Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大) has considered the nation’s graying population with a near-field communication (NFC)-capable smart bracelet that could help senior citizens find their way home.
When lost, wearers can swipe the bracelets over any NFC-enabled smartphone to alert authorities to their location, pinpointed by GPS, the nation’s second-largest mobile carrier said yesterday.
“This marks the first NFC-based electronic tagging feature in a smart bracelet in Taiwan, and it could raise people’s willingness to help find senior citizens who get lost,” Taiwan Mobile president James Cheng (鄭光遠) told a press conference.
Photo: Wang Yi-hung, Taipei Times
The company plans to distribute 4,000 bracelets for free in Taipei and New Taipei City in partnership with the Foundation for the Welfare of the Elderly, and in Pingtung County with the Bjorgaas Social Welfare Foundation.
The bracelets could help the 200,000 Taiwanese seniors who have Alzheimer’s disease, Cheng said.
The Foundation for the Welfare of the Elderly has said that about 58 percent of people with Alzheimer’s who become lost are found within a short period of time, but the technology in the bracelet could increase that number to 100 percent, Cheng said.
Cheng also mentioned Taiwan Mobile’s plans to sell fourth-generation (4G) smartphones that support the nation’s unique 700 MHz frequency, saying the company would launch 10 smartphone models capable of using the frequency in the third quarter of this year, when its 4G network is due to be inaugurated.
The phones include a Taiwan Mobile-branded 4G phone made by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海), the main manufacturer of Apple Inc’s iPhones and iPads.
Taiwan Mobile will increase its 700 MHz 4G phone selections to as many as 40 models by the end of the year, thanks to 4G LTE chips launched by suppliers such as Qualcomm Inc, Cheng said.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to remain Apple Inc’s primary chip manufacturing partner despite reports that Apple could shift some orders to Intel Corp, industry experts said yesterday. The comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple and Intel had reached a preliminary agreement following more than a year of negotiations for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices. Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) economist Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies, including integrated fan-out and chip-on-wafer-on-substrate, remain critical to the performance of Apple’s A-series and M-series chips. She said Intel and Samsung
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has approved a capital budget of US$31.28 billion for production expansion to meet long-term development needs during the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company’s board meeting yesterday approved the capital appropriation plan for purposes such as the installation of advanced technology capacity and fab construction, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement. At an earnings conference last month, TSMC forecast that its capital expenditure for this year would be at the higher end of the US$52 billion to US$56 billion range it forecast in January in response to robust demand for 5G, AI and
RSS