An Update about Asus

choi

Taiwan's Asus Looks to RingRight Numbers as PCs Fade' From smartphones to robotics, the electronics producer is developing a wider range of products, writes Simon Mundy. Financial Times, Feb 4, 2016.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/e ... c-1e1d6de94879.html

Quote:

"In 1998, as Russia’s Mir [Russian: peace] space station travelled hundreds of miles above the earth, Jonney Shih 施崇棠 was monitoring its progress with particular interest down on the ground in Taiwan. The chairman of Asus 華碩 was keen to know how the company’s laptops were faring in the stressful conditions on a 637-day trip into space.  By 1997, Asus had been making motherboards for PC manufacturers for eight years, and Mr Shih decided the Taiwanese company needed to make its own computers in order 'to make Asus a real brand.' To help establish its reputation, Asus 'put reliability as the number-one criterion — we needed to beat all the other machines' * * * So it was a milestone when Asus’s early laptops survived the trip to Mir, unlike those of more established rivals.

In contrast to Acer -- "since the start of 2011 Acer has racked up cumulative losses of NT$27bn ($836m)" with loss of market share in a shrinking overall PC market -- Asus "has weathered the PC declines with small rises in market share. * * * At about $6bn, its market capitalisation is roughly where it was five years ago [Acer’s shares have fallen 90 per cent during that period (2011- )] * * * The contrast with Acer is bittersweet for Mr Shih, who spent his formative years there

"In 2007 Asus unveiled the EEE PC -- the first netbook [which fell out of favor with introduction of Apple iPad]. * * * In 2011, Asus rolled out the Transformer, which can be adjusted for use as either tablet or laptop — another idea soon emulated by companies including Microsoft.

"last year Asus made a jump into smartphones with the ZenFone * * * it had 12 per cent of Indonesia’s smartphone market and 7 per cent of Russia’s in the third quarter of 2015, according to Canalys. But Asus is a late entrant, arriving seven years after the iPhone. More­over, margins have been narrowed by competition from Chinese producers.

"Asus is expanding its range of such pro­ducts, from smartwatches to a smart television device made for Google [Asus Cube streaming device, working with Google TV; April 2013], and Mr Shih is overseeing secret projects in robotics and augmented reality technology

My comment: There is no need to read the rest.