Mike Temporale
09-10-2004, 05:00 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2004/09/07/2003201991' target='_blank'>http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2004/09/07/2003201991</a><br /><br /></div>"Asustek Computer Co, Taiwan's biggest motherboard maker, aims to capture a 10 percent share of the handset market within 15 months after gaining a foothold in the consumer sector, a company executive said. "We hope to attain one of the top five positions in the home market next year by boosting our product portfolio," Benson Lin, general manager of Asustek's Asia-Pacific division, said yesterday."As we have successfully expanded into the laptop computer sector, we believe we can repeat that success," Lin said. The company entered the notebook computer market at the bottom five years ago and had garnered 30 percent of the local market share by the second quarter of this year, making it the top computer brand in the country, he said.<br /><br />Asustek rolled out its second mobile phone under its own brandname, the J101, in early June after unveiling the J100 in December. Within three months of the launch, Lin said, the company had already sold 30,000 units of the J101, a clamshell phone equipped with a 0.3 megapixel camera. "The market demand has exceeded our expectations," he said. By the end of the year, Asustek plans to unveil at least three new models, including one with a 1 megapixel camera."<br /><br />I can't find any information on what operating system they plan on using, or which OS was used on their current models. However, they are already using Windows Mobile on their Pocket PC devices, so I would guess that they might go the same route on their phones. Either way, it looks like the mobile market is getting another fierce competitor.