BenQ

BenQ Corporation
Subsidiary
Industry Electronics
Predecessor Acer Communication & Multimedia[1]
Founded December 2001
Headquarters Taipei, Taiwan
Area served
 Worldwide
Key people
 K.Y. Lee, Chairman;
Conway Lee, CEO and President
Number of employees
 100,000+ (2015)
Parent Qisda Corporation
Website www.BenQ.com
BenQ
Traditional Chinese 明基電通
Simplified Chinese 明基电通
Qisda
Traditional Chinese 佳世達科技
Simplified Chinese 佳世达科技
BenQ Joybook U101 at Taipei IT Month
BenQ Joybook 8100

BenQ Corporation (/ˌbɛn ˈkjuː/; Chinese: 明基電通股份有限公司) is a Taiwanese multi-national company that sells and markets technology products, consumer electronics, computing and communications devices[2] under the "BenQ" brand name, which stands for the company slogan Bringing Enjoyment N Quality to life. Its principal products include TFT LCD monitors, digital projectors, digital cameras, and mobile computing devices.

BenQ's head office is located in Taipei, and the company operates five branch offices in the Asia-Pacific, Europe, China, Latin America and North America, and employs over 1,300 individuals. The "BenQ" brand is present in more than 100 countries worldwide.

History

BenQ was originally spun off from Acer in 2001 to provide a separate branded channel. In 2006 Acer disposed of its remaining shares in BenQ.[3]

BenQ's first mobile phone was the M775C, from 2003. During Q1 2004, eight new phones were announced, ranging from bar and clamshell phones to Windows Mobile smartphones. A further seven phones, mainly clamshells, came in 2005.

BenQ-Siemens

On October 1, 2005, BenQ Corp. acquired the mobile devices division of Germany's Siemens AG, becoming the sixth largest company in the mobile phone industry by accumulated market share. The acquisition results in a new business group, BenQ Mobile, of BenQ Corporation entirely dedicated to wireless communications. Mobile phones of the new group are marketed under a new brand, BenQ-Siemens.[4]

In late September 2006, the mobile devices division of BenQ, BenQ Mobile (Germany), announced bankruptcy when BenQ Corp. discontinued its funding. As a result, BenQ Mobile was placed under the supervision of a state-appointed bankruptcy administrator. In February 2007, BenQ Mobile was finally disbanded as a suitable buyer could not be found. An estimated 2000 BenQ Mobile employees lost their jobs.[5] On August 24, 2006 BenQ announced plans to spin off its manufacturing operations in early 2007, separating contract manufacturing and own-brand divisions.[6]

After Siemens

After BenQ-Siemens collapsed, BenQ continued to make phones, primarily aimed at the Asian market (although one was released in Europe too).

This is a list of BenQ phones during the post-BenQ Siemens period:

After a hiatus, BenQ resumed production of smartphones under its own brand in 2013.[7]

Smartphones

Dell Venue Pro

Qisda Corporation, a subsidiary of BenQ, manufactured smartphones for Dell, which were marketed under the Venue Pro name, and which ran Windows Phone 7.[8]> The phone was made available in limited quantities on November 8, 2010 with the launch of Windows Phone.[9] Delivery of the phone met severe setbacks, it was riled with numerous hardware issues,[10] and the device was discontinued as of March 8, 2012.[11]

Android
EE (UK)

Starting in 2015 BenQ manufactured the Harrier and Harrier Mini Android Smartphones for the UK mobile telecoms provider EE.

Corporate restructuring

BenQ DC C800
BenQ DC C1030 Eco.

On August 24, 2006, BenQ announced plans to spin off its manufacturing operations in early 2007, separating contract manufacturing and own-brand divisions.[6]

In April 2007, considering that the branded business has achieved sufficient profit and scale to sustain and grow its operation independently, BenQ announced the plan to spin off its branded business. After the spin-off, BenQ Corporation was renamed Qisda Corporation, which will focus on integrated manufacturing service business, and the spun off company has succeeded the name of BenQ Corporation, which is a 100% owned subsidiary of Qisda Corp.[12]

On September 3, 2007, the newly spun off BenQ Corporation commenced its new operation to continue selling and marketing products under the BenQ brand name.[13]

Acquiring Zowie Gear

On December 10, 2015, BenQ announced that ZOWIE GEAR would become their new gaming division.[14] Their newer products include mice, mouse pads, sound cards, monitors, and other gaming accessories. The monitor line of products is used by over 80% of professional gamers.[15]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Acer spins off peripherals unit". News.cnet.com. 5 December 2001. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
  2. ↑ Plunkett, Jack (2007). Plunkett's Advertising & Branding Industry Almanac 2007: Advertising. Plunkett Research. Retrieved 20 October 2009.
  3. ↑ "Acer cuts BenQ's cord". ZDNet UK. 18 April 2006. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
  4. ↑ "Xinhua - English". News.xinhuanet.com. 2005-06-08. Retrieved 2015-02-26.
  5. ↑ "Ex-Siemens Subsidiary Flops: BenQ Bankruptcy Causes Furor - SPIEGEL ONLINE". Spiegel.de. 2006-09-29. Retrieved 2015-02-26.
  6. 1 2 Nystedt, Dan (2006-08-24). "BenQ to spin off manufacturing operations". InfoWorld. Retrieved 2015-02-26.
  7. ↑ "BenQ rejoins the smartphone market with two tepid Android models". Engadget.com. 2 December 2013. Retrieved 1 July 2014.
  8. ↑ "IMEI lookup". Imei-number.com. 31 March 2012.
  9. ↑ Ziegler, Chris (8 November 2010). "Dell Venue Pro on sale at Microsoft stores, but good luck getting one". Engadget. AOL. Retrieved 21 July 2012.
  10. ↑ Beren, David (12 November 2010). "Dell Fesses Up To Venue Pro Wi-Fi Issues, Will Reship November 19th". TmoNews. PhoneDog. Retrieved 21 July 2012.
  11. ↑ Bishop, Bryan (28 March 2012). "Dell retires Venue and Venue Pro in the US, future smartphone plans unclear". The Verge. Vox Media. Retrieved 21 July 2012.
  12. ↑ "Benq is Dead, Long Live ... Qisda?". WIRED. 2007-06-21. Retrieved 2015-02-26.
  13. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-04-05. Retrieved 2017-04-06.
  14. ↑ "ZOWIE by BenQ on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2016-05-23.
  15. ↑ "Most Used Monitors by Professional Gamers". ProSettings.net. Retrieved 2016-12-07.
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