Taiwan makers to bring more GPS PDA phones to market

A number of Taiwan handset vendors, including High Tech Computer (HTC), Mitac International, E-Ten Information Systems and Gigabyte Communications, will launch their latest GPS-enabled PDA phones in Taiwan this month, and then market those smartphones overseas later, according to sources at the makers.

The new phones will include HTC's slide-form factor TyTN II, E-Ten's X800, Mitac's Mio A702 and Gigabyte's GSmart i350, with all of the four models running Microsoft's Windows Mobile 6 OS, the sources noted.

With the exception of the quad-band GSmart i350, the remaining three models all support HSDPA (high speed downlink packet access) technology, the sources indicated.

However, most international handset vendors are not so enthusiastic about the GPS PDA handsets as the Taiwan makers, stated the sources.

Among the leading players, Nokia has begun developing smartphones with built-in GPS function, while Motorola and Sony Ericsson have yet to venture into the production of GPS handsets, although the two vendors do market handsets with external GPS receivers, the sources indicated.

Notably, Hewlett-Packard (HP), other branded handset vendors such as O2 and i-mate, and the two leading GPS devices vendors, TomTom and Garmin, are likely soon to launch their own-brand GPS PDA smartphones, the sources revealed.

Source: Compiled by Digitimes, September 2007