20110406 Taiwan predicted to lead mobile device industry

Taiwan predicted to lead mobile device industry

GROWTH AREA: According to a research institute, the development of parts such as sensors and displays are key components Taiwan can manufacture and supply

Staff Writer, with CNA

Taiwan will play a leading role in the mobile device industry in the future because of its capabilities in the field of information and communications technology (ICT) manufacturing and integration, the government-sponsored Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) said yesterday.

As more mobile platforms are being geared toward ecosystem-based competition, the mobile device industry is focusing more on user-interface rather than on product development, said Stephen Su (蘇孟宗), general director of ITRI’s Industrial Economics and Knowledge Center (IEK).

Su said the trend toward innovative applications is leading the development of key components such as sensors, displays, memories and processors.

“Taiwan has top mobile device manufacturing capabilities and can supply most of those key components,” Su said in a recent keynote speech titled “How tablets will transform the landscape of the ICT industry.”

The next step will be to improve the technology of the key components, as well as terminal design, application platform and service innovation, he said.

ANDROID GROWTH

According to the center, the worldwide market share of Google’s Android operating system grew to 33 percent in the fourth quarter of last year from 9 percent in the same period in 2009 because of its largely open source license.

During that period, it replaced Nokia’s Symbian as the most popular smartphone platform, with Nokia’s market share dropping to 31 percent last year from 45 percent in 2009, the center said.

Su said that mobile phone usage has gone beyond talk functions to include heavy media content such as music, news and movies, which are also a feature of tablet computers.

FLOW-ON EFFECTS

He said that tablet PCs will mostly affect the netbook and e-reader market and gradually impact on notebook sales. Tablet PCs will become a new service platform for the integration of ICT and other industries, with Taiwanese ICT companies providing innovative applications and services, he said.

Worldwide tablet shipments are forecast to grow from 35 million units this year to 116 million units in 2014, representing a compound annual growth rate of 50.6 percent during that period, compared with 16.7 percent for notebooks, 3.8 percent for e-readers and 0.9 percent for netbooks.