Mio Technology aims to sell 80,000 units of handheld devices
By Jason Tan
The China Post
Mio Technology is gunning up to sell 80,000 units of its handheld devices by end of the year in the Taiwan market alone.
According to its marketing director of brand marketing division Michael Hsu, the company estimates to have sold 13,900 units of its handheld devices, which are personal digital assistants (PDAs) with the global positioning system (GPS) feature, in the first quarter of this year.
This translates to it being the top leader in the local market, beating other prominent players such as Acer or Hewlett Packard, he claimed.
"Our company's handheld devices are experiencing over 100 percent growth currently, which is in line with the worldwide increasing demand on GPS devices," he said.
GPS enables people with ground receivers to pinpoint their geographic location with the help of satellites. The system is currently widely adopted in cars, PDAs, or standalone handheld products.
According to Hsu, these gadgets are not targeted only at high-tech professionals or white-collar workers, but also at those who are not that technical savvy.
This includes cab drivers, who will find it handy on the roads, he added.
Portable gadgets merging with GPS
It is widely expected that more portable devices including handsets or MP3 players, will be incorporated with the GPS feature in days to come, according to Hsu.
He added that mobile phones with GPS will most likely be introduced in the market in the second half of this year.
"What I can say now is that we won't be absent in this field," Hsu said, refusing to reveal the company's possible launch dates or plans.
"GPS is an important technology to us and we will continue to invest more into this technology in future," he said.
The company said it will study consumers' needs and listen to their requirements, at the same time launching new offerings every six months.
Mio Technology is a subsidiary of Mitac International Corp set up in 2002 to distribute latter's Mio-branded products. Currently, Europe is its largest export market in terms of quantity for handheld devices.
"Sixty percent of the largest GPS market falls in Europe," he said, adding that the mature market is the reason why Mio Technology has a firm foothold in.
On the other hand, Taiwan and Korea are the single markets showing the highest performance to the company.
Hsu quoted technology research firm International Data Corp's data by saying that Mio Technology was the No. 1 player in the handheld device market in Korea last year.
Earlier reports said that the company acquired 49 percent of the Korean PDA market share last year after rolling out its first product in the first quarter.
Even though it attempts to gain a firmer grip in the China's market, its expansion was limited due to the immature GPS market and lack of good map systems, added Hsu.
--
Side bar:
Mio Technology to highlight Mio268 at Computex Taipei
This will be the first showing by Mio Technology at Computex Taipei, the second largest computer show in the world to be held from May 31 to June 4, at the Taipei World Trade Center.
"With this event, we will not only talk to the distributors, but will also interact with the consumers to find out what they have in mind," informed Michael Hsu, its marketing director of brand marketing division.
With a sleek, smooth, flat body and fully integrated GPS antenna, Mio268 is a GPS device fitting in a user's pocket.
No installation is required and users can just put the included memory card with maps into the SD card slot to operate the gadget.
It uses MioMap CE navigation software, which is based on Navigon's Mobile Navigator 4. The user-friendly interface, with both touch screen and hardware buttons, has been created with simplicity in mind, said the company.
When users are not using the Mio268 to navigate, they can use it to tune into their favorite music. MP3 player software comes pre-installed, all users have to do is pop in an SD or MMC card with their MP3 files and press "play".
Ideal for cars, it is equally effective whether users travel on foot, by cycle or even on a motorbike. And thanks to its large battery, Mio268 provides 4.5 hours of navigation on a single charge.
The China Post
Mio Technology is gunning up to sell 80,000 units of its handheld devices by end of the year in the Taiwan market alone.
According to its marketing director of brand marketing division Michael Hsu, the company estimates to have sold 13,900 units of its handheld devices, which are personal digital assistants (PDAs) with the global positioning system (GPS) feature, in the first quarter of this year.
This translates to it being the top leader in the local market, beating other prominent players such as Acer or Hewlett Packard, he claimed.
"Our company's handheld devices are experiencing over 100 percent growth currently, which is in line with the worldwide increasing demand on GPS devices," he said.
GPS enables people with ground receivers to pinpoint their geographic location with the help of satellites. The system is currently widely adopted in cars, PDAs, or standalone handheld products.
According to Hsu, these gadgets are not targeted only at high-tech professionals or white-collar workers, but also at those who are not that technical savvy.
This includes cab drivers, who will find it handy on the roads, he added.
Portable gadgets merging with GPS
It is widely expected that more portable devices including handsets or MP3 players, will be incorporated with the GPS feature in days to come, according to Hsu.
He added that mobile phones with GPS will most likely be introduced in the market in the second half of this year.
"What I can say now is that we won't be absent in this field," Hsu said, refusing to reveal the company's possible launch dates or plans.
"GPS is an important technology to us and we will continue to invest more into this technology in future," he said.
The company said it will study consumers' needs and listen to their requirements, at the same time launching new offerings every six months.
Mio Technology is a subsidiary of Mitac International Corp set up in 2002 to distribute latter's Mio-branded products. Currently, Europe is its largest export market in terms of quantity for handheld devices.
"Sixty percent of the largest GPS market falls in Europe," he said, adding that the mature market is the reason why Mio Technology has a firm foothold in.
On the other hand, Taiwan and Korea are the single markets showing the highest performance to the company.
Hsu quoted technology research firm International Data Corp's data by saying that Mio Technology was the No. 1 player in the handheld device market in Korea last year.
Earlier reports said that the company acquired 49 percent of the Korean PDA market share last year after rolling out its first product in the first quarter.
Even though it attempts to gain a firmer grip in the China's market, its expansion was limited due to the immature GPS market and lack of good map systems, added Hsu.
--
Side bar:
Mio Technology to highlight Mio268 at Computex Taipei
This will be the first showing by Mio Technology at Computex Taipei, the second largest computer show in the world to be held from May 31 to June 4, at the Taipei World Trade Center.
"With this event, we will not only talk to the distributors, but will also interact with the consumers to find out what they have in mind," informed Michael Hsu, its marketing director of brand marketing division.
With a sleek, smooth, flat body and fully integrated GPS antenna, Mio268 is a GPS device fitting in a user's pocket.
No installation is required and users can just put the included memory card with maps into the SD card slot to operate the gadget.
It uses MioMap CE navigation software, which is based on Navigon's Mobile Navigator 4. The user-friendly interface, with both touch screen and hardware buttons, has been created with simplicity in mind, said the company.
When users are not using the Mio268 to navigate, they can use it to tune into their favorite music. MP3 player software comes pre-installed, all users have to do is pop in an SD or MMC card with their MP3 files and press "play".
Ideal for cars, it is equally effective whether users travel on foot, by cycle or even on a motorbike. And thanks to its large battery, Mio268 provides 4.5 hours of navigation on a single charge.
posted by jason tan @ 2:44 AM
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