| Prime News | | ![]() | ![]() | Incomes of Structured Notes to Be Subject to Fixed 10% Tax
Taipei, Oct. 22, 2007 (CENS)--Buyers of structured notes issued by domestic securities firms and banks will be subject to a fixed 10% separate rate for their incomes, rather than the existing progressive consolidated income tax ranging 6-40%, according to the Ministry of Finance (MOF).
In addition to simplification of tax collection, the move is designed to alleviate the unfair treatment of such buyers, compared with the tax-exemption privilege for buyers of overseas structured notes, via agency of domestic banks, beneficial certificates of mutual funds linking structured notes, and investment-type insurance policies linking structured notes, since they are stock-transaction gains, overseas incomes, or insurance payments, which are tax-free under existing regulations.
The arrangement is similar to that for incomes from government bonds and repo bonds, which is subject to a fixed 10% tax.
The tax cut is expected to stimulate development of the structured-note market, according to the MOF.
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| | ![]() | | | CPAs in Taiwan Have Promising Outlook
Taipei, Oct. 22, 2007 (CENS)--Similar to the situation in the U.S., career outlook for certified public accountants (CPA) in Taiwan has become increasingly promising, thanks to the government's effort to boost the number of listed firms and potential opportunities for cross-Taiwan Strait businesses.
Domestic demand for CPA service is expected to grow considerably, should the government succeed in boosting the number of listed firms by 250 within three years.
Wang Chin-lai, director of Ernst & Young Taiwan, noted that owing to rush among multinationals to carry out initial public offering (IPO) in China, accounting business in the Chinese market is expected to jump 40-50% annually in the coming years, which may lead to 10% external-business growth for Taiwanese accounting firms, should a good cross-Strait cooperative platform be established. In fact, leading accounting firms in Taiwan are mostly Taiwanese branches of major international accounting firms.
Domestic accounting firms are upbeat about their business prospects, encouraged as they are by booming CPA business in the U.S. in recent years, thanks to implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which has greatly augmented need for assistance for augmenting international controls among listed firms, enabling major accounting firms to offer handsome pays to their employees. In a survey published by Business Week recently, of the four leading U.S. accounting firms, Deloitte, PwC, and E&Y have become the top three on the list of enterprises which U.S. college graduates want most to join, with ranking of the fourth firm KMPG also advancing four notches to the 11th place.
Chao Lan-hsuan, assistant general manager of Deloitte & Touche Taiwan, pointed out that it takes typically only five to six years for a local accounting-major graduate to ascend to a managerial post in a domestic accounting firm and a good-performing one may become a partner in 10 years, while the same person may not necessarily become a banking manager in 20 years, should he/she decide to pursue a banking carreer.
Chang Jih-yien, president of Deloitte & Touche Taiwan, though, admitted that turnover of the domestic accounting line still reaches 25-30%, due to the heavy workload, promoting many accounting-major graduates to shift to other fields, such as finance and marketing.
Kao Wen-hung, chief operating officer of PwC Taiwan, noted that accounting firms offer comprehensive consulting services and thus need not only graduates of accounting major but also those majoring in other fields, such as finance.
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| | ![]() | | | Hon Hai Group Sales Break NT$1 Trillion Mark in First 3 Quarters
Taipei, Oct. 22, 2007 (CENS)--Thanks to the peak season for shipments of such consumer electronics as iPhone Apple cellphones and PS3 game consoles, Hon Hai families scored NT$1.06 trillion (US$32.61 billion at US$1:NT$32.5) in consolidated sales in the first three quarters of this year.
The members of the Hon Hai family include its parent Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., and such subsidiaries as Q-Run Technology Corp., Pan-International Industrial Corp., InnoLux Display Corp., CyberTAN Technology Inc., and Simplo Technology Co., Ltd. It is expected the group will see annual sales reach NT$1.5 trillion (US$46.15 billion) this year, standing firm as Taiwan's largest technology conglomerate.
Hon Hai Precision posted NT$115.61 billion (US$3.55 billion) in non-combined sales in September alone, up 29.74% year-on-year and hitting a historic high record. The company had NT$822.74 billion (US$25.31 billion) in cumulative sales in the first three quarters of this year, up 39.46% year-on-year.
C.A. Ting, spokesman of Hon Hai, noted consumer electronics was the engine behind his company's sales growth in September. The company also saw growth in shipments of personal computers and networking and communications products. At present, foreign institutional investors have a 57.9% shareholdings in Hon Hai Precision.
A foreign institutional investor predicted Hon Hai Precision would see non-consolidated sales amount to NT$1.2 trillion (US$36.92 billion) this year. But the strength of the company's sales growth in the first two quarters of next year is still up in the air because of the impact of the U.S. subprime housing loan problem.
Q-Run said its combined sales reached NT$14.723 billion (US$453.01 million) in September, up 26.34% from the preceding month and hitting a historic high monthly record. With the increased shipments of Wii game consoles and machine cases, Q-Run will see annual sales break the NT$100 billion (US$3.07 billion) mark this year.
Focused on the production of printed circuit boards, Pan-International saw combined sales reach NT$1.36 billion (US$41.84 million) in September, up 14.86% year-on-year. The company had cumulative sales of NT$9.977 billion (US$306.98 million) in the first three quarters of this year, representing an annual growth of 25.35%.
Specializing in networking and communication products, CyberTAN saw monthly sales grow 12.25% year-on-year to reach NT$1.032 billion (US$31.75 million) in September.
Concentrating on flat panels, InnoLux scored NT$15.6 billion (US$480 million) in September sales. The company saw quarterly sales hit the historic high record of NT$43.22 billion (US$1.32 billion) in the third quarter. The company's cumulative sales amounted to NT$111.63 billion (US$3.43 billion) in the first three quarters of this year. An institutional investor predicted InnoLux would see earnings reach NT$6 (US$0.18) per share this year.
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| | ![]() | | | Ratings on Mega Securities Affirmed on Stable Performance
Taipei, Oct. 22, 2007 (CENS)--Taiwan Ratings Corp. (TRC) recently affirmed its "twAA-" long-term and "twA-1+" short-term credit ratings on Mega Securities Co. The outlook on the long-term rating is stable.
TRC noted the ratings on Mega Securities continue to reflect the implicit support of the Mega Group, incorporated under Mega Financial Holding Co., as well as the securities firm's competitiveness in wholesale business. Counterbalancing factors include the company's volatile profitability and its somewhat weak, albeit improving, brokerage business.
Mega Securities is a strategically important member of the financially strong Mega Group, acting as a vehicle for the group's securities-related businesses. Mega Securities plays an important role supporting the group's investment banking and wealth management business strategy.
TRC said Mega Securities' core competence is in the domestic wholesale market, where it ranks among the top ten in the equity and bonds underwriting business. The firm's retail position is weaker, albeit improving. As of the first half of 2007, it commanded about 2.9% of the brokerage market and 4.2% of margin loans. The company's overall market position is likely to further strengthen along with the ongoing integration with the Mega Group.
Mega Securities' profitability has traditionally shown somewhat high volatility, mainly because of the company's focus on wholesale business and relatively modest market share in retail business relative to its peers. In 2003 up to the first half of 2007, Mega Securities' ROE (return on equity) averaged 10.6%, with a high of 22% in the first half of 2007 and a low of a 0.9% in 2004. On the other hand, more stable income such as interest income from less risky margin loan business has gradually increased, as supported by the group's resource sharing and the company's own efforts. This provides cushioning against the Mega Securities' market sensitive income.
Mega Securities' management of capitalization and leverage appears more aggressive than most of its peers' but remains adequate to its risk profile. At the end of June 2007, the company's shareholders' equity was NT$17.2 billion (US$529.23 million at US$1:NT$32.5), with a 3.9X leverage.
The stable outlook reflects the likelihood that Mega Securities will maintain its financial profile over the medium-term, bolstered by the company's more balanced business profile and continued support from the Mega Group. The ratings on the company could be revised upward if its importance and integration within the Mega Group strengthens. Conversely, the ratings on the company may be lowered if its financial profile weakens as a result of loosening risk management and increasing risk appetite, or if its relationship with the Mega Group changes adversely.
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| | ![]() | | | YouTube to Introduce Traditional Chinese Version
Taipei, Oct. 22, 2007 (CENS)--Video sharing website YouTube will unveil traditional-Chinese site and enter into alliance with five Taiwanese enterprises including China Television Co., Ltd., Public Television Co., Ltd. and Lion Travel Service Co., Ltd., according to co-founder Steven Chen.
YouTube is rated as the world's No.1 video-sharing site by clip-download volume. It was acquired by search engine Google for US$1.6 billion late last year.
The traditional-Chinese site will offer Taiwan's localized contents of movies on billboards. The cooperation will proceed in several steps, with Taiwanese media companies serving as content providers and the Chinese site offering platform in the initial stage.
In the future, the two sides will enter into a new business model, with YouTube opening its latest video, voice and fingerprint recognition technologies to partners. With these technologies, YouTube can prevent registered users from uploading illegal contents to its sites. Taiwanese content providers will offer their licensed contents to the sites.
YouTube has been aggressively developing recognition technologies in recent years to protect the copyrights of the contents on its sites under the criticisms of major media groups about some of its contents involving copyright infringements. On the other hand, the video-sharing site has intensively approached media groups such as Disney, Time Warner, Sony and BMG over cooperation deals.
China Television's president, J.C. Cheng, pointed out that the day for information convergence has come and Internet, telecom and traditional media will combine. The TV company, for instance, will offer its contents to various platform providers including HDTVs, WiMAX, handsets and Internet providers.
So far, YouTube has entered into alliance with over 1,000 content providers worldwide including the five Taiwanese providers. The website has pushed the idea of sharing profits with partners and hops telecom-service providers to spilt the income from their customers linking to YouTube's sites with content providers when it begin rolling out contents for mobile devices in 2008.
Chen was born in Taiwan in 1978 and emigrated to the United States when he was eight years old. He said he felt excited about the introduction of the traditional-Chinese sharing site.
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| | ![]() | | | More WiMAX Alliances Concluded Between Taiwanese and U.S. Suppliers
Taipei, Oct. 22, 2007 (CENS)—The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) will sign a memorandum today with Alcatel Lucent, Motorola, Nokia Siemens, and Sprint Nextel to test roaming connections between their and Taiwanese suppliers' WiMAX systems.
These international telecom-equipment and telecom-service heavyweights sends their executives to attend a WiMAX forum held in Taipei from today.
Taiwanese industry watchers estimated by setting up roaming connections with Taiwanese suppliers these telecom players will very likely deliver outsourcing contracts to Taiwanese pure manufacturers soon since they need to open test facilities in Taiwan. So far, Nortel, Intel and NEC have opened such facilities in Taiwan.
MOEA reached consensus with Sprint Nextel over setting up roaming connection with Taiwan's six WiMAX-service providers late last month, when the ministry's officials led the six Taiwanese providers' executives to attend WiMAX World.
Taiwanese industry watchers pointed out that it is very natural for the island and the United States to ink WiMAX roaming connection because the States has invested the world's largest amount of capital in WiMAX network while Taiwan comes next.
For a long time, international WiMAX-equipment suppliers have conduct such tests with Taiwanese networking-equipment suppliers on individual basis. Now, the test must be conducted with at least three providers each time in accordance with requirement by WiMAX Wave2 technology.
Industry watchers pointed out that whether or not international office-end equipment suppliers will place orders with Taiwanese consumer-end equipment suppliers will depend on whether the two categories of equipment can interoperate or not. MOEA's efforts in pushing establishment of test platforms in Taiwan is expected to speed up the connection tests and deliveries of WiMAX products.
ZyXEL Communications is stepping up its test program after winning contracts from Sprint Nextel. ZyXEL's executives pointed out that division of labor model will become apparent in networking-equipment industry when WiMAX becomes mainstream products. In the past, the equipment suppliers make everything by themselves
CAMEO Communications Inc.'s executives feels that telecom carriers' attitude will decide whether or not WiMAX will become a dominant fourth-generation wireless technology.
Accton Technology Corp.'s executives analyze that Intel is the engineer behind WiMAX technology and has done its job. End-user equipment will be the key element in driving up the applications in current stage.
According to MOEA's statistics, the island's networking-equipment suppliers shipped NT$1.4 billion (US$42 million at US$1:NT$33) worth of WiMAX equipment last year. They are projected to ship NT$5 billion (US$151 million) of products throughout this year and NT$18.1 billion (US$548 million) of products next year. In the meantime, the island's shipments of WiMAX base station equipment is expected to rise to NT$1.4 billion (US$42 million) next year from this year's estimated NT$140 million (US$4.2 million). In 2009, the shipments are projected at NT$2.9 billion (US$87 million).
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| | ![]() | | | Taiwan Wins Right to Host 2011 IDA Congress
Taipei, Oct. 22, 2007 (CENS)--Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, outdid 18 cities in 13 nations to win the right to host the 2011 IDA (International Design Alliance) Congress, the world's most important design activity held every six years.
Economics Minister Steve Chen claimed that the 2011 IDA Congress would be the largest-ever world-class activity in Taiwan's history and the event is expected to attract over 2,000 international heavyweight designers and experts.
Taipei applied to host the event with the name of Taiwan Design Center and after a long evaluation term of over one year Taipei defeated Melbourne of Australia at the final-stage evaluation in Montreal, Canada.
Tony Chang, CEO of TDC, pointed out that his center proposed a project to meld Eastern and Western cultures during the final inspection stage and won support from all of the committee members. In addition, the CEO stressed, the Taiwan government's strong supports also played a vital role in winning the hosting right.
According to TDC, the original World Design Congress is the world's longest-running design activity and covers three disciplines including graphic, industry, and interior design. In the past, the vital design activity was held mainly in European cities such as Paris (1963), London (1969), Moscow (1975), Helsinki (1981), Amsterdam (1987), Glasgow (1993), Sydney (1999), and Copenhagen (2005). So, the 2011 congress sets a first by being held in Asia for the first time.
The major global design activity would be renamed as the IDA Congress from 2011, TDC said, as three major players in the international design community, including the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (Icsid), the International Council of Graphic Design Associations (Icograda), and the International Federation of Interior Architects (IFI), have committed themselves to forming a collective voice for all disciplines of design through the creation of the IDA.
The IDA is a strategic alliance that draws on the resources of its respective partners for the benefit of each of its initiatives. The IDA promotes a design community working together for a world that is balanced, inclusive and sustainable.
The center also pointed out that Taiwan has been winning increasingly big prizes in major international design contests in recent years, proving the island's strong design and innovation capability. In addition to the strong capability expressed by the private sector, TDC said, the strong supports from the government and the design sector on the island also helped TDC win higher scores than other competing cities for hosting the 2011 IDA Congress.
According to Chang, to host the 2011 IDA Congress is expected to greatly upgrade Taiwan's international image and help more effectively expose the island's design capability to the globe.
The CEO added that the government has promised to subsidize US$450 of the total cost of US$7.41 million in hosting the 2011 IDA Congress. TDC also plans to push different activities during the congress so as to better inform international designers of Taiwan's design industry, and promote the local tourism.
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| | ![]() | | | AUO Unveils Latest LCD TV Technologies at Yokohama International FPD Show
Taipei, Oct. 22, 2007 (CENS)--AU Optronics Corp. (AUO), the largest thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panel maker in Taiwan, recently introduced some advanced LCD TV technologies, which will be demonstrated at the FPD International 2007 held from October 24 to 26 in Yokohama of Japan.
The company claimed that it developed the advanced and commercialized LCD TV technologies in response to the current concerns of a greener environment.
Following successful launch of the 1200:1 contrast ratio AUO Advanced multi-domain vertical alignment (AMVA) technology, AUO continued to introduce the third-generaton AMVA, which reaches 5000:1 ultra-high static contrast ratio to enhance dimmer image performance. According to the panel maker, the new technology creates more domains than conventional multi-domain vertical alignment (MVA) LCDs and reduces the variation of transmittance in oblique angles. It successfully improves color washout and provides better image quality in oblique angles than conventional VA LCDs.
For a 32-inch LCD TV with original contrast ratio of 800:1, for example, AUO said, the ratio could be greatly improved by 1.5 times after applying the AMVA technology to display optimal quality LCD imaging. The ability of the latest technology improves contrast ratio to reach the highest known in the industry.
Another new technology demonstrated at the show is a soon-to-be-mass produced 20 mm TV module featuring ultra-slim and extra-light designs and fulfilling simple but stylish product trend. AUO pointed out that the new TV technology would be able to successfully prevent lamp-mura issues, thus maintaining original brightness and significantly reducing module thickness without changing the amount of cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFL) used for the backlight. Taking a 32-inch LCD TV panel as an example, AUO said that it is able to cut the thickness from 32.5 mm to 20 mm while reduce the total weight by 2 kilograms.
So far, AUO has successfully developed ultra-thin LCD TV panels in sizes of 32-, 37- and 42-inch. The newly launched ultra-slim and extra-light TV technology is expected to start mass production in the first quarter of 2008 and could be applied to all LCD TV panels, AUO said.
Another spotlight is the latest eco-LCD TV technology, which can save up to 50% in power consumption. Taking global warming seriously, AUO said that it has developed the latest eco-LCD TV technology with energy-saving and environmental protection features by optimizing and improving the CCFL backlight design. With the advanced technique, a 32-inch LCD TV panel can reduce power consumption by up to 50% (yet retain the 500 nits brightness and 3000:1 high contrast ratio to provide even-better image quality performance than traditional LCD TV panels).
Other advanced AUO technologies to be demonstrated at FPD International 2007 include AUO's new-generation of HiColor technology. By adding the Multi Primary Color technology, the company explained, the gamut of display covers more yellow and cyan than conventional RGB displays, which would result in excellent color performance particularly for colors of sky, lake and metal.
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| | ![]() | | | Taiwanese Banks Ambitious to Tap Wealth Market in Hong Kong, China
Taipei, Oct. 22, 2007 (CENS)--There were 2.6 million high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) in the Asia-Pacific area at the end of 2006, with total wealth of US$8.4 trillion, up 10% from the corresponding figure of a year earlier and accounting for one fifth of the global wealth, according to the World Wealth Report recently published by Merrill Lynch Capgemini Consulting.
The so-called HNWI means the person with assets reaching over US$1 million in addition to self-owned residence. Those with assets of more than US$30 million are called 'Ultra HNWIs.' In 2006 the Asia-Pacific area witnessed a total of 17,500 'Ultra HNWIs' for an annual growth of 12.2%.
Last year, the Asia-Pacific area boasted the world's fastest growth in HNWI population; and among the world's top 10 HNWI markets, half were in the said area, with Singapore, India and Indonesia taking the top three positions for an annual HNWI population growth at 21.2%, 20.5%, and 16%, respectively. In the same year, Singapore and India both saw a whopping rise of about 50% in their stock market value.
In terms of the average assets of the HNWIs, Hong Kong and China took the first and second position among the Asia Pacific markets in 2006, while Taiwan presented a slow growth both in the number and assets of HNWIs.
Observers indicated that Taiwan's slow wealth market growth was mainly due to its numerous legislative rules undermining the liberalization of the island's financial market, not to mention its restrictions on the investment in the booming markets in Hong Kong and China.
In view of the growing wealth market in Hong Kong and China, more and more Taiwanese banks are interested in establishing footholds in Hong Kong so to offer wealth management services to potential clients in the greater Chinese community, including Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao and China. Among the domestic banks, Chinatrust Commercial Bank and Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank are the most active in expanding operations to Hong Kong and have already set up branches and subsidiaries there focusing on wealth management services.
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| | ![]() | | | Taiwan's OBUs See Profit Contribution Ratio Decline Sharply in First 7 Months
Taipei, Oct. 22, 2007 (CENS)--The profit contribution ratio recorded by the offshore banking units (OBUs) of Taiwan's domestic banks was lower than 40% in the first seven months of this year, a sharp fall of more than 20 percentage points from last year's corresponding 60%, implying a quick shrinkage in OBU businesses.
The statistics released by Cabinet-level Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) showed that Taiwan's domestic banks raked in pretax profits of NT$47.6 billion (US$1.44 billion at US$1 = NT$33) in the first seven months, with NT$18 billion (US$545.45 million) or 37.8% of which coming from OBUs, in contrast to the corresponding ratio of 46.6% from other operations of the domestic banks. In the same period of last year, the percentage for the former was 55.7% and for the latter 16.8%.
Insiders indicated that in recent years OBUs have served as financial channels for fund management by Taiwanese enterprises in China, since Taiwanese banks haven't been allowed to operate in China. With ballooning demand by growing Taiwanese enterprises on the other side of Taiwan Strait, the OBUs have in recent years enjoyed significant business growth.
However, Taiwan's OBUs recently felt pressure of strong competition from foreign banks, which are quite aggressive in soliciting Taiwanese enterprises in China to become their clients.
Starting this year foreign banks, such as, Standard Chartered Bank and Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corp., have established subsidiaries in China and aggressively offer financial services to Taiwanese enterprises there. Unlike the OBUs of Taiwan's domestic banks, most foreign banks in China are able to extend loans to Taiwanese enterprises there in New Taiwan dollar, U.S. dollar or Renminbi (Chinese yen), and allow them to use properties they own there as collaterals for such loans.
To be better acquainted with Taiwanese enterprises, some foreign banks have even recruited talents from those working for OBUs of Taiwan's domestic banks, a move that is believed to impact the OBUs.
In the first seven months, the top five domestic banks in terms of profits gained from OBUs were in sequence Chinatrust Commercial Bank, Mega International Commercial Bank, Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank, Shanghai Commercial & Savings Bank, and Bank SinoPac. Among them Chinatrust scored profits of NT$4.8 billion (US$145.45 million) during the period, much higher than each of the rest that raked in around NT$1 billion (US$30.3 million).
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| | ![]() | | | AUO, Chunghwa Picture to Debut In-Cell Touch Panel
Taipei, Oct. 22, 2007 (CENS)--With touch panels becoming popular, AU Optronics Corp. (AUO) and Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd., Taiwan-based suppliers of display panels, will debut their in-cell multi-touch panels at the FDP International 2007, running from Oct. 24 to 26 in Japan's Yokohama, according to industry sources.
In the meantime, Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp. (CMO), top two display panel suppliers on the island, is also to showcase the world's thinnest display panels for notebook PCs at the show.
AUO has come up with quite a few innovative technologies for mobile displays, including two 4.3-inch in-cell multi-touch panels and a 1.9-inch panel, the world's thinnest model with 0.69mm thickness, for mobile phones.
Also developing similar models, Chunghwa Picture noted that compared with conventional so-called touch panels, which are merely integrated modules for touch panels and liquid crystal display (LCD) panels, its newly developed 15.4-inch touch panel can fully incorporate an LCD panel in production process as a fine in-cell multi-touch screen. The screen is the same with a notebook PC in terms of module thickness and can fit in a machine easily.
On the other hand, CMO will debut its 13.3-inch panel, the world's thinnest model, for notebook PC at the show. The panel adopts an extremely thin 0.4mm backlight module for light guide plates, and has design on an integrated case, with only thickness of 2.5mm and weight of 163g to hit a world record.
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| | ![]() | | | HTC to Sell Own-brand Smartphones in U.S. in Nov.
Taipei, Oct. 22, 2007 (CENS)--To tap the huge business opportunity in the market for smartphones with large-sized touch screen in the fourth quarter, High Tech Computer Corp. (HTC), a Taiwan-based supplier of handsets, is officially launching its CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) model in the U.S. this November, according to company sources.
HTC plans to take the smartphone, sold under its own HTC brand and coupled with U.S.'s telecom company Sprint, to compete against Apple and LG, which respectively have iPhone and Voyager models in the market. In fact, HTC has launched quite a few new models for sales in the fourth quarter and reported the highest profits among other suppliers in Taiwan over the past three quarters.
Smartphones with large-sized touch screens have become the mainstream products in the market for high-end PDA phones this year, with Sony Ericsson to launch its W series touch phones featuring audio entertainment in December; Nokia debuting Symbian S60 platform to support touch screens recently; ASUS to promote competing models at the beginning of next year. Worth mentioning is that Wintek Corporation, a major supplier of touch panels on the island, is expected to hence run at full capacity.
HTC's new HTC Touch smartphone for sale in the U.S. market sells for US$249.99 per unit, lower than that of Apple's iPhone with AT&T's telecom service. However, LG has yet to announce a price of its new competing model, which will be exclusively promoted by Verizon Communications.
Peter Chou, CEO of HTC, noted that the brand has sold more than 800,000 units of HTC Touch smartphones under GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) standard in Asian and European markets, higher than an original projection of 500,000 units. And, the new CDMA model is probably more profitable due to its low product costs, according to Chou.
He added that HTC's sales in the U.S. are below expectations this year, because the brand has delayed launching new products. But, with new products being debuted, HTC will further explore the market and attempt to drive up sales next year.
Market analysts said that HTC Touch may not be able to outsell iPhone; however, with price competitiveness, the model is expected to help Sprint take the No. 2 position among telecom companies in the U.S.
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| | ![]() | | | Good Design Presentation 2007 Wields More Impact Than Ever
By QUINCY LIANG
One year after its 50th anniversary last year, the "Good Design Presentation (GDP) 2007," recognized as the Asia's largest design fair, seems to have attracted an increasingly wide range of designers from various fields who are as keen to devise innovative products as they are marketable ones.
The GDP 2007 is the design fair for exhibiting and citing winners whose entries were nominated for the Good Design Award, one of the world's most famous prizes given to outstanding product designs, which has been gaining influence yearly as it plays a key role in Japan to stimulate industrial development by discovering trends, talents and ideas.
About 3,000 entries passed the first-stage screening and were displayed at the GDP 2007, including around 140 items from Taiwan, becoming eligible for the second screening. All the award winners will be publicized early October after a series of intensive, careful adjudication.
Step by step, the Good Design Award has evolved through its 51-year history to help put official Japanese policies into action, from export promotion in the early years, for example, to upgrading Japanese industrial development, quality of life, and environment protection, etc. in more recent years.
One proof of the Good Design Award's success and impact is its ripple effect, whereby others have been trying to duplicate the positive effects by emulation, especially Asian nations, to learn lessons from it or try to transplant it to elevate overall industrial development, life quality, eco-protection at home.
Besides the broader, nobler goals, the Good Design Award itself may be simply a flexible way to recognize well-designed products, indirectly promoting Japanese products; while the masterpieces seen are often culminations of designers' earnest efforts that have been finely-tuned for specific applications, making them always state-of-the-art designs.
GDP 2007—Designs From Wide-ranging Categories
The Good Design Award is given out based on Japan's only comprehensive design evaluation and commendation system, which evolved from the original "Good Design Selection System" (generally known as the "G-Mark System") set up by Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry in 1957.
First set up to build a foundation to nurture industry and design in Japan, the Good Design Award has drawn participation from every country worldwide, enhancing the synergy derived from implementing such a multi-faceted design evaluation system, which has handed out more than 30,000 awards so far.
At the birth of the Good Design Award, the concept of "design" was scarcely given a second thought in Japan. The system was therefore created as a policy measure for bringing about the simultaneous development of everyday life and industry. More and more companies have been incorporating design into industrial activities, which in turn has fueled the expansion of the system itself, making more room for participation of other industries. The Good Design Awards has come a long way, from looking at only consumer goods, then industrial goods, public facilities, and to even ecological activities today.
The Good Design Award now recognizes design excellence in a much wider cross-section of industrial products, including ones from architectural, environmental, communication, experimental technical design fields, and even business models with design as core.
Today many consumers support the Good Design Award. All Japanese companies that incorporate design into their operations and engage in advanced production are participating in this system.
The scope of the "Good Design Award" now transcends mere evaluation of design, with the system beginning to shape people's mindsets, suggesting to the public to think about basic matters as appropriate lifestyles, and how industry can undergo continuous development.
The GDP 2007 virtually displayed everything under the sun in terms of good design, from dairy foods, state-of-the-art electronics, crafts made with traditional techniques to future-oriented designs realized with advanced technology. The showcase "Latest Design" from various product fields and industries perhaps best represents "Present Japan" through design.
The GDP does not promote specific categories or product lines, but rather shows the latest design trends in an extensive range of products, as well as how design is applied to daily life and industry.
The Good Design Award presentation and acceptance speeches by designers from various fields took place on the special stage at the venue. Such activity proved especially interesting as it gives presence, identity to the designers, who deserve public recognition but are rarely seen as they toil behind-the-scenes.
On a more intellectual plane, the exhibition is also a platform on which "messages" are delivered through design. Essentially the products at the Good Design Award are expressions of ideas from companies and designers, hence "messages" in the form of products and concepts.
Increasing Participants From Asia
With steady effort in the past few years, pointed out Shiori Aoki, JIDPO executive director and managing director of its G-Mark division, the Good Design Award has developed influence rapidly, especially in Asia, where Taiwan and South Korea are the most active players of two different types.
According to Aoki, the Good Design Award began allowing foreign participants in 2005 and the number of foreign designs has been growing steadily in the past two years. In 2007, about 10%, or 300 of the total 3,000 entries come from countries outside Japan.
"Taiwan, without a doubt, is the most active and supportive foreign participant in the Asia-Pacific region," Aoki said. "Of the some 300 foreign entries this year, about half come from Taiwan, making it the most important nation outside Japan in the design award. South Korea has also been very active in the past two years, and one of its most famous conglomerates, Samsung, trails only Matsushita of Japan in terms of the number of entries in the GDP 2007, though South Korea has entered less entries overall relative to Taiwan."
"Taiwan's GDP contenders from a much bigger number of companies and many of them are small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)," Aoki said, "while the greatest majority of items from South Korea are entered by big conglomerates such as Samsung, Hyundai, Daiwoo, LG, etc. China is expected to see an increasing number of contenders in the next few years, though some items from the nation are on a trial basis now."
Taiwan also expressed strong willingness to interact with Good Design Award so as to help domestic companies prove their design and quality strengths, Aoki said. To date, many institutes such as the Taiwan Design Center (TDC) and universities have been interacting frequently with Japan's design sector.
"The Good Design Award is becoming increasingly globalized," the director said, "and we hope to further promote G-Mark labeled products globally, especially in Asia currently."
Drawing Know-How From Good Design Award
In addition to nations such as Singapore, Malaysia etc., more and more Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states are actively trying to learn something from the Good Design Award or transplant such system for upgrading local industrial development.
Thailand is a good example. During the 2007 GDP two of the nation's ranking trade officials, including Suptra Srisook and Suparporn Chedmanee, assistant director-general and senior trade officer, respectively, of Department of Export Promotion, Ministry of Commerce, contacted JIDPO and conducted full-term field survey of the whole system.
According to Supartra, Thailand has been actively contacting JIDPO to try to borrow for itself the know-how and experiences from the Good Design Award, and is expected to establish a similar system in 2008, though initially with less product categories.
"Thailand plans to transplant the G-Mark system soon by choosing some industries in the nation with global competitiveness, such as artwork, handicrafts, furniture, etc. in the initial phase to both encourage product export and upgrade its design industry," she said, "after having studied the outstanding design award selection system for about 10 years and organized Thailand's first design exhibition in 2006."
Power of Asia Design
Tetsuyuki Hirano, a renowned architect and designer and chairman of the G-Mark jury, points out that the G-Mark currently is scheduled to pursue a loftier goal to develop the power of design in Asia, not only focusing on the commercial aspect but also culture.
"In Asia, G-Mark has been working with other national design-award selection systems to create new types of G-Mark systems suitable to local conditions."
For the 2007 GDP, Hirano, the jury chairman, observed that the lifetime of designs is getting shorter and shorter and many designers and companies are trying to develop longer-life, more sustainable designs that could really upgrade lifestyles globally, reducing waste in the face of rising eco-sensitivity. "In short," he said, "the current design trend is to find future directions."
Most companies in Japan have fully recognized that design is another capability or strategy in addition to other skills, such as product quality, technology, etc.
G-Mark's Ever-changing Goals
The mission of G-Mark, sponsored by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry until 1997, is simply to "attain the improvement of life quality and the advancement of industry through design," Aoki said. However, the ground rules for achieving such purpose change with time and such system's ultimate goal has always been to upgrade society rather than only companies and makers.
"In short," Aoki said, "the G-Mark can add value to products, enhance corporate competitiveness, and spawn constructive competition between players. In addition, the public exhibitions and related activities are effective communication channels among enterprises, as well as between enterprises and the society."
The G-Mark program has been fortunate to receive support from not only many businesses and designers, but also the general public in Japan, without which the program may not have been able to weather the ups and downs in the past 50 years to be lifted to the bar-of-standard over which designers aim to clear. In this sense, the current G-Mark transcends the framework of design evaluation and commendation, building an important social foundation to simultaneously promote both industrial and social lifestyles.
"In 2006, the Japanese government began proposing a new and visionary guideline for the G-Mark," Aoki said, "which is design is expected to help develop Japan's industry into the world's No. 1."
"Design has the power to change society and even official policy," the director said. "Design for only products is not enough but a comprehensive range of emotional activities that may change the concept and reorganization of everyone."
Keiko Arima of JIDPO's G-Mark Division, said that her division is more actively promoting the G-Mark awarded products and the system globally, because such efforts are expected to promote the sales of G-Mark awarded items around the world, which in turn is also expected to promote the superior selection system due to the good design, innovation, and quality of such products.
Difference in Design
Aoki once said that compared to similar international design contests, such as iF of Germany and IDEA of the United States, the G-Mark system is analogous to "designed for society" rather than "designed for designers," as are the others. "There are basic differences," the executive director stressed.
For comparison between Japanese and European designs, Hirano said that the approaches are different, but the level (or quality) is even. "European designs, especially German designs, focus mainly on functions and performance, and Japanese ones on marketing and sales," the jury chairman concluded. "Another difference between the two is that most European designs appeal mainly to interested people (or buyers), and Japanese ones to the general public. So basically products designed by Germans and Japanese can be distinguished easily in most cases, such as telling Mercedes-Benz or BMW apart from Toyotas." (August 2007)
Caption 1: The GDP 2007 itself is a sophisticated design project with well-designed venue layout and exhibition areas.
Caption 2: Shiro Aoki, JIDPO executive director and managing director of its G-Mark division.
Caption 3: Tetsuyuki Hirano, a renowned architect and designer and chairman of the G-Mark jury.
Caption 4: About 3,000 entries passed the first-stage screening and were displayed at the GDP 2007.
Caption 5: Design can make hearing aids so colorful.
Caption 6: The GDP has been a vital communication bridge between the design industry and the general public in Japan.
Caption 7: About 140 entries from Taiwan were displayed at GDP 2007, most of which are 3C (computer, communication, and consumer electronics) items.
Caption 8: The GDP exhibition attracted over 40,000 visitors in three days.
Caption 9: Design turns an ordinary plastic sheet into an all-sized funnel. | |
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