Taiwan urged to prepare two-pronged attack on digital home

FATHER OF COMPUTEX, Acer chairman Stan Shih today called on Taiwanese companies to embrace the concept of the digital home and begin to take on the successful Japanese consumer electronics companies in this arena over the coming twenty years.

Shih was the honoured guest at the ceremony to mark the opening of the 2004 event where successive speakers reminded us that Shih was the man responsible for founding and naming this techno fest some twenty years ago. Without Mr Shih said oosit, there would be no IT industry in Taiwan.

In what he called a post-PC, post-Television era, Shih said he expected the digital home to “change every facet of our lives”. He said he expects all electrical appliances in the home to be connected to the Internet and that the television which has long been the centre of the affluent household would finally develop into something new.

For Taiwanese companies, the challenge, said Shih, would be to compete directly with the successful Japanese consumer electronics companies. He named no names but suggested that in order to compete with the Japanese, Taiwan would have to build strong brand awareness outside the island. He said Taiwan's ability to produce low-cost technological goods would need to be complemented with zero-inventory “just in time” manufacturing processes to further boost the island's competitiveness.

Shih warned that the PC's open architecture meant that consumer electronics companies could swiftly move into the converging markets.

But Taiwanese companies have the advantage of the access to the most prized market of them all - that of mainland China. They simply had to develop the right products to “leverage” that advantage.

Ominously Shih called for more focus on the development of software on the island. He said Microssoft's Windows was originally developed for a business-style PC and that the dominant operating system was not yet properly tailored to the type of device he sees heading for the digital home. Taiwan has built a remarkable reputation for itself in the business of manufacturing hardware. The suggestion that the foscus on the island shift towards software development will have Bill Gates and his buddies sleeping less easily at night.

Shih, as all speakers reminded the gathering of dignitries and press will due to retire this year. He's an entrerpreneur with a big heart, said Hsin -I Lin, senior advisor to the president, although the number of heart attacks Shih has suffered suggest the organ could be slightly defective. Shih said he hoped to enjoy viewing the next twenty years of high tech development in Taiwan, assuming, he said he is able to live that long.