Communications Parts Makers Strengthen Position in World Market

Communications-equipment manufacturing has boomed as almost no other industry has during the past few decades, as the increasing array of such products have become daily necessities in the lives of ever more consumers around the world.

Taiwan has long been a global production base for communications equipment and parts, and its position in the worldwide communications equipment industry has become increasingly important, not only because of its strong manufacturing and cost-control capabilities but also because of its advanced electronics and information technology.


Managing Handsets



One prominent brand in the line is that of Mobile Action Technology Inc., which develops mobile management software and sells its Handset Manager products all over the world.

Handset Manager is a mobile-phone data-management software package with powerful features that allow users to store and manage personal data, files, graphics, handset ringtones, and presentations easily, as well as to personalize their mobile phones via two-way transmission with personal computers. The company says that the Handset Manager is a total solution designed for mobile phone users to maximize the power of their mobile phones. It supports most phone models and languages.

The software brings three options for PC connection, including the MA-700 Bluetooth series (including both software and Bluetooth adapter), MA-600 universal series bus (USB) infrared series (software plus a USB infrared adapter), and MA-800 USB series (software and USB cable). All three options support more than 500 mainstream cellphone models and more than 15 languages.

Fitzwilliam Yang, Mobile Action's brand manager, claims that the Handset Manager commands a 48% global market share (not including, however, personal digital assistant (PDA) phones, Smart Phone models, and similar solutions developed by cellphone makers themselves) and is now used by more than 15 million people worldwide.

The company sells its Handset Manager under its own brand in retail markets, and to several leading cellphone brands including Panasonic, Sharp, and Sony-Ericsson on an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) basis.

Mobile Action was founded in 1996 and, it claims, has since grown into the world's No. 1 supplier in its line. Its Handset Manager is exported to markets all over the world, including North America, Oceania, Southeast Asia, the Middle East-and most importantly Europe, which accounts for 70% of its total overseas sales.

Company executives say that their R&D department is constantly working to develop a more user-friendly interface and additional functions for their products.


Ever Ready Evercom


Another company that is committed to continuous R&D is Evercom Communication Technology Co., a leading maker of antenna products for cellphones, global positioning system (GPS) receivers, base stations, and wireless local area networks (WLANs), as well as general-purpose antennas such as those used in radio equipment.

Evercom's plant in Taoyuan, northern Taiwan, employs 55 workers who can turn out about 100,000 antennas per month. The products are supplied mainly on an original equipment/design manufacturer (OEM/ODM) basis to big international brands in Europe, the U.S., and over 50 other countries.

Ribin Cheng, Evercom's sales manager, reports that the company was established in 1993 and today is one of Taiwan's leading makers of cellphone, patch, and GPS antennas, as well as radio-frequency adapter cables. It insists on manufacturing all of its antenna products in Taiwan to assure the highest quality, and its R&D team constantly develops both standardized and specialized products for customers all over the world.

To accommodate this mode of operation, Evercom adopts a small-batch, large-variety manufacturing model. To compete with big-volume rivals in mainland China, it constantly strives to develop newer and better products and to upgrade its service quality.

The company has developed over 1,000 antenna models in the past, and continues to introduce over 100 new items each year in accordance with market trends and customer requirements. Cheng claims that his products can fit over 90% of all communication applications, including outdoor, in-auto, indoor, handheld-device, and base-station applications.

Cheng says that the firm's core competitiveness lies in its strong mold and die development capability, in which it invests over NT$5 million (US$157,000 at NT$31.9:US$1) annually. The product-design department tries to use standardized or common parts as much as possible in order to shorten the development period and cut production costs.

The sales manager says that his company is ready to embrace the burgeoning WLAN antenna market and has developed about 60 high-end WLAN 2.4G antenna models for application to almost the full range of related equipment.

As a result, Evercom's sales of WLAN antennas have risen sharply over the past two years, from zero to about 25% of total corporate sales. The ratio is expected to continue growing in the next few years.

Fortunately, Cheng notes, the unit prices of WLAN antenna products have not fallen as much as originally anticipated, since materials costs rose by 10% to 15% in 2004. As a result, he says, WLAN antenna products are expected to generate higher profit margins than other Evercom products in the future. (Jan. 2005)