Mon, Oct 28, 2002 page10

• Taiwanese make 25% of world's GPRS handsets

  • By Annabel Lue / STAFF REPORTER
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  Taiwanese mobile-phone makers are set to ship out nearly 25 percent of the global GPRS handsets in the second half of this year, according to the latest statistics from the Market Intelligence Center (市場情報中心), a government-backed think tank.

  The report said in the second half of this year, the nation's handset manufacturers such as BenQ Corp (明基電通) and Compal Communications Inc (華寶通訊), are expected to produce 15.8 million cellphones, of which approximately 35 percent will be GPRS units.

  "Taiwan has become a major production partners for international handset brands like Motorola Inc and Sony Ericsson, especially in manufacturing advanced products," said Feng Lin (林育烽), an telecom analyst at the center.

  GPRS is a wireless standard optimally supposed to transmit data at 115kbps (kilobits per second), 10 times faster than traditional mobile data services.

  Since making GPRS phone requires sophisticated design and production skills, the increasing GPRS shipments from Taiwan demonstrates that the nation's production capability is gaining international recognition, Lin said.

  Some Motorola handsets are currently being made by BenQ and Compal, Sony Ericsson handsets by GVC Corp (致福) and Arima Communication Corp (華冠), Alcatel handsets by GVC, and Siemens AG handsets by Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦). Hon Hai Precision Industries Co (鴻海精密) produces cellphone covers and printed circuits for Nokia Oyj.

  "Under time to market considerations, leading international vendors are increasing placing contract designing and manufacturing orders of high-end mobile phones such as the third-generation (3G) phones to Taiwanese manufacturers," Lin said.

  Total shipments of Taiwan-made handsets are expected to hit 27 million units this year -- a 109 percent increase over last year, while the production value may show an increase of 92.6 percent year-on-year, according to thecenter.

  "The lowered growth rate of the shipment value compared with that of shipment volume is a result of international vendors' moves to undercut each other by lowering prices, which has in turn narrowed Taiwanese makers' profit margin," Lin said.

  Local manufacturers should therefore focus more on higher margin products such as GPRS, color screen and multimedia message service (MMS) handsets, he said.

  MMS allows users to send multimedia pictures, moving images as well as music files between their cellphones. Handsets with advanced entertainment functions are likely to dominate the mobile market next year.

  "Color screen and MMS service handsets will become a mainstream next year," said Irwin Chen (陳盛穩), a vice president at BenQ.

  Over 30 percent of handset shipments will soon be color-screen mobile phones, he said.

  BenQ is scheduled to ship out its first color-screen handsets in the second half of next year.

  By year's end, Taiwanese handset makers are predicted to hold about 6.8 percent of the global market, the center said.

  For your information

  A handle on handsets

  * Handset manufacturers are expected to produce 15.8 million cellphones in the second half of this year, of which 35 percent will be GPRS units. * Total shipments of Taiwan-made handsets are expected to hit 27 million units this year -- a 109 percent increase over last year.
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