Forty percent of the world’s smart TV set-top boxes will be churned out by Taiwanese companies next year, as TV makers, content providers and Internet bigwigs are all betting on TVs to be the control center of the living room, Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC, 產業情報研究所) said yesterday.
Local makers that are expected to ride on the wave include Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), Unihan Corp (永碩), Gigabyte Technology Corp (技嘉), Alpha Networks Inc (明泰科技) and D-Link Corp (友訊), analyst Welber Chang (張奇) said.
Early adopters of smart TVs could tweet to their friends, update their moods on Facebook, as well as watch a YouTube video on the large screen.
Some TV sets come with embedded set-top boxes, while others will require consumers to purchase one to link up to the Internet.
Thanks to big names such as Apple Inc and Google Inc joining the fray, MIC predicted that shipments of smart TV boxes would soar to 20 million units next year, from just 2 million to 3 million this year.
Of the 20 million market, some 70 percent will be grabbed by -Apple TV, Chang said, citing the variety of applications made available by the company.
The researcher, however, played down the uptake of Google TV, citing previous glitches with its user interface, such as with its first smartphone, Nexus One, launched this year.
Google has reportedly asked TV partners including Sony Corp, Toshiba Corp, LG Electronics Inc and Sharp Corp to delay introductions of smart TVs using its new software that adds Web video and other applications to TV sets because of “software refinement work,” the New York Times reported earlier this week.
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