Electronic gadget enthusiasts are holding their breath ahead of the start of the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas tomorrow, waiting to be wowed by prototypes of products including Google Phones, tablet computers, electronic book readers (e-readers) and three-dimensional TVs.
Taiwan’s strength in cost-effective manufacturing capability and supply chains for consumer electronic products will also be on display.
For example, Taiwan’s HTC Corp is the contract designer and manufacturer of Google’s Android-based Nexus One smartphone.
E-readers are another example: Taiwan accounts for 40 percent to 50 percent of the e-book reader’s value chain, which may increase because the device’s key e-paper display module is controlled by Taiwanese companies. (The paper-like display takes up approximately one-third of the device’s material cost.)
Among them, Taiwan’s Prime View International Co has a 90 percent share in the global supply of the key component, used by the three most popular e-readers: Amazon’s Kindle, Sony Corp’s Reader and the latest offering, Barnes & Noble Inc’s Nook.
The device is revolutionary for its reading comfort and low power consumption, and may pave the way for the advent of a paperless world. Four million units were sold last year, saving tens of millions of tonnes of paper.
Its success in the US is no surprise because the cost of buying a book, including time, is greatly curtailed.
Amazon awards as much as a 60 percent discount to buyers when they make a choice from a selection of up to 350,000 e-books, which can be downloaded within a minute.
Success in smaller markets such as Taiwan, however, is not a given as local readers, who can easily stop by a 7-Eleven or bookstore to pick up a book or a magazine, may still find it too pricey to purchase a US$300 device to access a limited selection of digitalized books.
It is important to keep in mind that content is another key element to the facilitation of a paperless society.
It is a pity that Taiwan can export so many devices, yet have belated access to the products because the local market is too small for device makers to bother setting up here.
However, as small as the Taiwanese market is, it is being supported by the government, which has allocated NT$2.134 billion (US$67 million) to help boost the industry’s output value to NT$100 billion over the next few years.
The nation’s 1.7 million junior and senior high school students should provide a good start.
If each is given a small subsidy to own an e-reader made in Taiwan at a price tag of NT$3,000 (component suppliers such as Prime View have agreed to help facilitate the project), it would trigger a ripple effect, forcing publishers to digitalize and providing a solid foundation for the government to nourish industry development.
Not only would Taiwan be doing its part for the global environment, it would be helping its own economy at the same time.
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