AsusTek Computer Inc., the world's fifth-largest PC maker, said Tuesday that digital content will be a key to success for Taiwanese tablet and e-reader makers in the Chinese-language market. 'Taiwanese manufacturers will have a big chance in the Chinese-language market if they can put an emphasis on the localization of digital content, ' said Chin Wu, chief technical officer of AsusTek Computer Inc., at a seminar in Taipei. Taiwanese manufacturers should make more effort to broaden the market for Chinese-language content, by cooperating with content providers and e-reader makers in China, for example, instead of focusing on hardware manufacturing, he said. So far a lack of digital rights management (DRM) and payment mechanisms have kept Chinese-language publishers from entering tablet and e-reader markets, Wu noted. Last month, AsusTek launched a customized 9-inch e-reader for a charity group in Taiwan, in a bid to reduce the use of paper publications and to improve digital communications among members of the group. At the seminar, another business leader pointed out the competitive relationship between tablet computers and e-readers. The tablet computer, seen as a replacement to the e-reader, will absolutely pose a threat to the e-reader industry, said James Lee, general manager of BenQ's mobile communicaitons group. 'The e-reader should be defined more clearly in the mobile device market so that consumers understand where its value lies,' he added. Lee also forecast that the 2011 global shipment of tablets, with an estimated total of 55 million units, will be divided among 46 makers due to a low threshold of hardware manufacturing, representing a more crowded market compared with this year. 