Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦), the world's largest computer motherboard maker, unveiled four cellphone designs yesterday at a joint launch event with Web-based retail portal PChome Online (網路家庭).
The cellphones will be sold exclusively through PChome's Web site until Jan. 30.
PChome's capacity to deliver products in the Greater Taipei area within 24 hours of receiving an order has been a tremendous success since the service began in January last year, breaking the NT$100 million (US$3.1 million) revenue mark in October, the company said.
Three of the models launched yesterday were PDA phones targeting business professionals, the Taipei-based company said.
"The modern day professional has little time to go out and shop. Our partnership with PChome is intended to greatly enhance convenience for these busy consumers -- they can receive our latest cellphones the very next day, which is nearly the same as shopping at conventional retailers," said Benson Lin (林宗樑), general manager of the Asia Pacific sales group at Asustek.
Asustek intends to increase its market share of PDA cellphones in Taiwan to 25 percent this year, with the ultimate goal of selling 200,000 phones in the Asia-Pacific region, 50,000 of which will be in Taiwan, Lin said.
This year Asustek will release a total of 13 to 15 new cellphone models, he said.
Shares of Asustek fell 3.17 percent to close at NT$79.4 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday, underperforming a 2.96 percent decline in the benchmark TAIEX. The shares have dropped 18.48 percent in the year to date.
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