Asustek to take on HTC in touch-screen smartphone segment

Competition in the touch-screen smartphone segment is set to heat up soon now that Asustek Computer has unveiled its first touch-screen handset, the Asus P552w, while High Tech Computer (HTC) is preparing to launch a mid-range touch-screen model, the HTC Opal, to strengthen its penetration in the segment, according to market watchers in Taiwan.



The P552w, which was unveiled on September 5, features the latest Asustek-grown 3D touch user interface, the Glide, which is able to perform functions similar to the HTC-grown 3D TouchFLO technology, the noted the observers.

Asustek is expected to start volume shipments of the P552w in the fourth quarter of this year, compared to the first quarter of this year as originally planned, the observers indicated.

With HTC already shipping over three million HTC Touch handsets and another one million HTC Diamond handsets, Asustek's pricing and its strategy to cooperate with telecom operators will be critical to the success of the P552w, said the industry watchers.

In addition, market rumors indicated that the HTC Opal, a follow-up to the popular HTC Touch, will offer support to only GSM/GPRS/EDGE but not 3G, targeting mainly the mid-range handset segment.

The HTC Opal is powered by Texas Instruments (TI) OMAP 850 200MHz processor and is running on Microsoft's Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, which is identical to the OS of the Asus P552w, indicated the observers.