Have you ever been rushing to your favorite musical or play only to discover the tickets you bought months ago have been left at home? Or are you sick of carrying all those coupons or membership cards in your wallet and digging them out every time you make a purchase?
Hsinchu-based Accuvally Inc (盈科泛利) says it has the solution.
The company offers electronic barcode solutions, and starting from August, almost 200 firms nationwide, especially those in the food and beverage sector, will start providing customers with such e-barcode services, Accuvally CEO Benjamin Lo (羅子文) said.
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
This means consumers just need to flash the e-coupon downloaded to their cellphone to enjoy discounts, or get a free scoop of ice cream, with the waiters scanning the e-barcode into the PC system. Best of all, the printed Broadway ticket may no longer be needed, as e-tickets can be stored in a cellphone.
Companies that will use Accuvally’s solution include NY Bagels Cafe, the Movenpick ice-cream chain, as well as sportsware retailer Sports Giant (尚智運動世界). A deal with Haagen Dazs ice cream is being negotiated, Lo said.
These applications and trends are among a sea of solutions to be showcased at Computex Taipei, the world’s second-largest and Asia’s biggest tech trade fair, which will open its doors tomorrow.
Taipei Computer Association (TCA, 台北市電腦公會), one of the event’s organizers, said in a statement released on Saturday that Computex is set to attract more than 35,000 international buyers to seal deals valued at US$20 billion this year.
The number of booths has increased by 8 percent this year to 4,861, the association said.
Running through Saturday at the Taiwan World Trade Center’s Xinyi and Nangang exhibition halls, this year’s Computex is expected to highlight products such as tablet PCs, e-book readers, cloud-computing technologies, 3D displays and various computer peripherals.
Acer Inc (宏碁), well known for its PC products, aims to impress international buyers with its K11 mini-projector.
The size of a man’s palm, the K11 is equipped with USB and SD card slots — meaning users just need to slot USB or memory cards into the machine, without the hassle of connecting it to a notebook.
It also supports high-definition multimedia interface, allowing it to be connected to LCD TVs for high-quality movies, or to the iPhones via an adapter for larger photo viewing, said Levise Lee (李幸堂), a specialist in Acer’s product marketing department.
With a brightness of 200 lumens, the projector offers viewers a sharp image of 152cm by 203cm, he said. The K11 was launched in Europe this month with a price tag of 349 euros (US$430).
Acer will be showcasing it at Computex and the projector will hit local stores next month.
“Consumers in Asia may not be familiar with our projectors, but we have been cultivating the sector in Europe for the past six years,” Lee said, adding that Acer is No. 2 in that market, trailing Japan’s Seiko Epson Corp.
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