp (
However, market watchers said that vendors will still have reason to smile over the next few months.
"We expect that the second half will be better than the first half, fueled by back-to-school sales in summer and the Christmas shopping spree," said Chris Hung (
Vendors were overly optimistic about the business opportunities brought by the World Cup in the first half, which caused a pile-up of inventory that is still waiting to be digested in the third quarter, he said.
But local sales of handsets, for instance, still enjoyed growth of more than 10 percent in the first six months, he said, adding that computer sales are also expected to show momentum in the second half.
With chipmakers Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc recently slashing processor prices by up to 50 percent, this should serve as a stimulant to boost computer demand, according to Chen.
Attendants at the five-day Taipei Computer Applications Show have to pay a NT$200 (US$6.09) admission. NT$50 discount vouchers are available in major newspapers and magazines.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last