Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), the world’s No. 5 PC brand, yesterday said that it plans to introduce two more wearable devices in the second half of next year, seeking to repeat the success of the smartwatch it launched recently in a bid to become one of the world’s top three suppliers of wearable devices.
Asustek’s ZenWatch has been rolled out ahead of Apple Inc’s Apple Watch, which is expected to hit the market early next year.
“ZenWatch is our first wearable device powered by Goolge Inc’s Android Wear system,” Asustek chief executive Jerry Shen (沈振來) said at a product launch for the local market, following the smart device’s overseas debut.
Photo: CNA
Shen said the market reactions to the ZenWatch in the US and Japan have been satisfying. He declined to disclose sales figures.
“Select European countries, China and Hong Kong will be included in the second wave of ZenWatch launches,” he added.
The company said that supplies of the smart device are running short in the US and Japan, which Shen attributed to a components shortage.
Asustek only utilizes 50 percent of its 50,000 units-a-month capacity.
The supply shortage could extend to February next year, Shen said.
Despite this, Asustek is planning to launch the second-generation ZenWatch — which has a voice call function and a smart wristband — in the third quarter of next year.
Asustek hopes that the device, which is priced at NT$5,990, gains popularity in the mass market. That figure is almost half of Apple Watch’s price tag of at least US$349.
Since smartwatches are the first Internet of Things product with foreseeable growth potential, Asustek will strive to become “a key player” in this sector, Shen said.
The company is to boost ZenWatch production in the second half of next year, either to produce the first-generation models, or the second-generation ones, Shen said.
Separately, Shen said that “the weak yen has not affected the revenue ZenWatch has generated for Asustek because the product was launched in Japan in November and the currency appears to have stopped falling since then.”
Asustek’s share price closed down 0.88 percent at NT$337 yesterday, underperforming the TAIEX, which gained 0.97 percent.
Taichung reported the steepest fall in completed home prices among the six special municipalities in the first quarter of this year, data compiled by Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) showed yesterday. From January through last month, the average transaction price for completed homes in Taichung fell 8 percent from a year earlier to NT$299,000 (US$9,483) per ping (3.3m²), said Taiwan Realty, which compiled the data based on the government’s price registration platform. The decline could be attributed to many home buyers choosing relatively affordable used homes to live in themselves, instead of newly built homes in the city’s prime property market, Taiwan Realty
The government yesterday approved applications by Alphabet Inc’s Google to invest NT$27.08 billion (US$859.98 million) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. The Department of Investment Review approved two investments proposed by Google, with much of the funds to be used for data processing and electronic information supply services, as well as inventory procurement businesses in the semiconductor field, the ministry said. It marks the second consecutive year that Google has applied to increase its investment in Taiwan. Google plans to infuse NT$25.34 billion into Charter Investments Ltd (特許投資顧問) through its Singapore-based subsidiary Fructan Holdings Singapore Pte Ltd, and
JET JUICE: The war on Iran’s secondary effects have seen fuel prices skyrocket, knocking flight schedules down to earth in return as airlines struggle with costs Airline passengers should brace for more irritation in the next few months as carriers worldwide cancel flights and ground planes to cope with stratospheric increases in jet-fuel prices. Dutch flag carrier KLM is the latest company to cut its schedule, saying on Thursday that it would scrap 80 return flights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in the coming month. That puts it in the same league as United Airlines Holdings Inc, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, which have all pruned itineraries to mitigate costs. Global capacity for next month has been reduced by about 3 percentage points, with all
FORESEEABLE CONSEQUENCES: New technology always comes with new innovations by the iniquitous in exploiting users for financial gain or more nefarious ends Artificial intelligence (AI) “agents” say they can save users time and energy by automating tasks, but the growing power of systems such as OpenClaw is putting cybersecurity experts on edge. Powered by a wave of hype, OpenClaw today says it has more than three million users worldwide. The system allows users to create so-called agents, tools based on a large language model (LLM) such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Anthropic PBC’s Claude, that can carry out online tasks. “We’ve moved from an AI you could talk with via a chatbot to an agentic AI, which can take action... the threat and the risks are
RSS