The iPad craze has prompted netbook pioneer Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦) to carefully gauge its next step in competing with Apple Inc in the tablet PC market.
“The iPad has set the bar high,” Asustek CEO Jerry Shen (沈振來) said at an investors’ conference at the company’s Beitou (北投) headquarters on Friday.
“We have to create a model that differs from the iPad in terms of features ... We can’t just compete solely on pricing strategy,” he said.
The company is in full alert as analysts have said the iPad has successfully revived tablet PCs — which were introduced years ago but failed to generate mass enthusiasm — and this has even eaten into the share of netbooks — a niche market that Asustek created in 2007.
A high portion of Asustek’s 800 research and development staff that are currently working on Google Inc’s Android platform would be allocated to the development of the Eee Pad — Asustek’s answer to the iPad, Shen said.
He added the company’s know-how in PC development and rapport with Microsoft Corp, Intel Corp and Google would give it an edge in seizing a sizeable tablet PC share.
Shen refused to say more to reporters the same day, but said the first Eee Pad would hit store shelves in December or in January next year.
The 12-inch model is Wintel (Windows and Intel)-based and will carry a price tag of more than US$1,000, about double that of the iPad’s entry-level model.
Another model from Asustek, due to launch next March, will run on Android and sell below US$399.
Shen said the iPad would seize as much as 60 percent share in the total tablet market next year, with the remainder to be split among rivals.
“We hope to get a leading share of the remaining pie,” he said.
Raymond Sung (宋福祥), chairman and chief executive officer of Simplo Technology Inc (新普科技), the world’s largest notebook battery pack maker, predicted on Thursday that the tablet PC market would stand at 40 million units next year.
Sung said a number of its clients had plans to launch iPad-like tablets in the second half, by already placing battery pack orders with Simplo.
“I initially thought I would never get used to high-tech gadgets like the iPhone, but it is so user friendly and marvelous,” said the 61-year-old Sung, who flaunted his iPhone at Simplo’s investors’ conference. “By the way, I am not promoting the iPhone here ... Simplo doesn’t supply battery packs to iPhone.”
He agreed with market sentiment that has said the netbook market would slow this year as a result of the tablet invasion and added the netbook was a “transitional product” while tablets are here to stay “for at least five more years.”
“How successful the product will be depends on how capable the pioneer of the product is,” Sung said.
According to Goldman Sachs analyst Henry King (金文衡), with a slew of smartphone makers already announcing respective plans for their tablet devices, there could be intense pricing competition which may spell margin erosion for the players.
These smartphone markers enjoy a lead with their Android platform, something Asustek is not well versed in, King added.
LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics and Research In Motion are set to roll out tablets, while HTC Corp (宏達電) is reportedly planning a foray into the segment, too.
“Looking into next year, we believe Asustek may be more vulnerable to the iPad than most PC players, given its relatively higher sales exposure to netbooks,” Citigroup analyst Kevin Chang (張凱偉) said in a report released on Friday.
Netbooks account for 20 percent of Asustek’s total sales, compared with 13 percent for Acer (宏碁), which has higher exposure to large-screen notebooks, he said.
“Given our view that Acer is getting preferential support from Google, it will be rather difficult for Asustek to win a meaningful tablet PC market share,” Chang wrote.
Meanwhile, RBS Asia Limited Taipei Branch adjusted downward total netbook shipments to 32.4 million for next year, from its earlier forecast of 46.5 million.
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
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],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained