According to MIC (Market Intelligence Center), an ICT industry research institute based in Taipei, Taiwanese smart handheld device shipment volume is expected to grow 112.7% sequentially and 146.4% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2007 to 6.6 million units. Shipment in the fourth quarter of 2007 is expected to reach 7.3 million units, for 10.9% sequential and 112.9% year-on-year growth.
With the launch of Apple's iPhone and the mass production of HTC's Touch, Taiwanese smart handheld device shipment volume reached approximately 3.1 million units in the second quarter of 2007, growing 7.3% year-on-year and 25.4% sequentially. According to MIC analyst Sagitta Pan, Taiwanese smart handheld device shipment growth in the first half of 2007 was mainly driven by leading makers; second-tier makers' shipment growth was limited.
Due to the increased shipment of the iPhone and Touch phones featuring EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution) technology, share of EDGE products in the total Taiwanese shipment rose to 56.6% in the second quarter, reaching 1.8 million units. Given that the ASP (Average Selling Price) of GSM/GPRS (Global System for Mobile Communications/ General Packet Radio Service) and EDGE products is less than US$300, the ASP of the Taiwanese smart handheld device industry slid to US$302. Due to the shipment growth, shipment value rose to US$933 million, up 3% year-on-year and 21.4% sequentially.
Despite the fact that Taiwanese makers have aggressively begun to develop 3G and higher models in 2007, consumer acceptance is still low and related applications and services are not yet mature. As a result, some makers started to slow down their development pace, and tried to meet consumer preferences by changing the industrial design and providing innovative user interfaces and multimedia functions. Although several 3G models have hit the market, their high prices have discouraged consumers' purchases. Therefore, EDGE has remained the mainstream technology in the Taiwanese smart handheld device industry.
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Market Intelligence Center, based in Taipei, Taiwan, was founded in 1987. MIC is Taiwan's premier IT industry research and consulting firm providing intelligence, in-depth analysis, and strategic consulting services on global IT product and technology trends, focusing on markets and industries in Asia-Pacific. MIC is part of the Institute for Information Industry. https://mic.iii.org.tw/english