Despite all the media coverage and excitement surrounding the Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas earlier this month, Topology Research Institute (TRI, 拓墣產業研究所) described the innovations showcased at the exhibition as evolutionary, rather than revolutionary.
The Taipei-based research and consulting firm said that global technology firms played it safe with their product launches as they face another year of tepid consumer demand amid a worldwide economic downturn.
Despite the prevailing gloomy sentiment, TRI sees several positive growth areas — handheld devices, television and notebook computers (including netbook computers). The research institute forecast that global handset, TV and notebook shipments this year would reach 1.45 billion, 2.13 billion and 1.5 billion units respectively, representing annual growth rates of 7.1 percent, 1.7 percent and 17.9 percent.
TRI’s estimates for handsets and notebooks are higher than the Consumer Electronics Association’s (CEA) projections.
The CEA expects handset, TV and notebook shipments this year to reach 1.21 billion, 2.32 billion and 1.47 billion units, registering year-on-year increases of 2.1 percent, 2.6 percent and 8.2 percent respectively.
TRI’s Silicon Valley-based senior editor Carlos Yu (尤克熙) picked two highlights at the show — Palm Inc’s Pre smartphone and Microsoft Corp’s Windows 7 operating system launch.
Palm Pre, featuring a Web mobile platform, a touchpad like Apple’s iPhone and a QWERTY keypad like BlackBerry, is the struggling smartphone maker’s bid to reclaim its market share, Yu said.
Palm has seen its US market share plummet from more than 35 percent in 2006 to 9 percent at the end of last year, TRI data showed.
Meanwhile, Windows 7 is exciting simply because “finally there was something to replace the infamous Vista,” Yu said.
Overall, Yu said international technology firms were cautious in their offerings this year, capitalizing on the four major existing trends: ultra-thin, wireless, touch panel and green technology.
“Basically what was not wireless is now wireless. What was not green tech is now green tech, so on and so forth,” he said.
For instance, ultra-thin designs were applied to TVs and netbooks, making them under 2cm in thickness. Meanwhile, wireless capability was expanded to include products such as high definition plasma display panels, bluetooth photo frames and WiFi digital cameras.
Yahoo’s Internet TV platform stirred a lot of interest at the show, but Yu appeared unimpressed, saying conventional TVs would continue to be a “family experience” while Internet TV is more of a “single-user experience.”
Yu cited the less than 1 percent Internet TV adoption rate last year as a sign that the market was not yet ready for this technology.
On the other hand, TRI was optimistic on the outlook for netbooks this year, as a poll showed that more than 23 percent of Americans were willing to purchase netbooks in lieu of the more expensive regular notebooks.
Yu said that netbooks had entered their second phase of development, following the success of Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) and Acer Inc (宏碁). The second phase has seen more global vendors enter the field, introducing different processors, capabilities and price points to grab a piece of the pie.
As the competition gets more intense and tech companies struggle to differentiate themselves, Yu cautioned on the need for netbook makers to return to the basics and focus on low price, convenience and simplicity.
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
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
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],”