Letter To Shareholders - Mitac

communication technologies mature in the future, the markets of auto navigation
shall become a critical industry in the 4C mix, thereby attracting participation
from world renowned manufacturers.
(2) Connections among the industry’s upstream, midstream and downstream
Approximately 80% of personal GPS devices are made and installed by
Taiwanese vendors, which shows that the powerful integrating capability of
Taiwanese GPS vendors throughout the GPS industry’s supply chain. Handheld
devices industry belongs to “short, small, light and thin”, so they are both easy to
carry and stylish. Therefore, from innovative and fashionable design on the outside, to
testing and whole machine production, vendors are required to make GPS devices
all-in-one embedded hardware and software. Specifically, all upstream and
mid-stream vendors produce key hardware components including microprocessors,
displays, touch panels, memories, IC drivers, batteries, acoustic filter, quartz
oscillator, objective devices, antenna, GPS chipset, GPS module, receiver, connectors
and pushbuttons, etc. They also produce integration devices, GIS graphic data
terminals, and digital content and software applications. Downstream vendors are
mainly OEM/ODM clients and channel providers.
(3) Product trends
Handheld devices are “portable information” devices. They also incorporate the
latest web applications and wireless technology to access personal information any
time anywhere. All handheld products aim at different audiences. Detailed
description is as below:
A. Portable Navigation Devices
In 2008, the trend of PND-embedded products combine with other electronic
products had been more significant. Many PND products are equipped with GPS,
digital TV, DAB and PMP, some even with MP3, Blue Tooth, iPod and USB for
audio identification and voice synchronizer.
Because it is a trend to equip real-time information, i.e. traffic report, POI
search and other life assistance, adding all kind of online services into PND will
make it become a Must-Have for everyone.
Besides, different countries require different functions for GPS products: the
Asia-Pacific consumers pay more attention on multimedia entertainment, i.e.
digital TV and DVD; whereas Japanese who have the No. 1 GPS penetration rate
in the world pay more attention on traffic information and 3D satellite navigation
capability. As for Europeans and Americans, consumers rather emphasize driving
safety and emergency communication, while North Americans prefer a simple
operating interface. As a result, we can predict that GPS will develop toward
inexpensive, small, and multi-functional, and will require different marketing
approaches.
B. Audio Video Navigation
With the rapid growth of mobile data, the market is getting used to the idea of
having multiple SIM cards per person. Combined with multimedia technologies,
digital TV, GPS, LBS and other wide applications, integrated auto electronics have
become a new favorite among consumer electronics. In addition to computers, TVs,
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