Chunghwa Telecom Co (CHT, 中華電信), the nation’s biggest telecoms carrier, yesterday launched its first BlackBerry smartphone from Research In Motion (RIM), ending Taiwan Mobile Co’s (台灣大哥大) five-year exclusive right to sell the phone in Taiwan.
The partnership would extend to the sale of RIM’s new tablet device, dubbed the PlayBook, CHT said. RIM’s PlayBook is expected to hit the company’s stores next quarter, said Shi Mu-piao (石木標), a vice president of Chunghwa Telecom.
“The sale of RIM’s BlackBerry will help increase the number of corporate customers for us,” Shih said.
“We think it’s the right time to introduce BlackBerry phones as they are now equipped with the popular touchscreen feature as well as Chinese input, which is important [for Taiwanese], but had not been available before,” Shih added.
The telecoms carrier expects sales of BlackBerry phones to help boost the number of its corporate customers to about 1 million, up by 1 percent from 990,000 users now, Shih said, adding that the new subscription package includes a two-year free data transmission service to cater to the needs of corporate subscribers.
RIM’s tablet device, meanwhile, was targeting average consumers, Shih said.
RIM’s Blackberry Torch 9800 smartphone is now available at 80 outlets from Chunghwa Telecom and its handset retailer affiliate Senao International Co (神腦國際).
Meanwhile, Taiwan Mobile, the nation’s No.2 phone company, yesterday said it planned to introduce a remodeled Blackberry Torch 9800 later this quarter with a white casing instead of black, as well as the newly released BlackBerry Bold 9780, according to a company statement.
Taiwan Mobile also said it would launch RIM’s tablet device at an appropriate time.
The DBS Foundation yesterday announced the launch of two flagship programs, “Silver Motion” and “Happier Caregiver, Healthier Seniors,” in partnership with CCILU Ltd, Hondao Senior Citizens’ Welfare Foundation and the Garden of Hope Foundation to help Taiwan face the challenges of a rapidly aging population. The foundation said it would invest S$4.91 million (US$3.8 million) over three years to foster inclusion and resilience in an aging society. “Aging may bring challenges, but it also brings opportunities. With many Asian markets rapidly becoming super-aged, the DBS Foundation is working with a regional ecosystem of like-minded partners across the private, public and people sectors
BREAKTHROUGH TECH: Powertech expects its fan-out PLP system to become mainstream, saying it can offer three-times greater production throughput Chip packaging service provider Powertech Technology Inc (力成科技) plans to more than double its capital expenditures next year to more than NT$40 billion (US$1.31 billion) as demand for its new panel-level packaging (PLP) technology, primarily used in chips for artificial intelligence (AI) applications, has greatly exceeded what it can supply. A significant portion of the budget, about US$1 billion, would be earmarked for fan-out PLP technology, Powertech told investors yesterday. Its heavy investment in fan-out PLP technology over the past 10 years is expected to bear fruit in 2027 after the technology enters volume production, it said, adding that the tech would
YEAR-END BOOST: The holiday shopping season in the US and Europe, combined with rising demand for AI applications, is expected to drive exports to a new high, the NDC said Taiwan’s business climate monitor improved last month, transitioning from steady growth for the first time in five months, as robust global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) products and new iPhone shipments boosted exports and corporate sales, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. The council uses a five-color system to measure the nation’s economic state, with “green” indicating steady growth, “red” suggesting a boom and “blue” reflecting a recession. “Yellow-red” and “yellow-blue” suggest a transition to a stronger or weaker condition. The total score of the monitor’s composite index rose to 35 points from a revised 31 in August, ending a four-month
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has secured three construction permits for its plan to build a state-of-the-art A14 wafer fab in Taichung, and is likely to start construction soon, the Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau said yesterday. Speaking with CNA, Wang Chun-chieh (王俊傑), deputy director general of the science park bureau, said the world’s largest contract chipmaker has received three construction permits — one to build a fab to roll out sophisticated chips, another to build a central utility plant to provide water and electricity for the facility and the other to build three office buildings. With the three permits, TSMC
RSS