Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦), the world’s fifth-largest PC maker, is poised to move into the smartphone market, with the launch of three models powered by China Mobile Ltd’s (中國移動) OPhone platform in the fourth quarter.
Asustek plans to roll out its first smartphones using the TD-SCDMA system in the Chinese market from the fourth quarter to early next year, Asustek corporate vice president of personal mobile devices Benson Lin (林宗樑) said yesterday.
A newcomer to the smartphone landscape, Asustek joined hands with US navigation device maker Garmin Ltd in February last year to make and market smartphones under the joint brand of “Garmin-Asus.”
Asustek only debuted a handful of models this year — the M10, the A50 and the M10E. Launched yesterday, the M10E is an improved version of the M10 that was originally introduced in February.
An upcoming model is the A10, which runs on Google Inc’s Android platform and will hit local stores in October. The A10 will complete Asustek’s smartphone offerings for the global market this year.
The company is also producing smartphone models tailormade for the Chinese market, in light of the rapid uptake of TD-SCDMA networks.
The three OPhone models are expected to boost Asustek’s shipments this year as it aims to be one of the first mobile phone makers to launch TD-SCDMA models in China.
China Mobile, China’s largest mobile service operator, is touting OPhone — a modified smartphone operating system based on the open-source Android system — as its smartphone interface.
Asustek is sticking to its earlier target of shipping 1 million smartphones globally this year. It shipped 40 percent of that target during the first half of the year, Lin said.
acer smartphone
Meanwhile, Acer Inc (宏碁), another new contender in the smartphone market, this week announced the launch of two models — the Acer beTouch E400, its first model powered by Android, as well as the Acer neoTouch P400, which runs on Windows Mobile.
Acer president and chief executive Gianfranco Lanci had earlier said that the company aims to ship 2 million to 3 million smartphones globally by the end of the year.
E-books
Separately, Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) yesterday said there have been 1 million downloads of its electronic books on smartphones since it introduced the service last October.
The total number of views for its e-books is 12 million to date, while current views per day are as many as 70,000, it said, adding that reading comic books on smartphones represents a new move by the company to drive up Internet data traffic.
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