Microsoft Corp is likely to launch a smaller and less expensive tablet computer in the fourth quarter of the year to compete with Apple Inc’s popular iPad Mini, a Topology Research Institute (拓璞產業研究所) analyst said yesterday.
The Windows 8-based tablet, called the Surface mini, is expected to feature a touchscreen of between 7.5 inches and 8 inches and a low-power Intel Corp Atom microprocessor, and carry a price tag of US$299, Topology analyst Maxwell Chang (張乘維) told reporters at a media briefing on consumer electronics trends.
Microsoft has been in talks with two or three Taiwanese original-design manufacturers to produce the new gadget, but the list has not been finalized, Chang said, citing supply chain sources.
The US giant also plans to launch the second generation of its Surface Pro tablet, which is expected to use a more powerful Intel Haswell processor, he added.
“Microsoft is likely to aim at taking on the iPad Mini because it knows it is hard to compete with [Google Inc’s] Android tablets in terms of price,” Chang said.
Taiwan-based Acer Inc (宏碁) and Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) have launched 7-inch tablets costing as little as US$129, while Acer and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co are also set to sell 8-inch models priced at between US$249 and US$399, Chang said.
Topology data show that worldwide tablet shipments are expected to total 161 million units this year, up 42 percent from 113 million last year.
Tablet models sized between 7 inches and 8 inches will make up 54 percent of the total shipments this year, a massive increase from 32 percent last year, the institute said.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained