The tablet industry is getting crowded with Taiwanese makers hopping onto the bandwagon.
Just as Acer Inc (宏碁) announced yesterday in New York the introduction of its 7-inch and 10-inch models running on Windows and Android platforms early next year, a Taiwanese start-up also made public its ambition in the marketplace.
HiAchieve Digital Technology Inc (澔奇數位科技) is hoping its focus on the schoolchildren market will set it apart from the competition.
“The education segment gives us a competitive advantage,” HiAchieve’s senior technical director David Lin (林世岳) said on the sidelines of a press conference.
The company has a digital content platform that includes after-class reading materials, simulated test papers and textbooks that come bundled with its 10-inch tablet, saving children from lugging printed materials to and from school.
This is intended to be its niche, compared with the general digital content such as novels, martial arts fiction and magazines offered by rivals such as Acer and BenQ Corp (明基).
Acer announced yesterday its “alive” application store debut, while BenQ has had its “eBook Taiwan” (伊博數位書屋) to offer digital content downloads since late last year.
HiAchieve was founded by Jim Sun (孫憶明) in June last year, after he had worked for Microsoft Corp, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Siebel Systems. The company has more than 20 employees and plans to set up a branch in Beijing early next year.
As the Chinese government exerts control over the e--education segment, Lin said the company is studying other niche segments.
These may include tailoring the digital content platform to support virtual touring of museums, for instance, he said.
The HiAchieve tablet, dubbed “eWonderPad,” runs on Android 1.6 and sells for NT$16,800.
The company has placed shipment orders of 4,000 units from Hon Hai, the contract maker which produces the device.
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