"GIGABYTE, a Taiwan-based computer system manufacturer that is best known in the ICT industry for its motherboards, has announced the scheduled release for the first MID in the Taiwanese electronics market. The MID called M528 is the product of common effort by GIGABYTE, Intel and Chunghwa Telecom, and is the first such product in Asia. Chunghwa Telecom has already revealed its initial plan to purchase 200 units of M528 MIDs from GIGABYTE in December, but remains cautious about further purchases until first market results come in. (2008/11/25)

The MID, acronym for Mobile Internet Device, is an electronics device that is oriented somewhere between a notebook PC and a smartphone, possessing advantages from both products, as it is much smaller and therefore more mobile than a notebook but still features a great variety of functions that the consumer is expecting from a mini NB. The M528 is equipped with an Intel Atom Z500 processor and operates on a Linux OS. The official release date is set on December 6th during IT Month.

Market researchers seem quite optimistic about the future prospects of the MID. Forward Concepts is estimating that global shipments for MIDs will reach 305,000 units this year and forecasts a growth in shipments of up to 40 million units by 2012. Another market research institute, ABI Research, believes that the global market demand for MIDs will have a CAGR of 167 percent during 2008 and 2013. One reason for this optimism is the growing number of mobile internet users in Taiwan which will possibly lead to an increase in market demand for mobile electronics devices that can utilize the full internet experience."