PChome Online Spins Off Its Hardware Division to Create A New Global Internet Hardware Company
Taipei, July 31, 2007
The evolving internet is our collective intelligence; and as active contributors to this shared wealth, we constantly need new tools to navigate it, interact with it and to experience it outside of the hardware limitation of the personal computer, and the cumbersome format of the PC desktop or laptop.
IPEVO has solved this by transforming web-based service and applications into innovative experience-driven internet devices. To date, IPEVO has created an award-winning line of unique yet affordable consumer products that bridges traditional telephony behavior and VoIP technology to make Skype (free VoIP) universally accessible beyond the close to 200 million registered Skype users.
IPEVO started life as a business unit in PChome Online, Taiwan’s leading Internet portal and online-shopping company with over 12 million subscribers. PChome Online has been strategically aligned with Skype Technology S.A. since July 2004 to offer the world’s first co-branded Skype services, and had successfully made Taiwan one of Skype’s most popular countries around the world. There are currently 6 million registered users in Taiwan alone. In late 2005 PChome leveraged its vast user insight and Taiwan’s renowned electronics industry to create IPEVO, a consumer brand for Skype hardware products, with the intent of creating well-considered design of very affordable prices.
IPEVO’s success in the marketplace prompted PChome Online to spin-off the IPEVO unit into an independent company in July 2007. This new company will also incorporate its long-time design consulting firm, xrange’s industrial design department. The companies will combine their innovative Internet start-up background with young boutique design firm culture to leverage Taiwan’s vast electronics R&D manufacturing network to create an international brand.
Based in Taiwan, IPEVO has enjoyed cutting-edged engineering advantage with Taiwan’s renowned R&D capabilities and manufacturing experience. To incorporate design, engineering and R&D in an entity, products can be develop, tested and marketed with quality and speed, both critical to tech products. Furthermore, with a matured internet market in Taiwan and high adoption rates of Skype users (for example: 1 out of 4 persons are registered as Skype VoIP users), IPEVO has immediate access to a very large user resource base.
IPEVO has integrated innovative design, rigorous engineering, and advanced software development to provide a holistic user experience. IPEVO pulls the Internet out of the PC and into the living space by its seamless web integration. In addition to design of Skype phone and related hardware, IPEVO will focus on development of web video, digital audio and image devices in the product pipeline. A couple of new products will start to serve the market by the second half of 2007.
文章定位：
