The global recession has stalled sales of electronic gadgets but has not crippled the progress of developing new technologies, or reinventing applications of existing technologies.
For example, the use of touch panels is entering a new chapter as a growing number of computer makers introduce new models with screens at least three times larger than a 3.2-inch screen iPhone, allowing users to browse Web pages wirelessly, or to edit photos by clicking, scrolling and zooming with fingers on the screen.
The launch of Microsoft Corp’s next-generation operating system, Windows 7, which is scheduled to hit the market on Oct. 22, gave a crucial push to substitute touch screens for existing displays for computers, said Calvin Hsieh (謝忠利), a Taipei-based analyst with market researcher DisplaySearch.
Taiwan’s major PC brands, such as Acer Inc (宏碁), are presenting their latest all-in-one (AIO) PCs outfitted with touch screens as big as 23 inches at the annual Computex trade show this week in Taipei.
The AIOs are a fusion of computer, TV and a multi-media center. Computer makers believe AIOs will prove popular with consumers seeking to replace their bulky desktop computers.
Almost all new AIO models made by local brands are equipped with a touch panel and run on Windows premium edition and will be able to upgrade to Windows 7 when it becomes available.
“The launch of Microsoft’s Windows 7 will help boost the trend of using touch panels on more handsets, notebooks and netbooks,” said Emma Tang (唐婉倩), an analyst with Daiwa Securities SMBC-Cathay Co (大和國泰), in a report on Tuesday.
“The penetration of touch panels used in notebooks will rise,” she said.
The penetration of touch screen notebooks is expected to triple from 4 percent this year to 12 percent next year and 20 percent in 2011, Tang wrote.
“We think all-in-one PCs will contribute to overall touch panel shipments, but their contribution could be small because such products will mostly sell in the high-end bracket,” Tang said by telephone.
Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which produced the world’s first low-cost laptops, known as netbooks, has been showing an Eee PC equipped with an 8.9-inch swivel touch screen like a tablet PC during Computex.
Touch screens can also be seen in the firms’s other offerings in AIOs, videophone and smartphones.
Elan Microelectronics Corp (義隆), a chip designer, has jumped on the touch-panel bandwagon by making a capacitive-type ITO film, the screens’ first layer, and touchpad.
Elan chairman Yeh I-hau (葉儀皓) said the company would ship its first multi-touch ITO modules for handset and netbook customers in the second half of this year.
DisplaySearch has forecast that touch panel module shipments may hit 1.39 billion units in 2015, after reaching 468 million units last year, a 52.2 percent increase over the previous year.
However, like the growth of any new products, touch panels for PCs will grow slowly, analysts say.
By 2015, 64 percent of touch panels will be used in mobile phones, Hsieh said.
“I believe notebooks will make a larger contribution to the world’s touch panel industry because we are seeing a growing use of touch trackpads on laptops,” Hsieh said.
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