Demand for HTC Corp’s (宏達電) new Nexus 9 tablet cobranded with Google Inc is so strong that the company is expanding its production capacity to meet orders, HTC North Asia president Jack Tong (董俊良) said yesterday.
“Consumers from major destination markets are really excited about the launch of the Nexus 9,” Tong told reporters on the sidelines of a product launch ceremony in Taipei, which also showcased the HTC Desire Eye, a selfie-focused smartphone, and the Desire 820, which features dual SIM cards.
Google’s Nexus 7 tablet was a success, and the impressive pre-orders for the Nexus 9 can be seen as a continuation of the Nexus 7’s success, Tong said.
Photo: CNA
He added that HTC is considering promoting its own tablet products, but as the global tablet market is shrinking, the company will first observe market reaction to the Nexus 9 and carefully consider how to carve out a niche for itself.
As sales of 7-inch tablets have been affected by the emergence of 5.5-inch and even larger smartphones, HTC may seek to promote higher-end tablet models, he said.
“Product differentiation is a key issue, and we are still thinking about [our strategy],” Tong said.
On Monday, Taipei-based Digitimes Research said in a report that global tablet shipments would post their first-ever annual decline this quarter.
The report said that tablet shipments would reach 74.53 million units this quarter, down 10.1 percent from a year earlier, citing a gradually saturated global market.
Taiwanese manufacturers, including both brandname vendors and contract makers, would account for 64.1 percent of tablet shipments this quarter, or a total of 30.64 million units, as peak-season demand drives up sales of devices from Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), the report said.
Commenting on the company’s target for mid-tier smartphone sales, Tong said that the HTC Desire 816, which was launched in May, has topped sales in Taiwan for months.
He said the company expects the HTC Desire Eye and Desire 820 to solidify the company’s position in the mid-tier smartphone market and continue the strong sales momentum this quarter.
Aggregate shipments of the HTC One (M8), Desire 816 and Butterfly 2 have reached more than 1 million over the past six months, Tong said.
Overall, the company’s performance this quarter should be better than last quarter, based on the shipment figures, he added.
In a conference call last week, HTC said that revenue for this quarter could reach NT$43 billion to NT$47 billion (US$1.4 billion to US$1.53 billion), an increase of 2.71 percent to 12.27 percent from NT$41.86 billion last quarter.
KEEPING UP: The acquisition of a cleanroom in Taiwan would enable Micron to increase production in a market where demand continues to outpace supply, a Micron official said Micron Technology Inc has signed a letter of intent to buy a fabrication site in Taiwan from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion to expand its production of memory chips. Micron would take control of the P5 site in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) and plans to ramp up DRAM production in phases after the transaction closes in the second quarter, the company said in a statement on Saturday. The acquisition includes an existing 12 inch fab cleanroom of 27,871m2 and would further position Micron to address growing global demand for memory solutions, the company said. Micron expects the transaction to
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
US actor Matthew McConaughey has filed recordings of his image and voice with US patent authorities to protect them from unauthorized usage by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, a representative said earlier this week. Several video clips and audio recordings were registered by the commercial arm of the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, a non-profit created by the Oscar-winning actor and his wife, Camila, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office database. Many artists are increasingly concerned about the uncontrolled use of their image via generative AI since the rollout of ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools. Several US states have adopted
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before
RSS