Viewsonic hopes to compete on screen size and picture quality when it jumps into the smartphone game in the future, planning to release phones in China, followed by Europe and the Americas.
The company is currently in the business of monitors, LCD televisions and projectors, among other digital display products. Now, it wants in on the explosive growth in smartphone ownership. A press release cites research from iSuppli that predicts 192.3 million smartphone unit shipments this year, with an 80 percent boost in 3G subscribers from last year.
"With 20 years of display experience this is a natural extension of our product expertise,” James Chu, ViewSonic's chairman and CEO said. “This is an important strategic step for ViewSonic, as it allows us to apply our display technology to an even larger and rapidly growing worldwide market."
I'm skeptical of this development for three reasons: First, is there really evidence that customers need or want smartphones with bigger screens, and is the lack of color saturation and contrast in existing products a common complaint? ViewSonic is quick to point out empirical data on smartphones' growth, but doesn't convincingly assert that the company's planned niche needs filling.
Also, as ZDNet's Larry Dignan points out, there's a simpler issue of overcrowding at hand, with competition between Apple, Motorola, Nokia, Research in Motion and Samsung. A battle for consumers will surely take place, but carriers will also have to decide which phones are worth carrying.
Finally, new entrants to the phone business, such as ViewSonic, may have a tougher time manufacturing products because they're entering into a market with more established smartphone makers. Even existing phone manufacturers, such as Palm, may face difficulties with smartphone components, as one analyst suggested regarding the Pre. I can only imagine how hard it will be for ViewSonic.
On the bright side, if smartphones do proliferate, we'll have plenty of options to choose from for each carrier and operating system. So let's hope it works out for budding entrants such as ViewSonic, even though it will surely be extremely challenging for them.
