Pegatron Wins Microsoft's Order for Blu-ray Xbox 360
2008/05/06 | By Philip LiuTaipei, May 6, 2008 (CENS)--Pegatron Technology Corp. of Asustek Group reportedly won Microsoft's order for the first blu-ray disc version of Xbox 360 game console and is scheduled to begin shipment in the third quarter, according to local Chinese-language economic daily newspaper Economic Daily News (EDN).
Citing market insiders, EDN pointed out that Pegatron's successful winning of the new order implies increasingly fierce competition in the game-console and consumer electronics businesses among the world's top-three desktop PC contract producers, including Hon Hai, Pegatron, and Flextronics.
Microsoft recently announced to stop production of the external HD-DVD drives after the blu-ray DVD front won support from most key players in the market. The world's largest computer software maker also adjusted down the prices of the Xbox 360 and plans to push a new blu-ray Xbox 360 model in the second half so as to compete with major counterpart, Sony's PS3.
Some institutional investors pointed out that the blu-ray DVD format has become dominant in the market so Sony's PS3 with built-in blu-ray drive is expected to enjoy rapid sales growth this year. In addition, they added, Nintendo's pure game console Wii, which stresses no built-in DVD drives or Internet connection functionality, is another major rival for Xbox 360.
Industry insiders said that Microsoft has commissioned local Lite-On IT Corp. to develop blu-ray drives for Xbox 360.
Pegatron is the contract-manufacturing arm of the Asustek Group and has been pressured by strong rivals such as Hon Hai, Quanta, Wistron, Compal, Flextronics etc., but it still aims to ship 10 million notebook PCs this year. Some market analysts said that Pegatron has lost Dell's contract order, hence causing some difficulty to achieve the high volume goal.
Pegatron said that it had revenue of NT$97.5 billion (US$3.2 billion at US$1: NT$30.5) in the first quarter, and is confident to achieve its annual revenue goal of NT$500 billion (US$16.39 billion) this year.