Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信) yesterday became the third cell-phone service operator in less than a week to inaugurate its Internet cell-phone service, placing the company firmly among the top technology users in the industry.
The new service, called "Super i-style," enables cell-phone users to send and receive e-mails, download ringtones and graphics, as well as check real-time messages from their handsets -- all very similar to services rolled out last week by it's competitors, KG Telecommunication Co (和信電訊) and Taiwan Cellular Corp (台灣大哥大).
The move also shows that the company isn't lagging behind the competition, a market watcher said yesterday.
"They want to let the public know they can offer [the technology] too, just like other operators," said George Wu (
Last Thursday, KG Telecom began to offer NTT DoCoMo's i-mode service in Taiwan and rival operator Taiwan Cellular announced a new messaging service that transmits multimedia pictures and digital files via phones.
All of these services run on general packet radio system (GPRS) platforms -- sent digitally -- enabling phone users to send not only analog voice transmissions, but also data and pictures.
Interestingly, all three companies price their new services at NT$7,900 when bundled with a new color-screen handset.
"Obviously, they are competing head-to-head in order to gain customers [and not lose existing ones either]," Wu said.
But Wu said these new services may not really benefit operator revenues in the short term because demand for mobile Internet is still low and isn't expected to take off until the end of next year.
Another industry watcher agreed with Wu, saying it takes time to fire up the market and to change consumer habits from using phones as chatter devices to using them as Internet-access gadgets.
"With telecom revenues sagging, operators are forced to start pushing mobile Internet services and make use of data services to gradually boost sales," said Alex Wu (吳興國), an analyst at KGI Securities Corp (中信證券).
Among the three services, KG Telecom's i-mode may be poised to gain market share the fastest, he added.
"People have heard about i-mode for years and, more or less, have some expectation of this world-renowned service."
I-mode is especially attractive to young people who are caught up in the Japanese trend of downloading pictures and sending colorful images to peers, Alex Wu explained.
FALLING BEHIND: Samsung shares have declined more than 20 percent this year, as the world’s largest chipmaker struggles in key markets and plays catch-up to rival SK Hynix Samsung Electronics Co is laying off workers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as part of a plan to reduce its global headcount by thousands of jobs, sources familiar with the situation said. The layoffs could affect about 10 percent of its workforces in those markets, although the numbers for each subsidiary might vary, said one of the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Job cuts are planned for other overseas subsidiaries and could reach 10 percent in certain markets, the source said. The South Korean company has about 147,000 in staff overseas, more than half
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
Sales RecORD: Hon Hai’s consolidated sales rose by about 20 percent last quarter, while Largan, another Apple supplier, saw quarterly sales increase by 17 percent IPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday reported its highest-ever quarterly sales for the third quarter on the back of solid global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) globally, said it posted NT$1.85 trillion (US$57.93 billion) in consolidated sales in the July-to-September quarter, up 19.46 percent from the previous quarter and up 20.15 percent from a year earlier. The figure beat the previous third-quarter high of NT$1.74 trillion recorded in 2022, company data showed. Due to rising demand for AI, Hon Hai said its cloud and networking division enjoyed strong sales
RSS