WorldMate

Para quem viaja este programa é totalmente obrigatório.

Opus Operis

Asus P535

Em 2007 tudo terá GPS. Menos o iPhone. Prova disso é o Asus P535, o primeiro Pocket PC Phone Edition e GPS a sair dos laboratórios da Asus.

HTC handset OEM/ODM orders taking hit from other Taiwan makers

High Tech Computer’s (HTC’s) OEM/ODM orders for handsets have been slowly eroded by other Taiwan-based handset makers after HTC began to push its own-brand handset business in mid-2006, with Chi Mei Communication Systems (CMCS) being the latest to put a dent in orders placed with HTC, according to market sources.

CMCS, an affiliate of Hong Kong-listed Foxconn International Holdings (FIH), has recently received orders for smartphones from Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Palm, with volume shipments likely to begin by the end of 2007, the sources indicated.

Although HTC currently is still one of the suppliers of iPAQ-series handsets to HP, the US vendor is expected to terminate its relationship with HTC by the second half of this year since HP has also added Quanta Computer and LG Electronics to its list of handset suppliers, in addition to CMCS, the sources noted.

Palm is also likely to lower its shipment volume from HTC, since Taiwan-based Inventec Appliances has now begun volume shipments of Treo-series handsets to Palm, with CMCS to follow suit by the end of this year, the sources stated.

Inventec Appliances is expected to ship about 1-2 million handsets to Palm this year, making the company the largest supplier of Treo smartphones to the US vendors, the sources added, noting that Inventec Appliances will also ship Microsoft’s Windows Mobile-based smartphones to Palm later on in addition to the current Palm OS-based models.

Inventec Appliances also reportedly secured orders from Dubai-based PDA phone and smartphone vendor i-mate in the second half of 2006. In fiscal 2005 (April 2005-March 2006), i-mate outsourced all of its handsets from HTC, according to data from i-mate.

Earlier, O2 Asia Pacific also terminated its business relationship with HTC in 2006 when it switched orders to four Taiwan-based handset makers – Quanta Computer, Asustek Computer, Arima Communications and Gigabyte Communications.

With increasing competition from other Taiwanese handset makers, HTC’s fourth-quarter revenues of last year were lower than market