After two years of partnership, Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) and Garmin Ltd, the US’ No. 1 portable navigation devices maker, are calling it quits.
Asustek, the world’s No. 5 PC brand, yesterday confirmed that both parties agreed to scrap their “co-branding” strategy starting from next year.
That means consumers will no longer find smartphones that bear the “Garmin-Asus” logo in the future because Garmin has decided to pull out of the smartphone business, Asustek corporate vice president Benson Lin (林宗樑) told a media briefing.
“Navigation smartphones need more time to take off ... We are not keeping up with industry changes and are losing competitiveness,” Lin said.
Ending the co-branding partnership will allow the companies to “focus on [their] respective core competencies,” he said.
Asustek and Garmin teamed up in January last year to introduce co-branded smartphones, with Asustek managing the hardware and Garmin supplying the navigation solutions.
The two companies had plans to officially launch a joint venture this year to enhance the partnership, but the idea was scrapped after sales of Garmin-Asus phones hit a snag in the US amid strong competition from Apple’s iPhone and the wide availability of Google Maps in other smartphones, Lin said.
After the split, Asustek will market handhelds carrying the “Asus” logo, and Garmin will offer exclusive rights to its navigation software to Asustek’s Android-based smartphones “for a few years,” he said, declining to detail the licensing terms.
The split also means Garmin will be able to market its navigation solutions on other app markets for non-Android-based handsets. These include Apple Inc’s App Store and Research In Motion Ltd’s App World.
Garmin’s Dutch rival TomTom NV is selling navigation apps on App Store for US$49.99 for Hong Kong users, US$89.99 for West European users and US$59.99 for US users.
If consumers just get a Garmin-Asus phone, they won’t be able to realize the hidden values offered by Garmin solutions, Lin added.
The two partners had launched six Garmin-Asus smartphones over the last two years, mostly to lukewarm reception. Asustek’s earlier target to ship 1 million smartphones this year remains challenging, analysts said.
The company is hoping that its recent foray into TD-SCDMA phones for the Chinese market will bear fruit and help expand sales.
Lin said Asustek would launch two models running on China’s proprietary 4G standard by the end of the year, adding that the firm was in talks to bundle phone sales through China Mobile Ltd (中國移動), the world’s largest mobile operator by number of subscribers.
To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success. The first city entirely built by a private company to be operational in east Africa, with about 25,000 people living and working there, it accounts for about two-thirds of all foreign investment in Kenya. Its low-tax status has attracted more than 100 businesses including Heineken, coffee brand Dormans, and the biggest call-center and cold-chain transport firms in the region. However, to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion. A parade of governors have demanded land worth millions of dollars in exchange
An Indonesian animated movie is smashing regional box office records and could be set for wider success as it prepares to open beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago’s silver screens. Jumbo — a film based on the adventures of main character, Don, a large orphaned Indonesian boy facing bullying at school — last month became the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animated film, raking in more than US$8 million. Released at the end of March to coincide with the Eid holidays after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the movie has hit 8 million ticket sales, the third-highest in Indonesian cinema history, Film
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) revenue jumped 48 percent last month, underscoring how electronics firms scrambled to acquire essential components before global tariffs took effect. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp reported monthly sales of NT$349.6 billion (US$11.6 billion). That compares with the average analysts’ estimate for a 38 percent rise in second-quarter revenue. US President Donald Trump’s trade war is prompting economists to retool GDP forecasts worldwide, casting doubt over the outlook for everything from iPhone demand to computing and datacenter construction. However, TSMC — a barometer for global tech spending given its central role in the
Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designer specializing in server chips, expects revenue to decline this year due to sagging demand for 5-nanometer artificial intelligence (AI) chips from a North America-based major customer, a company executive said yesterday. That would be the first contraction in revenue for Alchip as it has been enjoying strong revenue growth over the past few years, benefiting from cloud-service providers’ moves to reduce dependence on Nvidia Corp’s expensive AI chips by building their own AI accelerator by outsourcing chip design. The 5-nanometer chip was supposed to be a new growth engine as the lifecycle
RSS