Apple lowers iPhone shipment projection for fiscal 2Q08, says paper

EDN, January 24; Steve Shen, DIGITIMES [Thursday 24 January 2008]

Apple has lowered its projected shipments of iPhones from two million units to around 1-1.2 million units for the second fiscal quarter, which will end March 2008, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN) quoted sources at Apple’s handset component suppliers in Taiwan as indicating.

Sales of iPhones in Europe have been lower than expected, pushing Apple to slash its shipment projection for the second quarter, the EDN quoted the sources as saying. Apple shipped more than 2.3 million iPhones in the first fiscal quarter, bringing total shipments of iPhones to close to four million units since its launch, the paper added.

Kyocera-Sanyo mobile phone consolidation to benefit Qisda

Daniel Shen, Taipei; Esther Lam, DIGITIMES [Thursday 24 January 2008]

The consolidation between Kyocera and Sanyo Electric’s handset businesses and anticipated rising role of the new entity in the market is expected to benefit Qisda with growing business.

Kyocera announced on January 21 that it will acquire Sanyo’s mobile phone-related business for 40-50 billion yen (US$375-468 million) with the acquisition to be effective on April 1, 2008.

This consolidation is expected to boost Kyocera’s global mobile phone ranking from ninth to seventh accordingly, said industry players from Taiwan. The new entity is expected to grab more market share in the CDMA segment, while its global market share is also expected to enlarge further. The sources project that Kyocera is likely to see its market share surpass 10% in the US, while its share in India will also grow alongside the joint-establishment of a production plant with leading EMS provider Flextronics.

Since Qisda has already established a mobile phone OEM partnership, specializing in low-cost handsets, with Kyocera, it will be the direct beneficiary of the Kyocera-Sanyo consolidation, the industry players highlighted. However, as Qisda’s competitor Arima Communications, is the OEM partner for Sanyo’s 2.5G handsets in Europe, they noted that there is the possibility that orders may change. They added in saying that Arima plans shipments to Sanyo in the first half of 2008.

Japan-based mobile phone vendors have had limited partnerships with Taiwan OEMs in the past 2-3 years. However, the recent consolidation trend in the mobile phone industry in Japan, as evident in the cases of Kyocera-Sanyo and NEC-Panasonic Mobile Communication, suggests that Taiwan mobile phone OEMs should discover more opportunities ahead.

Elan shipments of handset touch screen chips soar in January

Cage Chao, Taipei; Steve Shen, DIGITIMES [Thursday 24 January 2008]

Taiwan-based IC designer Elan Microelectronics saw its shipments of touch screen chips for handsets increase substantially in January with volumes already exceeding 30,000 units, company chairman Ye Yihao said at a recent investors conference.

Meanwhile, Elan’s shipments of touch screen modules are expected to top 15,000 units in the first quarter compared to 5,000 units shipped in the previous quarter, said Ye, indicating that current demand for touch screen modules is coming from the handset and digital music player segments.

With demand for touch screen solutions from the handset and notebook segments expected to continue growing, Ye projects Elan’s shipments will accelerate to over 100,000 units per month starting the in third quarter of this year, Ye stated.

Due to off-peak season effects, Elan’s revenues for the first quarter are expected to decline 10-15% sequentially from the NT$1.11 billion (US$34.3 million) recorded in the fourth quarter of 2007, according estimates from company sources.

Preliminary data showed that the company posted after-tax profits of NT$587 million, or NT$1.73 per share, in 2007, the sources indicated.

HTC to ship CDMA handset to Reliance directly, say sources

Daniel Shen, Taipei; Emily Chuang, DIGITIMES [Friday 25 January 2008]

Accelerating its expansion in emerging markets, High Tech Computer (HTC) recently received CDMA handset orders from Indian telecom carrier Reliance with shipments expected to kick off in the first quarter, according to market sources.

HTC has shipped GSM/GPRS based handsets to Bharti Airtel and the company will ship CDMA handset to Reliance directly, the sources noted. In the past, the company sold CDMA-based handsets to Reliance in India through its partner UTStarcom. With HTC now building its own-brand business in India, Reliance decided to buy products from HTC directly, the sources added.

However, HTC now is still partnering with UTStarcom on shipping products to Verizon in the US market.

HTC’s sales in India have beat expectations, said Jack Tong, vice president of HTC, Asia Pacific. The company plans to expand its channel distributors to cover more than 20 cities. The sales team of HTC in India will also double to 20 staff this year, Tong stated.

HTC currently ships CDMA handsets in Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam and Thailand, indicated Tong. However, telecom carriers in Australia and India have changed their platform to GSM or WCDMA from CDMA. This will affect the sales of CDMA handset in those markets.

Although HTC is targeting the mid-range and high-end market, the company is also revising its strategy for emerging markets. For example, Dopod China, which has a strong connection with High Tech Computer (HTC), has launched a sub-2,000 yuan (US$277) smartphone (Gene) in China. Accumulated shipments of the model are expected to reach more than 300,000 units in 2008, up from 200,000 in 2007. The company also began offering the model in India in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Dopod China will soon begin to introduce low-cost CDMA handsets under the new brand vivie in China in cooperation with China-based telecom service provider China Unicom, according to market sources and media reports in China. Tong, however, stressed that the company has no plan to launch such products in India.

Asustek to ship V1520 PDA phone to Vodafone in 1Q08, says paper

Commercial Times, January 24; Steve Shen, DIGITIMES [Thursday 24 January 2008]

Asustek Computer will begin shipping its latest PDA phone, the P550, to Vodafone in the first quarter of this year, with the UK-based vendor to market the device under the V1520 model name, according to a Chinese-language Commercial Times report.

The V1520 will be the second device that Asustek has shipped to Vodafone following its previous production of the V1210 for the brand vendor, said the paper, which also noted that the V1520 is to replace the HTC P3600 from High Tech Computer (HTC).

Phone with fold-away screen launched

Mon Jan 21, 2008 2:30pm EST

By Niclas Mika

EINDHOVEN, Netherlands (Reuters) – A Dutch company has squeezed a display the size of two business cards into a gadget no bigger than other mobile phones — by making a screen that folds up when not in use.

The 5-inch (13-cm) display of Polymer Vision’s “Readius” is the world’s first that folds out when the user wants to read news, blogs or email and folds back together so that the device can fit into a pocket.

Polymer Vision, spun out of Philips (PHG.AS: Quote, Profile, Research), whetted the appetite of gadget fans more than two years ago when it showed off a prototype. Now the gadget is in production and will go head-to-head with Apple’s (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) iPhone and Amazon’s (AMZN.O: Quote, Profile, Research) ebook reader Kindle when it hits stores mid-2008.

“You get the large display of e-reading, the super battery life of e-reading, and the high-end connectivity … and the form factor and weight of a mobile phone,” said Karl McGoldrick, chief executive of the venture capital-funded firm, in which Philips still has a 25 percent stake.

“We are taking e-reading and bringing it to the mobile phone.”

He would not say how much the Readius would cost, but said it would be comparable to a high-end mobile phone.

McGoldrick said his “dream device”, which the company planned to build within 5 years, was a mobile phone with an 8-inch color display that could show video.

Like Amazon’s Kindle, the Readius has a so-called electronic paper screen, which displays black-and-white text and images that look almost like they have been printed on paper.

The device — which will also just make phone calls — connects to the Internet using the third-generation mobile phone networks with high data speeds.

The company said it was talking to retailers as well as mobile operators to sell the device. Like Apple’s iPhone, the gadget offers the chance for operators to boost data usage, which is more profitable than voice revenues.

Users will be able to set up their email accounts, news sources, podcasts, audio books and blog feeds at home on their computer, and the data is then pushed to the device whenever it is updated.

McGoldrick said the company opted to use this approach — which rules out quickly browsing the Web on the go — because it was simpler in a mobile environment.

“I see these devices with 50 buttons on them. We have eight,” he said, adding that the company plans to add a keypad to future models.

(Editing by Louise Ireland)

Kyocera finalizes plan to acquire Sanyo cell business

Kyocera today said it had settled on terms to pick up Sanyo’s cellphone business. Confirming earlier moves, the former will acquire all of Sanyo’s cellphone and cellular technology assets. However, the deal will initially see virtually unchanged business: not only will none of Sanyo’s related jobs be cut, but Sanyo-branded phones will continue to exist “for the foreseeable future,” Kyocera says. The deal itself is estimated to be worth about $375 million after factoring in associated costs.The deal should take effect on April 1st. In the US, Kyocera expects to have a subsidiary label that will take care of selling Sanyo phones in the country and should not result in any sudden changes to the phone lineup. Sanyo is best known in the US for its Katana DLX and Katana II flip phones, which largely complete with Motorola’s RAZR. Kyocera is less common with major providers in the US and has garnered its largest amount of attention with Virgin Mobile.

Taiwan-based handset LCM makers to see orders drop in 1Q, reports paper

EDN, January 22; Emily Chuang, DIGITIMES [Tuesday 22 January 2008]

Taiwan-based handset LCD module (LCM) makers such as Giantplus Technology and Star World will see their orders affected with revenues in the first quarter to fall around 10%-15% sequentially due to a change in government policies in China, according to today’s Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN).

Foreign industry watchers indicated that as China has tightened the credit of white-box handset makers, the manufacturers have decreased their component procurement from Taiwan-based players, the paper noted. The China-based white-box handset makers used to buy components such as panels and IC components using cash, leaving the government unable to tax such transactions, the paper explained.

Taiwan market: Vastar to launch IPTV service

Kaddy Chung, Taipei; Adam Hwang, DIGITIMES [Tuesday 22 January 2008]

Vastar Cable TV System, a MSO (multi-system operator of cable TV) in Taichung County in central Taiwan and a WiMAX licensee for the southern region of Taiwan, will kick off operation of IPTV (Internet Protocol TV) service in central Taiwan near the end of January, according to the company.

Vaster’s offering of IPTV service is to provide triple play (voice and data communications plus video on demand) service in a bid to compete with Chunghwa Telecom’s (CHT) MOD (multimedia on demand) service, according to industry sources. The triple play service can be integrated with Vastar’s WiMAX operations in the future, the sources pointed out.

Vastar is establishing infrastructure based on its existing cable TV network to begin operation of fixed-line voice communication service in central Taiwan by the end of 2008, the company indicated. Vastar’s existing cable TV subscribers and future subscribers of the voice communication service can apply for the IPTV service, the company noted.

The IPTV service will consist of VOD (video on demand), channels and Web 2.0-based content, Vastar indicated. While Vastar has proposed its IPTV pricing to Taiwan’s National Communications Commission (NCC) for approval, the company declined to release details but emphasized that its charge rates will be competitive enough with CHT’s MOD service.

Samsung and LG aim to up sales of US$200 handsets in 2008, says paper

Harris Lin, Taipei; Steve Shen, DIGITIMES [Tuesday 22 January 2008]

Samsung Electronics aims to ship 50 million handsets with a unit price tag of above US$200 in 2008, accounting for 25% of the company’s shipment goal of 200 million handsets for the year, the Chinese-language Commercial Times quoted South Korean media as indicating.

Meanwhile, LG Electronics also targets to ship 40 million handsets with an ASP (average unit price) of US$200 this year, accounting for 40% of the company’s total shipments projected for 2008, the paper noted.

In other news, Samsung expects unit sales of 3G handsets in Taiwan will grow 60% on year to reach three million units in 2008, raising the ratio of 3G models in Taiwan’s handset market to 40% in 2008 compared to 25% in 2007, according to Scott Huang, vice president of the mobile communication unit at Samsung Taiwan.

Huang made the remarks during Samsung’s launch of its 5-megapixel camera phone, the Samsung G808, in Taiwan on January 21. Market sources indicated that the G808 carries a suggested retail price of NT$19,600 (US$607).

Samsung’s 5-megapixel camera phone, the G808
Photo: CJ Liu, Digitimes, January 2008