Following in the footsteps of Apple Inc, HTC Corp (宏達電) said yesterday that it would begin selling selected models through handset retailers rather than partnering exclusively with telecoms carriers.
The HD mini is set to be the first model from HTC, the leading maker of smartphones for both Windows Mobile and Android operating systems, to be sold by handset retailers, HTC Asia-Pacific region vice president Jack Tong (董俊良) said.
The company wants to enhance its brand image by continuing to work with the nation’s three major telecoms carriers — Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), FarEasTone Telecommunications Co Ltd (遠傳電信) and Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大) — as well as with retailing channels, such as Senao International Co (神腦國際) and Synnex Technology International Corp (聯強國際), Tong said.
PHOTO: YANG YA-MIN, TAIPEI TIMES
Chunghwa Telecom’s two-year exclusive right to sell iPhones in Taiwan came to an end last weekend, when FarEasTone and Taiwan Mobile announced their own monthly subscription packages for the iPhone.
Tong said he was not worried that HTC sales would be compromised, as the telecoms carriers promote the iPhone by offering subsidy packages.
“Shipments of HTC phones to our telecoms partners will rise over time,” he said, adding that operators would have to work out a feasible business model and offer a complete product portfolio to consumers when bundling smartphones into their subscription plans.
HTC will collaborate with more retail partners and these retailers, who will set up display counters, kiosks and logos in their stores to give HTC brand a big push, Tong said.
HTC yesterday unveiled the HD mini, one of three flagship phones it debuted at last month’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
The HD mini is a smaller version of the HD2, which has been a hit thanks to its 4.3-inch screen and computing power, the company said. HD mini has a smaller 3.2-inch screen.
“The market in smartphones is dynamic. It will not be dominated by only one single phone,” Microsoft Taiwan general manager Davis Tsai (蔡恩全) said at the product launch yesterday.
As the smart phone user base in Taiwan is still small compared with those in the US and Hong Kong, Microsoft expects more users to seek out a smartphone to begin using the Internet with enhanced applications for better entertainment on the go.
NEW IDENTITY: Known for its software, India has expanded into hardware, with its semiconductor industry growing from US$38bn in 2023 to US$45bn to US$50bn India on Saturday inaugurated its first semiconductor assembly and test facility, a milestone in the government’s push to reduce dependence on foreign chipmakers and stake a claim in a sector dominated by China. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened US firm Micron Technology Inc’s semiconductor assembly, test and packaging unit in his home state of Gujarat, hailing the “dawn of a new era” for India’s technology ambitions. “When young Indians look back in the future, they will see this decade as the turning point in our tech future,” Modi told the event, which was broadcast on his YouTube channel. The plant would convert
Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) yesterday said the DRAM supply crunch could extend through 2028, as the artificial intelligence (AI) boom has led the world’s major memory makers to dramatically reduce production of standard DRAM and allocate a significant portion of their capacity for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips. The most severe supply constraints would stretch to the first half of next year due to “very limited” increases in new DRAM capacity worldwide, Nanya Technology president Lee Pei-ing (李培瑛) told a news briefing. The company plans to increase monthly 12-inch wafer capacity to 20,000 in the first half of 2028 after a
Property transactions in the nation’s six special municipalities plunged last month, as a lengthy Lunar New Year holiday combined with ongoing credit tightening dampened housing market activity, data compiled by local land administration offices released on Monday showed. The six cities recorded a total of 10,480 property transfers last month, down 42.5 percent from January and marking the second-lowest monthly level on record, the data showed. “The sharp drop largely reflected seasonal factors and tighter credit conditions,” Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) deputy research manager Chen Chin-ping (陳金萍) said. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday fell in February this year, reducing
New vehicle sales in Taiwan plunged about 37 percent sequentially last month as the long Lunar New Year holiday and 228 Peace Memorial Day holiday cut short the number of working days, along with the lingering uncertainty over import tax cuts on US vehicles, market researcher U-Car said in a report yesterday. New car sales last month totaled 22,043, slumping from 35,073 units in January and down 19.89 percent from 37,515 in February last year, U-Car data showed. Sales of imported luxury cars, led by Mercedes-Benz, plummeted about 45 percent to 3,109 units last month from 5,663 units in the previous month,
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