Asustek said it managed to achieve revenue growth in 2014 and is optimistic about its performance this year, despite tough competition in mobile devices. The company shipped 20.1 million notebooks in 2014, a 6.9% increase from 2013, though most of this increase was attributed to low-priced models in specific markets. Shipments of tablets fell short of the company’s target for the year at less than 10 million units, which compares with 12 million shipped a year earlier. Asustek also shipped eight million smartphones in 2014, though the handset business reported a loss of NT$2 billion ($63.9 million).
Analyst Comment
We heard at CES that Asus has very variable success in Europe. It has done badly in the UK, where most phones are supplied as part of a telco contract, but less well in Germany and France where as much as 50% of the market is simply handset sales and where Asus has had some success. Asus tends to be one of the “supply chain kings” from Taiwan and the long time taken by network operators to qualify a new phone cause real problems for the firm’s business models. (BR)
