Acer Android phone near
Acer Inc (宏碁), the world’s No. 2 computer supplier, said it will release its second handset using Google Inc’s Android operating system this quarter, with the device to be manufactured by Foxconn International Holdings Ltd (富士康). Foxconn shares pared their losses in Hong Kong.
Foxconn, a subsidiary of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海), will join Compal Communications Inc (仁寶) as a manufacturer of Acer’s Android handsets, Jim Wong (翁建仁), president of Acer’s IT Products division, said in an interview yesterday.
The device is the first Acer product to be outsourced to Shenzhen-based Foxconn, he said.
Foxconn closed 4.1 percent lower at HK$9.03 (US$1.16) in Hong Kong trading, trimming a loss of as much as 9.2 percent, the largest intra-day decline since March 30.
Acer, which overtook Dell Inc as the world’s second-largest computer vendor in the third quarter, plans to release five smartphones this year and expects Android-based models will account for a growing share of its handset sales.
Acer fell 5.3 percent to close at NT$91.40 (US$2.86) in Taipei.
Nan Ya shares drop
Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠) shares fell the most in almost two months after a report said the son of the late founder of Formosa Plastics Group (台塑) may seek to become chairman.
The stock lost 2.6 percent to NT$62.60 as of 9:49am, the most since Nov. 27. The TAIEX retreated 2.3 percent.
Winston Wong (王文洋), estranged son of late Formosa Plastics Group founder Wang Yung-ching (王永慶), may run for the chairman position at Nan Ya in June, the Economic Daily News reported, without saying where it got the information.
Nan Ya Plastics president Wu Chia-chau (吳嘉昭) said he had heard nothing about a Wong bid when contacted by telephone by Bloomberg yesterday.
CPC announces losses
CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油), the nation’s state-owned refiner, said on its Web site that it lost NT$8.7 billion on sales of gasoline, diesel and fuel oil last year.
The refiner came under fire after a Control Yuan member, Cheng Hung-jen (程宏仁), accused the CPC of having made excess revenues of NT$7.5 billion (US$234 million) by floating oil prices since August 2008.
Cheng said the excess revenues came mainly from CPC’s sale of unleaded gasoline and super diesel, which did not reflect price fluctuations in imported crude prices over the past 16 months. Cheng called on the nation’s economics ministry to return the money to consumers within two months.
Beijing per capita GDP rises
Average living standards in Beijing improved last year, with per capita GDP topping US$10,000 for the first time, official data showed yesterday. The capital’s economy grew 10.1 percent year-on-year to 1.19 trillion yuan (US$174.3 billion) — exceeding the national GDP growth rate of 8.7 percent — according to figures published on the Beijing Bureau of Statistics Web site.
This means per capita GDP for the city’s 17.55 million residents reached 68,788 yuan, or US$10,077, the bureau said.
Average annual disposable income for Beijing’s city dwellers rose 8.1 percent to US$3,915, while for rural residents around the capital, the figure reached US$1,755, up 11.5 percent on the previous year.
NT dollar weakens
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday further weakened by NT$0.061 to close at NT$31.980 against the US dollar on turnover of US$783 million.
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