Apple iPhone 4S pre-orders in Hong Kong sold out within just 10 minutes, analyst Brian White with Ticonderoga Securities said Monday in a note to investors. Pre-orders began last Friday and the phone will officially land in stores this Friday. White estimates that the Chinese market will be key to Apple’s continued growth. The analyst believes Apple’s revenue from “Greater China” — mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan — topped $4.5 billion last quarter, a 270% increase from the sa...

HTC recently surpassed Acer as the most valuable international technology brand in Taiwan, according to Taiwan Economic News. The accolade was awarded to HTC by Taiwan’s External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) and the Bureau of Foreign Trade. The company’s brand is now valued at $3.6 billion, up from just $1.37 billion last year. The Taiwan-based phone and tablet maker is followed by Acer ($1.94 billion) and Asus ($1.36 billion). “You have to make an investment, spend time, and stay pati...

Shares of HTC’s stock closed down 3.9% at T$871 on Monday, just three days after the the U.S. International Trade Commission announced that the Taiwanese company was guilty of infringing on two of Apple’s patents. The patents were related to a “system and method for performing an action on a structure in computer-generated data,” and a “real-time signal processing system for serially transmitted data,” but the judge’s ruling is still awaiting the review of a 6-member Commission. “W...

Apple has initiated a new seven day return policy in Taiwan in accordance with the country’s consumer protection laws, MacRumors reported on Friday. Taiwanese iTunes App Store customers can now receive a full refund on purchased applications within a seven day window after the purchase date. Specifically, Apple’s iTunes App Store, iBookstore, and Mac App Store terms now state:You may cancel your purchase within seven (7) days from the date of delivery and iTunes will reimburse you for the amount p...

Apple may have just hit Samsung where it hurts as the two companies continue their ongoing legal battles over patents. Apple, said to be the largest buyer of Samsung components, will not use Samsung to build its next-generation A6 processor, Reuters reports. Instead, Taiwan-based TSMC has reportedly been contracted to build the chip, which is expected to power Apple’s future iPhone and iPad devices. TSMC, the world’s largest contract microchip manufacturer, is said to have already begun test produ...

Taiwan’s minister of the Counsel of Labor Affairs (CLA) on Thursday announced her intentions to raise the nation’s basic wage for public workers by over 3%. CLA minister Jennifer Wang remarked that despite a 3.47% increase to Taiwan’s basic wage last year, the planned 3% pay hike for public workers should be increased further still. Wang argues that the country’s base pay was too low to begin with, so another 3% hike will not be sufficient for those earning a minimum wage. As of Janu...

It’s no wonder why Foxconn is considering moving some facilities outside Taiwan and China and into other countries like Brazil. Beyond the potential tax benefits for the manufacturer and its clients, China and Taiwan are finally beginning to address problems surrounding the working conditions its citizens have endured in recent history. Forced wage increases and other recent moves such as Taipei City’s decision on Tuesday to slash the maximum monthly working hours from 312 to 260 for some laborers...

Apple has reportedly placed a new order for 30 million display panels per year from leading display manufacturer AU Optronic. The unconfirmed report from Taiwan Economic News suggests Apple paid a huge 300-400% premium to lock in the order, which could see AU Optronics produce up to 100,000 iPad 2 displays each day. The order accounts for about half of the global tablet market, the report claims. Apple had sourced its 9.7-inch iPad 2 displays from LGD and Samsung and some manufacturing took place in Japan, wh...

Intel is working with six to eight notebook manufacturers in an effort to push more into the Android tablet market, DigiTimes is reporting. Inventec and Compal Electronics — two Taiwanese companies — are among the manufacturing partners listed, and Intel could show off a few new devices during the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) show in Beijing next month (or during Computex Taipei later this year). DigiTimes has a mixed track record, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see this particular prognostication...

While this isn’t the most comprehensive global-roaming agreement you will ever see, it’s a start. Via a short press release, the U.S.’s third largest wireless provider — Sprint — has announced a global-roaming deal that will allow its WiMAX customers to operate on the Digicel and Global Mobile networks in Jamaica and Taiwan respectively. Sprint users traveling to the aforementioned areas with WiMAX-enabled devices will be able to purchase an unlimited, 24-hour data pass for ...

Sixteen WiMAX operators from around the world convened in Taipei this week to draft an international roaming agreement for their 4G networks. The WiMAX Forum Global Operator Summit, as it is being called, had just shy of seventy representatives working on the deal. Global roaming is projected to be a $67 billion business by 2015.“The WiMAX Forum Global Operator Summit was created to specifically address overcoming both business and consumer perceptions that data roaming is expensive, and to explore ways t...

Today, Sprint announced a new, 4G international-roaming agreement it signed with Jamaican carrier Digicel and Taiwanese carrier Global Mobile. The new agreement will allow select Sprint devices — currently the Sierra Wireless 250U and Sprint U600 — to operate on the aforementioned networks while traveling abroad.“With these agreements, Sprint is kicking down the door to 4G international roaming and taking a first step toward allowing people to enjoy 4G service wherever they are around the gl...

This morning, we saw blueprints of what the HTC HD7 would look like. This afternoon, we get to see the handset in real images. Taiwanese forum mobile01.com has posted several images of the HD7 Windows Phone 7 device. The handset has the very familiar HTC form, kickstand (albeit not where we were expecting), and super-thin bezel. We’ve got a few more shots of the device after the break.[Via WMPowerUser] (more…)

For those BlackBerry users who refuse to sport black after Memorial Day, salvation is on the way. A white BlackBerry 9700, complete with a black track-button-nose, is currently visible on RIM’s Thai website. The addition of white to the Bold 9700 family is no surprise, as RIM debuted a pale version of the Bold 9000 several months after launch. Here at BGR, we are huge fans of Cheetos®, and for that reason alone, a white anything is out of the question. How about you? Does a white 9700 with a black nose...