UMPC market to see boom

Several
top notebook PC makers such as Quanta, Compal, and Inventec will manufacture new
UMPC products with Intel continuing to promote UMPC (ultra mobile PC) this year.
Quanta is going to OEM a 5-inch screen model for Yahoo, while Compal is planning
to introduce models priced at about NT$10,000 and Inventec is eying the
development of UMPC for medical purpose. Quanta and Compal will go for consumer
market and Invetec will aim at the commercial market. The model OEMed by Quanta
is bundled with UMPC application developed by Yahoo and Intel. This model can
access Yahoo Go TV service to watch movies and view pictures. It is a consumer
electronics device for entertainment. According to local sources, the UMPC
market can reach millions of units next year with price range between NT$19,800
to 23,100 ($600 to 700). By 2010, the global market scale can be up at 10
million units with price down at NT$13,200 to 16,500 ($400 to 500). Compal will
enter UMPC market next year. On the other hand, Inventec will develop several
UMPCs for commercial use in order to meet the demand for medical use in Europe
and the US. According to IDC, under 7-inch UMPC products will reach 10,000 units
as market volume but by 2010 the scale can reach 60,000 units.