The debut of the first handset running on Google’s Android operating system failed to boost the share prices of local component suppliers involved in the production of the much-awaited smartphone.
“The sales contribution from a single model will account for only a small share of these component makers’ overall revenues in the fourth quarter,” Macquarie Securities analyst Lu Chia-lin (呂家霖) said yesterday in response to component stocks’ lackluster performance.
But handset component shares may rise in the next year after two or three more Google smartphone models hit the market.
Shares of handset case maker Catcher Technology Co Ltd (可成) edged up 0.45 percent to NT$112.5, while those of keypad mechanical part supplier Shin Zu Shing Co (新日興) fell 1.45 percent to NT$136.
The stock price of crystal component maker TXC Corp (晶技) dropped 1.47 percent to NT$46.9, while the share price of local chip designer Elan Microelectronics Corp (義隆) rallied 6.82 percent to NT$25.05 yesterday after the Central News Agency reported that the company was a supplier of chips used in Google phone’s touch screens. Elan denied supplying chips for the Google phone.
But High Technology Computer Corp (HTC, 宏達電) may be the biggest beneficiary of the new Google phone, as analysts are optimistic that the introduction of the first Android phone — or the G1, manufactured by HTC and distributed in the US by telecom carrier T-Mobile — would give buyers another viable choice when shopping for a smartphone while expanding the overall market for handsets.
By the end of the year, sales of G1 code may reach 600,000 units, Lu forecast.
Sales may more than quadruple to 2.7 million next year, backed by a bigger product line-up, Lu said.
“HTC will be the biggest beneficiary as about 15 percent of the company’s revenues in the fourth quarter would come from supplying Google phones,” Lu said.
HTC shares slid 2.09 percent to NT$561 as investors pocketed gains by selling shares bought prior to the Google phone debut.
Chen Wei-hung (陳緯航), a researcher at Topology Research Institute (拓墣產業研究所), said the smartphone market can be divided into three categories: information, entertainment and business.
“It is easy to see that the G1 is all about information with its emphasis on mobile Internet. Nokia Corp and Apple Computer Inc are focused on entertainment users, while Blackberry and Samsung target business users,” Chen said yesterday.
HTC’s previous releases of its Touch and Diamond models are more focused on enterprise users, hence, “it is a good strategic move for HTC to broaden its customer mix and expand into the information segment which is consumer-based,” he said.
Consumers make up more than 80 percent of global smartphone users, said Chen Kuang-ming (陳冠明), a mobile handset researcher at the Market Intelligence Center (MIC, 資訊市場情報中心).
“Except for North America, which has a 50/50 mix of consumer and business customers, the rest of the world is consumer-oriented,” he said.
Chen Kuang-ming added that the lines dividing smartphone classifications were blurring as manufacturers increase features and functions with each new release.
“What companies need to work on are user-interface designs to attract buyers,” he said.
The MIC analyst does not believe G1 has the most appealing design out in the market, but “it is the only handset currently out there that focuses on the information segment, so it has a first-mover advantage in that regard.”
The G1 phone allows developers to develop unlimited number of applications on the open source Android platform. The phone will reach US consumers on Oct. 22 and will be priced at US$179 (NT$5,720). Data and voice plans will be sold separately.
“It will be introduced in the United Kingdom in November and be made available around Europe by the first quarter of 2009,” said Maggie Cheng (鄭雅蓮), an account manager at HTC’s corporate communications department.
The dates for the Asia Pacific releases will be announced later, she said.
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