HTC made its name when Microsoft enlisted it to make smartphones based on its Windows Mobile operating system. These days, Google's free Android OS has made it easier and more affordable for manufacturers to develop their own smartphones and tablet PCs.

CyWee, a four-year-old Taiwanese company that makes devices for motion sensing and video streaming, wants to enlarge the 20 percent of its business that it gets today from its own branded products, said marketing Vice President Paul Liu.

"This is most likely a typical scenario for almost any company," Liu said. "Self-branding gives CyWee more options to get our products to end consumers. It has always been our company goal to innovate, and self-branding speeds up that process."

Selling products directly to end users can sometimes mean higher profits for manufacturers, but there are other reasons as well. Contract work suffers during a global economic downturn, and even in good times, profit margins are shrinking as contractor manufacturers emerge in developing countries where labor is cheaper.

The branding efforts often start in Taiwan, which has a population of just 23 million. The products are sold more cheaply than those from overseas vendors, and Taiwanese consumers seldom have to gripe about gaps in quality.