Software services will drive the next wave of growth for Taiwanese hardware makers in a market led by cloud services from Apple Inc and Google Inc, an IBM Taiwan official said on Thursday during a celebration of the US-based tech giant’s 100th founding anniversary.
“Taiwan’s hardware manufacturing ability is among the best in the world, but as the profit of most original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and original design manufacturers (ODMs) has become thinner in recent years, these firms should add more value to their products,” IBM Taiwan general manager Edward Yu (于弘鼎) said.
Software applications for cloud computing technology, such as the new services recently introduced by Google and Apple, will become the key drivers for such growth, he said.
Last month, Google announced at Computex Taipei that its Web-centric Chromebook laptop PC will be available for rental to the business market for US$28 per user per month, while its monthly rental price in the educational market would be just US$20 per user. On June 6, at its Worldwide Developers’ Conference, Apple launched its iCloud music streaming service, which allows users to access and play their music from any Apple device.
Taiwan is one of the 140 countries in IBM’s “Growth Markets Unit,” which accounted for 21 percent of IBM’s global revenue last year, Yu said.
IBM expects the unit to contribute 30 percent of the company’s global revenue in 2015, as the change in business models will bring more business opportunities, he said.
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