Hartcourt Companies (fka HRCT)

[Minddoc7]

SCMP Article: Good Read; Very Promising.



Thursday, April 5, 2001
China seen as global trend-setter


LYDIA ZAJC in Beijing

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China could lead the world in making Internet Appliances (IAs), once the simple home or mobile devices surpass personal computers as the instrument of choice for hooking up to the Web, National Semiconductor executive Roland Andersson said at Comdex/China on Wednesday.
"We believe that China will be the trend-setter in the 21st century," said Mr Andersson, who is senior vice-president of worldwide sales at the chip-maker.

Mr Andersson cited company statistics that predict the PC's popularity as an Internet link will be overtaken by other devices, such as mobile phones and set-top boxes which turn a television into Web surfing instrument, in 2003. By 2005, there would be more than 300 million of PCs in use – compared with more than 800 million for all the other devices, he said.

Also, the take-up of mobile phones in China is growing extremely quickly. China was adding about three million new cellular phone subscribers every month, Mr Andersson said.

The nation already produces more than 10 per cent of the world's electronics. China's big domestic market, its strength in manufacturing electronics and its low-cost labour pool could boost it into the top country for the creation of IAs, Mr Andersson said.

National Semiconductor is in the IA business itself – it runs a joint laboratory with giant Chinese computer maker Legend to develop the low-cost devices. The international company has a line of high-quality, x86 processors called Geode for use in such gadgets.

IAs have been seen as an up-and-coming trend: from refrigerators that connect instantly to online grocery stores to re-order food, to palm-sized units which can surf the Internet and are as easy to use as phones.

China could also sell such devices abroad. "A strong home market combined with expert [manufacturing] will support export growth out of China as well," Mr Andersson said.

Mr Andersson spoke to a crowd of about 400 people at Comdex/China 2001, which runs from Wednesday to Saturday in Beijing. The theme of this year's show is "e-Solutions for the New Economic Age".

The 2001 event is the fifth annual Comdex/China, which is an offshoot of the enormous Comdex get-together in Las Vegas every year. The venture in Beijing was organised by China's Ministry of Information Industry, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, along with overseas organisers Key3Media and International Data Group or IDG.

Mr Andersson said after his speech that China's domestic market was so large, that if local manufacturers could figure out what their consumers wanted, they would have a volume "that other countries would kill for".

China's population is more than 1.2 billion.

The nation has lured electronics manufacturing away from other hot spots such as Taiwan, Mr Andersson said. "China has proven it can manufacturer at lower cost than anyone else."

"With that, they can conquer the world, because they [IAs] need to be affordable," Mr Andersson said.

Also, if Chinese manufacturers wanted to win other markets, they need to develop brand names that could be exported elsewhere, he added.

In a press conference after his talk, one journalist pointed out that set-top boxes were not that successful in China. National Semiconductor executives replied the set-top box market was still developing worldwide.