Hardware
ò Japan will stop pushing for legislation to charge royalties on the sales of iPods and other portable digital music players, giving in to opposition from electronics makers. What is being dubbed here as ôthe iPod taxö has been tossed around for years. The tax would allow about 1% to 3% of the price of a digital recording device to go to recording companies, songwriters and artists. The Agency for Cultural Affairs had hoped to submit legislation to Parliament as early as this fall. But amid a flurry of criticism from electronics makers, a meeting of a panel studying the proposal failed to reach any agreement. The cultural agency proposed a compromise in May to charge only portable digital music players, such as Apple Inc.'s iPods, and digital hard disk recorders.
Telecommunications
ò DoCoMo will launch its BlackBerry service this August, targeting individuals, as well as small to midsize businesses. The BlackBerry 8707h will be sold through its own online shops and DoCoMo's corporate business partners. The BlackBerry internet service will cost Ñ3,045 ($28.40) per month tax included. A discount packet-billing plan to be launched on September 1, called the BlackBerry data transmission package, will enable users to transmit up to 80,000 packets of data per month for a flat charge of Ñ1,680.
Semiconductor
ò Tokyo Electron said orders fell 35 percent in the fiscal first quarter because an oversupply of computer memory forced chipmakers to postpone spending plans. Orders for equipment used to make chips and flat panels declined to Ñ104 billion ($973 million) in the three months ended June 30, from Ñ159.3 billion in the previous quarter. Japanese makers including Tokyo Electron and Advantest Corp. may see a 6.6% drop to a combined Ñ2.08 trillion for sales of gear used to make chips and flat panels this fiscal year. Tokyo Electron's orders have hit bottom and will begin to recover this quarter. Chipmaking equipment orders slid 27% to Ñ72 billion in the quarter.
Media, entertainment and gaming
ò Japanese videogame maker Square Enix Co. had launched its first game for Apple Inc's iPod, broadening its target hardware to the top-selling media player. Square Enix, known for such blockbuster titles as ôFinal Fantasyö and ôKingdom Heartsö, began offering the ôSong Summoner: The Unsung Heroesö roll-playing game this week in Apple's iTune store. The game goes for $4.99 in the US, Ç4.99 ($7.84) in Europe and Ñ600 ($5.60) in Japan. Unlike some iPod games, which are modified versions of mobile phone games, ôSong Summonerö was developed exclusively for iPod and is designed to take advantage of the machine's functionality. A game player picks a song stored in the iPod and the song determines the types and abilities of the fighters in the game, or ôTune Troopersö.
Korea
Telecommunications
ò KT Corp. cut its 2008 earnings targets on its shrinking fixed-line business and would take action to counter competition, raising concerns of a price war in a sluggish market. KT had lowered its operating profit target by 20% to W1.2 trillion ($1.21 billion) from a previously stated goal of W1.5 trillion. The company also cut its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) target to W3.3 trillion from W3.6 trillion, and slightly lowered its 2008 revenue target to W11.9 trillion. KT, which has about 90% of South Korea's fixed-line market and 44% of the country's broadband customers, has seen profits slide as it faces increasing competition from smaller rivals.
Mobile/wireless
ò South Korea aims to lead the worldwide mobile industry in terms of market share within five years and increase cooperation with other Asian countries in developing next-generation technological standards. The Ministry of Knowledge Economy aims to sell around 600 million mobile handsets and post $70 billion in exports annually by 2012. Currently, South Korea is in second place in the global mobile industry after producing 250 million mobile phones and exporting $29 billion worth of handsets last year. South Korea is home to Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, the world's second and fourth-largest mobile phone makers. The industry has been undergoing an upheaval with efforts on technological convergence taking place across the world.
Semiconductors
ò Yingli Green Energy announced that it has entered into five new sales contracts to supply an aggregate of more than 7 MW of PV modules to five companies in Korea. All modules will be used in projects located in Korea. Customers that signed these contracts include LG CNS Co., DMS Co., Hyosung Corporation, Nam Jung Energy Co., and Kaycom Corp, to which Yingli Green Energy will supply PV modules during the third quarter of 2008.
Hardware
ò LG Display Co. raised production-spending plans this year by 50%, defying an industry glut that JPMorgan Chase and Lehman Brothers say may extend to next year. LG Display also forecast third- quarter profitability will fall more than analysts estimated. LG Display plans to invest about W1.4 trillion ($1.4 billion), part of its W4.5 trillion spending plan for the year, to build a production line for monitor and notebook LCDs that is scheduled to start output in the second quarter. The company will also begin operating a bigger eighth-generation plant in the first half of 2009.
ò LG Electronics Co. said its global touch-screen phone sales surpassed the 7 million unit mark recently. Sales in terms of units of the South Korean company's 11 models of touch-screen phones reached the mark at the end of June for the first time since LG introduced the ôPradaö model, a joint effort between LG and Italian fashion company Prada, in March 2007. The company sold some 2 million units of its ôViewtyö handset, with a built-in 5-megapixel camera, around the world, followed by 1.6 million units and 1.3 million units of its ôVenusö and ôVoyagerö models, respectively. Strong sales of the relatively high-priced models were attributed mostly to boosted recognition of the LG brand in the European and North American markets.
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