Word: asustek
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...That kind of growth is hard to come by in the recession-wracked technology industry, and a crowd is starting to gather. Around the world, at least 17 e-readers are in development or already on the market. Among the better-known entrants is Asustek - the Taiwanese company practically invented the netbook category with its ASUS Eee-PC, and it is working on a product called the Eee-reader that it hopes to have on the market in time for Christmas. South Korea's two powerhouse consumer-electronics companies, Samsung and LG Electronics, are wading in too. Samsung earlier this...
...over the past six months, to $259. As e-readers proliferate and price disparities narrow, manufacturers are trying to differentiate their products by adding features such as MP3 players and touch screens. The eSlick by Foxit, based in Fremont, Calif., allows users to listen to songs while reading. Asustek recently unveiled a prototype e-reader with two screens, which would more closely duplicate the traditional reading experience, although the device that the company expects to release later this year will have a single screen. (See the 50 best inventions...
...Like scores of other Taiwan companies, HTC and Asustek have been laboring in obscurity for years as contract manufacturers, building and in some cases designing PCs, music players, cell phones, LCDs and video games on behalf of well-known brands such as Hewlett-Packard, Motorola and Apple. Taiwan's heavy concentration of contract manufacturers makes the country a high-tech powerhouse - but the business model has its limits. Because they work for others, contract manufacturers have little pricing power and don't reap the higher profit margins commanded by companies like Sony and Samsung. "There are very slim margins...
...This is why Taiwan's manufacturers, at the risk of alienating their heavyweight customers, are breaking out of the box by slapping their logos on innovative new products. Asustek was mainly a little-known maker of computer circuit boards and graphics cards until 2007, when it unveiled the Eee PC, a lightweight miniature laptop costing less than $300. These wi-fi-equipped netbooks were enthusiastically accepted by an increasingly bargain-conscious public. Sales are soaring this year even as overall PC sales decline during the recession; research firm DisplaySearch predicts 1 in 4 laptops sold this year will...
...Getting to the top is tough - and holding market share can be even tougher. After setting the pace in netbooks, Asustek has since been losing sales as much larger rivals, including Acer, have muscled in. The company posted its first quarterly loss in the last three months of 2008 after misjudging demand during the recession. "That was a lesson learned," says Asus chairman Jonney Shih, who is adjusting by shrinking the company's product line. Says HTC's Chou: "You're competing with giants like Apple and Nokia. You must really have something special...