Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) has teamed up with Sony Mobile Communications to offer more 4G-enabled phones and tablets ahead of the planned launch of Taiwan’s 4G long-term evolution (LTE) network in the second half of the year.
The partnership will boost Chunghwa Telecom’s LTE-ready devices to 15 — including four from Sony — for subscribers signing up for a 30-month contract that offers 5 gigabytes of data per month.
Chunghwa Telecom plans to sell at least 30 types of LTE devices this quarter to draw in subscribers from other carriers ahead of the launch of its LTE network later this year, said Lin Kuo-feng (林國豐), president of Chunghwa Telecom’s mobile business group.
“Sony’s competitive 4G products, from high-end to mid-range and entry-level price bands, will help upgrade our customers’ satisfaction with the 4G LTE network,” Lin said at a press conference.
The company has plans to purchase 2.3 million smartphones and tablets this year, of which 43 percent will be LTE models, he said.
He predicted that the penetration rate of LTE devices would reach 80 percent next year, when more affordable 4G products hit local shelves.
Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信) on Tuesday launched its own-branded mid-tier 4G smartphone to make inroads into the country’s new 700 megahertz (MHz) frequency.
Far EasTone said that more own-branded phones supporting the 700MHz frequency are to be released next month in partnership with Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密).
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],”
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
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