11 June 2009
Taiwan-based handset makers, including Compal Communications, Inventec Appliances and Mobinnova, are venturing into the production of smartbooks, positioning themselves to compete with PC vendors for a slice of expanding netbook market, according to market sources.
Most Taiwan-based OEM notebook makers, including Quanta Computer, Compal Electronics, Wistron, Asustek Computer, Inventec as well as EMS giant Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry), displayed their respective smartbooks at the recently concluded Computex 2009.
Nokia is definitely expected to step into the smartbook segment soon – a move which will push more handset vendors to climb on smartbook bandwagon, said the sources.
Instead of using Intel's mobile platform, most smartbook models rolled out by Taiwan makers are being built on platforms from Qualcomm, Nvidia and Freescale Semiconductor, noted the sources.
For example, Mobinnova exhibited two Nvidia Tegra-based ultra-portable computing devices, the élan and T8, at Computex. Mobinnova claims that the élan is able to power up instantly, connects directly a 3G wireless network, offers full page web browsing and delivers graphics performance never seen before on a mobile computing device.
Most smartbooks are currently available in 10-inch, but makers are likely to focus on 7-inch models in the future, asserted Stephen Chen, president of Compal Communications.
