HTC's One V on Friday had its first official release in the company's home area of Taiwan. The more affordable of the Android 4.0 lineup is currently on sale through Chungwa Telecom for the equivalent of about $339 off-contract. To mark the occasion, Netbook News has conducted an unboxing as well as some early tests.
The upcoming Taiwan iPhone 4S launch may have been narrowed down in an unusually detailed rumor. Having been cleared to sell, it should arrive between December 14 and 16, Digitimes understood. The small island would get just 30,000 units, half of which would go to Chungwa Telecom, while the rest would be split equally between FarEasTone and Taiwan Mobile.
Taiwan should get the iPhone 4S before the end of the year after the island's National Communications Commission approved the device for sale. Clearing the technical hurdle should see the Apple device on sale by either late November or early December. Chungwa Telecom, FarEasTone, and Taiwan Mobile should all be in line to carry the updated iPhone.
Carriers in Taiwan aren't yet feeling a significant pinch from the iPad and other tablets on their netbook sales, those in the island's telecom industry said Thursday. Subsidized netbook sales only dipped slightly in November, to 14,000 computers from a peak near 16,000. It came despite the iPad having been on sale for months and some carriers, like Far EasTone, selling devices like the ViewSonic ViewPad, Digitimes said.
Retailers in the Taiwan area have provided data that notes Apple's first cellphone for the island is already the sixth most popular in the region. The handset launched last month on Chungwa Telecom but now represents 2.2 percent, or 12,012 units, of the 546,000 phones sold in the area during December. Whether or not Apple took share away from competitors isn't known, though three out of the top six lost significant share with second-place Sony Ericsson (18.1 percent), third-place Samsung (17.6 percent) and fifth-place Motorola (8.3 percent) all having lost more than one percent of their share versus November.
