Those who are waiting for good deals to purchase the latest electronic gadgets should wait no more, as IT Month — a major year-end consumer electronics bargain fair — is set to start on Saturday in Taipei.
IT Month, which is also scheduled to travel south to Greater Taichung and Greater Kaohsiung later next month, will see tablets, ultrabooks, projectors, all-in-one PCs and smartphones take center stage.
Despite consumers tightening their belts given the uncertainties in the macroeconomic environment, the fair organizer yesterday said that bargains galore are set to make them shop till they drop.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
“Judging from spending patterns when the economy wasn’t good in the past, people would always wait for the best bargains to become available before they buy. So we think this will again be the case at this year’s IT Month,” said Enoch Du (杜全昌), secretary-general of the Taipei Computer Association (TCA, 台北市電腦公會), which organizes the fair.
“Companies are launching many new products at the fair and consumers are sure to be spoilt for choice,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a press conference.
The fair will be held from Saturday to Dec. 11 at Taipei World Trade Center Hall 1 and Hall 3.
The TCA expects the fair to attract 850,000 visitors this year, the same number as last year, which was a record.
Among the highlights among the gadgets this year is the Transformer Prime from Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦).
The new model of the Transformer tablet PC will be sold for the first time at IT Month, with a price tag of about NT$18,000 (US$593), according to Asustek.
The first model has been a hit in the tablet market with its detachable keyboard that doubles as an extra battery source, Asustek added.
Amid intensified rivalry caused by Amazon’s freshly launched Kindle Fire, which is bringing prices to a new low, Acer Inc (宏碁) is slashing the price of its 7 inch Iconia A100 tablet, to NT$9,900 from NT$14,800.
The company is also promoting its first smartphone running Microsoft Corp’s Mango operating system.
The Acer Allegro weighs 128g, has a 3.6 inch screen and is powered by a 1GHz processor.
Acer said the Allegro is selling for NT$11,900, making it very competitive compared with other Mango smartphones in the market.
Undeterred by the threat of Kindle Fire, an e-reader maker is convinced that its product still enjoys a niche market among book lovers.
Greenbook Inc (綠林資訊), a first-time participant at the show, is pushing a 6 inch monochrome e-reader priced at less than NT$3,000.
“Contrary to Kindle Fire, which offers abundant Western content but lacks Mandarin substance, we offer more localized content by working with Taiwanese magazine publishers,” Greenbook’s public relations manager Victoria Ding (丁苡芊) told reporters.
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