One reason is that PCs are becoming very affordable, not only for the masses in Hong Kong but also on the mainland. A name brand Pentium III 860 Mhz with DVD and all the geewhiz latest generation sound & video board, 512 Mbyte RAM, and 20 GByte HDD goes for HK$ 8000 (US$ 1000). The 15 inch flat LCD screen is another HK$ 8000, the regular TV monitor is effectively free at US$ 100. No sales tax, and plenty of good pirate software (i.e. all Microsoft programs for about US$ 15). China is now also starting to push ADSL broadband. ADSL from PCCW in HK cost US$ 37 per month per 100 hours. As the folks out here baby their babies, with US$ 65 per 45 minute music lessons and what not, the net will expand, even if at low penetration rate, will add up to huge numbers.
On another matter, we get quite a bit of grey market import of Japanese products that are only released in Japan and not yet for the rest of the world. The Sony handheld is worth checking out. The comparatively bulky Pocket PCs may run into problems by Christmas time. Sony's new cell phone is also a must have. I am thinking that the handhelds and eventually cell phones, will belong to the Sonys of the world, and not to Palm, Nokia, Motorola. The traditional handset players such as Nokia would be well advised to make a lateral move to system products (ala Ericsson, Nortel s game), else they may not have any breakfasts any more. |
