Far EasTone Telecommunications Co Ltd (遠傳電信), the nation’s third-largest telecom operator, said yesterday it was in talks with Acer Inc (宏碁) to launch Acer’s first Android smartphone for the Christmas shopping season.
The Acer model would be the second Android handset sold in Far EasTone stores after one launched yesterday made by US handset maker Commtiva Technology Corp.
Following in the footsteps of Apple’s App Store, Far EasTone launched the nation’s first online application store yesterday. “S Mart” will allow users to download applications or digital content designed primarily for Android-based phones.
Like netbook computers, Google phones seem to be becoming a new hope for telecom operators to increase revenues by boosting data use on smartphones, especially, on less pricey Google phones.
Far EasTone said it aimed to sell three or four models running on the Google system by the end of this year. Earlier this year, bigger rivals Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) and Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大) debuted their Google phones from handset makers such as HTC Corp (宏達電).
“Any telecom company will try any approach to increase revenues,” Far EasTone vice chairman and president Jan Nilsson said.
Nilsson said growing use of smartphones by subscribers helped increase revenues and he would continue this approach next year.
Smartphones would make up between 10 percent and 15 percent of the overall handsets purchased by Far EasTone this year, Nilsson said. The company planned to double the share to 20 percent next year, he said.
Far EasTone also plans to expand handset purchases a little bit next year to match the pick-up in demand amid Taiwan’s improving macroeconomy, Nilsson said. He declined to give a specific forecast.
Far EasTone also launched two Windows-based smartphones from Acer yesterday.
Acer, which became the world’s No. 2 PC maker in the third quarter — according to market researcher IDC — plans to launch 10 smartphones, including one Google phone codenamed Liquid, in the first part of the year as part of its plans to move into cellphones.
But the company has a long-term ambition to outpace the 15 percent annual growth rate forecast for the overall smartphone market this year, said Roger Yuan (袁祖興), vice president of Acer’s smart handheld business group in Asia Pacific region.
Acer’s two smartphones, beTouch and neoTouch, are priced at NT$5,500 and NT$12,500 respectively, with a two-year service contract.
The company’s shares rose 0.2 percent to NT$81.90 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
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