Mobile/Wireless
ò Market sources indicated that Sanyo Electric is in final talks to sell its cellular phone production business to Kyocera Corp. The deal is seen as marking the first sale of a cell phone production between Japanese companies. No comment regarding the deal could be secured from the two companies. A spokesperson from Sanyo said that the company has not decided yet whether it will sell the handset division. From Kyocera, the spokesperson did not deny nor confirm the deal. In a separate development, Sanyo announced that it will offload its entire equity stake in its handset sales subsidiary Telecom Sanyo Co. to Telepark Corp. in a deal valued at 4.8 billion yen ($41.6 million). Telecom Sanyo sells mobile phones nationwide except in Hokkaido and Okinawa prefectures. The company reported sales of 38.4 billion yen ($332.8 million) in the business year to March 31, 2007. Telepark is a subsidiary of trading house Mitsui & Co. Following the sale in October, Telecom Sanyo will carry the name of Telecom Park. Sanyo said it looks to a profit of 4 billion yen ($34.6 million) on the sale for the current business year ending March 2008.
ò NTT DoCoMo Inc., announced that it would introduce a flat-rate pricing scheme for its wireless data services. The move is seen as the company effort to attract new mobile internet subscribers in the face of strong competition from rival carriers. Scheduled to take effect in mid October, the new flat-rate plan is expected to enable users to surf the web at speeds of up to 3.6-Mbps, at a maximum cost of 11,340 yen ($98) per month, including tax. NTT DoCoMo also said that it will offer maximum pricing of 4,725 yen ($41) including tax, on its lower-bandwidth 64-Kbps mobile data network. The company did not explain what would be the impact of the flat-rate pricing scheme on its future revenues.
Hardware
ò According to industry sources, Asahi Glass Co., Japan's No. 1 glass maker, is looking to exit the liquid crystal panel market by disposing Optrex Corp, its subsidiary in the business. The company said it has already initiated the bidding process for Optrex Corp. following the decline in prices of liquid crystal panels that have made it difficult for the subsidiary to secure profits. Optrex, which was established as a joint venture between Asahi Glass and Mitsubishi Electric Corp., produces small and medium-size liquid crystal panels for use in mobile phones, automobile speedometers and other products. Asahi Glass is currently promoting consolidation of its businesses, with the company indicating that it plans to sell its entire stake in wholly owned subsidiary Asahi Glass Fiber Co. to a company co-funded by the Development Bank of Japan and an investment fund. Asahi Glass said it will focus on its core businesses such as sheet glass and glass substrates for LCD televisions. Mitsubishi Electric is reportedly selling also its stake in Optrex. No date for the sale has been decided yet.
ò Canon Inc announced its decision to buy back up to 10 million shares estimated to be worth approximately 50 billion yen ($433.4 million). The ten million shares would be equivalent to 0.7 percent of the total outstanding and is expected to bring the companyÆs total of repurchased stock this year to about $3.9 billion. Following its share repurchase in February, Canon has already bought back 400 billion yen ($3.4 billion) worth of stock. The company said the repurchase would strengthen its return on equity and provide it with a reserve of shares the company said it would utilise for future acquisition plans.
ò According to market research firm Media Create, figures for the weekly hardware sales in Japan for the week ending September 9 indicate that sales have declined further. The report said that the extremely low software sales have had a predictable effect on hardware. Nintendo DS sales posted a decline by almost 17,000 units to just 77,488 for the week. The Wii remained as the second best selling console even as its sales went down by over 10,000 units to 29,088. Media Create noted that the drop in hardware sales has affected practically everyone, with the PSP dropping by over 6,500 units to just 15,564. PlayStation 2 sales dropped by less than 1,000 units to 13,360, with the research firm stating that the performance of the firm must have benefited from the success of BanprestoÆs Another CenturyÆs Episode 3. The Xbox 360 saw sales went down by over 300 units to 1,286. Identified as the only gains of the week were those made by the Game Boy Advance family of consoles and the GameCube. Both went up fractionally to 550 and 82 units, respectively.
Semiconductors
ò Industry sources said Sony Corp is at negotiating table to sell its production facilities for advanced microchips used in its PlayStation 3 game console to Toshiba Corp. Details of the deal indicate that Sony is planning to sell production facilities for cutting-edge microprocessors and graphic chips to Toshiba for 100 billion yen ($869.7 million) The sale would include production lines for the Cell microchips, known as supercomputer on a chip. No comments could be secured from Sony and Toshiba about the deal.
Telecommunications
ò The Japan government through the Internal Affairs and Communications Industry announced that it has started to accept applications for licenses to use the 2.5-gigahertz bandwidth for next-generation, high-speed data communications services. Industry observers said that the competition for the new licenses is expected to be intense among Willcom Inc. and existing cellular carriers NTT DoCoMo Inc., KDDI Corp. and Softbank Mobile Corp. The Japanese government said up to two firms can secure licenses from the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry. Industry sources note that Willcom has already expressed its intention to bid for a license without mentioning any alliance with other firms to launch next-generation PHS services. The top industry leaders, however, have indicated working with other partners in applying for the license. NTT DoCoMo has formed an alliance with Acca Networks Co., a broadband Internet service provider and has invited Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc., Mitsui & Co. and East Japan Railway Co. to join. KDDI is seen as entering into a partnership with top shareholder Kyocera Corp. Softbank Mobile Corp. aims to obtain a license by allying with Emobile Ltd.
Korea
Mobile/Wireless
ò Samsung Electronics announced that it will launch a multimedia touch-screen mobile phone in Europe in November. Observers see this as SamsungÆs bid to boost its position in the premium phone war dominated by Apple's iPhone at present. The Mobile Hybrid, codenamed F700, has a full touch-screen control but distinguishes itself from the iPhone with a QWERTY keypad hidden underneath it. Samsung said it plans to sell it in Germany, Britain and France from November and in Southeast Asia and North America early next year. The handsetÆs new screen interface called Croix received the iF Communication Design Award, one of the most prestigious awards in the world, giving Samsung the confidence that the device will win the war versus iPhone.
Media, Entertainment and Gaming
ò Reloaded Studios, a newly formed South Korean game development company, announced that it has entered into a licensing agreement with German Crysis developers Crytek for use of the award winning CryEngine 2 middleware to develop their new action-strategy MMORPG. According to the CEO of Reloaded, the studio aims to make its MMORPG stand out in a very competitive market. Reloaded also disclosed it plans to emphasize the art style in the upcoming title, which the company stressed was one main reason for choosing the middleware. In a separate development, another South Korea-based MMORPG developer XL Games also announced its selection of CryEngine 2. XL was founded by Jake Song, creator of NCSoft's Lineage.
Hardware
ò Samsung Electronics announced that it has started developing a new Flash memory market through a production of large-capacity solid-state drives. The company disclosed that it has started the shipment of 2.5-inch 64GB SSDs to Dell where the new drives will be installed in DellÆs premium notebooks expected to go commercial late this year. Unlike existing hard disc drives, SSDs use a Flash chip as a storage device and lack a motor and operating device, so they do not generate heat and noise while operating and boast improved shock-resistance. The company said the new drives will also be offered to other PC manufacturers. According to iSuppli, the rapid growth of the SSD market will see an industry where PCs will account for 20 percent of applications of flash chips by 2011.
Semiconductors
ò According to Intel, investigators for the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) informed the company that it has violated South KoreaÆs antitrust regulations. The notification followed the completion of the 18-month investigation. No specific date or schedule has been established for when the commission will issue a decision. Intel is facing a similar situation in Europe and Japan. In Europe, the European Commission's Bureau of Competition in July issued a "statement of objections," regarding Intel's business practices. In Japan, Intel agreed to abide by the Japan Fair Trade Commission's recommendations, stemming from its antitrust case. The Japan FTC questioned the marketing rebates Intel offered to customers who did not use AMD's chips.
Ventures/Investments
ò Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics announced that they are ready to make a foray into the Middle East and African markets. Industry sources said that there are indications that Samsung has initiated its entry into the markets with its participation in the Gulf Information Technology Exhibition (GITEX) in Dubai. The Middle East's biggest IT exhibition has brought together some 3,300 companies from 40 countries, with Samsung displaying some 204 products from 183 categories. LG introduced its mobile phones and MP3 players through a fashion show involving a famous Middle Eastern designer Waleed Atallah.
China
Internet
ò Netease, the largest email service provider in China, announced its plans to offer a new email service that features unlimited capacity. Industry observers note that the offering from Netease follows China YahooÆs own ôLifetime Emailbox. According to Netease, all the users of its email services can upgrade to enjoy this new service.
ò Industry sources said that businesses in Chongqing have set up a Credit Archive on Alibaba's e-commerce platform. The move is described as a way to counter risks coming from dubious online transactions. Media sources quoting Alibaba has described the Credit Archive as indicating the credit records of foreign trade enterprises. By combing the traditional credit certifications and the interaction on the Internet, the credit archive shows the credit situation of each enterprise. The process makes the information more accessible to clients and exposing potentially hazardous companies at the same time.
ò Industry sources are quoting Sol Trujillo, CEO of Telstra Corp, who disclosed that Soufun, an online real estate service provider, will expand its business to 100 cities by the end of 2008. The report also said that Soufun will then be preparing for an IPO. Telstra holds 51 percent stake in Soufun. Telstra acquired the stake in Soufun in a deal valued at $254 million, which paved the way for Telstra to be in the Chinese market.
Hardware
ò Media sources announced LenovoÆs launching of a solar power-based desktop computer ThinkCentre A61e, reportedly much more environmentally friendly than past offerings. The computer has energy-saving features and is small in size. One outstanding thing about the computer is that Lenovo has set a low speed fan for the computer, which lessens the noise from the device. The report said 90 percent of the components of the computer can be recycled.
ò Hewlett-Packard announced its plans to speed up its expansion in other Chinese cities and get more Chinese to work for the company in the coming months. Industry observers see HPÆs move as a response to the big demand the company is experiencing in the country. According to the senior vice president of HP's Personal Systems Group for Asia Pacific, the company sees its growth outside of the big cities while the company maintains strong presence in Beijing and Shanghai. By the end of August this year, HP had 8000 employees in China. According to IDC, HP has 13.4 percent of the PC market in the country.
Ventures/Investments
ò British Telecom announced its plans to widen its investment in China. According to BT InternationalÆs president, BT looks to investing at least US$70 million in the coming years to set up two R&D centers in China. The centers are to be set up in Dalian and Shanghai, respectively. The Dalian R&D Center will provide software development, service delivery and a range of support service to BT, serving the company's clients in China, South Korea and Japan. The Shanghai Center will be engaged in the development of new services and products. The two centers are valued at about $100 million. BT currently maintains only two representative offices in the country; one is in Beijing and another in Shanghai.
Taiwan
Media, Entertainment and Gaming
ò Gamania Digital Entertainment, an operator of online gaming services in Taiwan, announced the launching of Bright Shadow, its first self-developed MMORPG in Taiwan. The company said players will be able to play Bright Shadow for free, with its CEO explaining that the company will generate revenues from selling game items online. Gamania disclosed that it has invested NT$700 million ($21.2 million) in developing games since 2002, with a large portion spent on Bright Shadow. The company said the game will be launched in China, Japan and South Korea. Gamania, which has R&D teams in Taiwan, China, Japan and South Korea, derives 99 percent of its revenues from the operation of games developed by other firms.
Telecommunications
ò According to its chairman, Asia Pacific Broadband Telecom (APBT), one of the three new operators of fixed-line telecommunication services in Taiwan, is talking with Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, Intel and Japanese telecom carrier KDDI for investment to become APBT's strategic partners. APBT currently generates monthly revenues of about NT$1.2 billion ($36.2 million), EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortization) of NT$120 million ($3.6 million), with the monthly EBITDA expected to rise to NT$200 million ($6 million) by the end of this year.
Hardware
ò According to the Optical Memory Engineering Research Center (OMNERC) based in Tsinghua University, the China High Definition DVD, a new generation high definition DVD format was developed jointly with research institutes and manufacturing enterprises at home and abroad. The physical format of CH-DVD includes Chinese-owned intellectual property, and is based on HD DVD, the next generation high definition DVD approved by the DVD Forum. The report said the CH-DVD has the support of the Chinese government, and is expected to pave the way for the localization of blue-laser, high-definition DVD in China. In a related development, OMNERC announced the establishment of CHDA, the China High Definition DVD Industry Association, in cooperation with the DVD Forum and Chinese and international partners. CHDA is expected to play a key role in the promotion of CH-DVD.
Hong Kong
Media, Entertainment and Gaming
ò REA Group Ltd, an online real estate advertiser, announced its move to purchase two Hong Kong publishing companies û Square Foot Ltd and its sibling company, Primedia Ltd. û in a deal placed at US$4.8 million. The REA Group owns realestate.com.au and is 58 percent owned by News Ltd. It considers the acquisitions as marking its first foray into the Asian market following its acquisitions of several European web sites. Square Foot owns Hong Kong's largest English language property magazine, Square Foot. The company said it is planning to launch a real estate listing website, in the coming weeks. Primedia publishes Hong Kong's community lifestyle magazine, Inside DB. It has a circulation of around 15,000.
ò Industry observers said that PCCW is poised to become the first company in Hong Kong to implement MSA Focus' ForeTV, the world's most advanced broadcast business management system. Before this agreement, PCCW has already been a client of MSA FocusÆ legacy broadcast management system, Perspective. The new agreement sees PCCW upgrading to ForeTV in a bid to deliver highly efficient live events scheduling. Unlike traditional systems which treat each broadcast revenue stream separately, ForeTV offers a consolidated solution for total revenue management, encompassing income from Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), advertising, sponsorship, pay-per-view (PPV), interactive (iTV) and video on demand (VOD). Observers note that the deal with PCCW is the latest in a series of new contract secured by MSA Focus since it launched ForeTV in 2006. Global broadcasters in the US and in Latin America as well IPTV stations in Europe have made investments already in the technology.
Telecommunications
ò Asia Netcom, with headquarters in Hong Kong, announced the merger of its East Asia Crossing (EAC) system with the C2C network. Under the agreement, regional carrier is going to take full control of the combined submarine cable network. Asia Netcom, a company of Connect Holdings, which also owns the C2C network, looks to the merger as enabling a next-generation communications network to be built by establishing a stronger link with full connection between the two systems. The two networks are expecting to see various upgrades in the system. The upgrade is estimated to cost between US$200 million and US$300 million over the next three years. The C2C network spans 17,000km and comprises three rings linking Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, China, South Korea, the Philippines and Japan. Asia Netcom has recently acquired Singapore-based Internet service provider Pacific Internet. In a separate development, Connect Holdings said it is planning to merge its Singapore-based Internet provider Pacific Internet with cable operator Asia Netcom. Connect Holdings said the tie-up with PacNet is expected by June 2008. The holding company plans to list Asia Netcom by end of 2009, with the company stating that the enlarged group will generate revenues of around US$450 million in fiscal year 2007, and about US$500 million in 2008.
Singapore/Malaysia/Philippines/Indonesia
Internet
ò Globe Telecom announced its decision to set aside $190 million a year until 2009 to finance its broadband Internet initiatives. A company official said it is planning at present a multimillion-dollar broadband Internet program and announced its move to upgrade its wired broadband products. Globe, the PhilippinesÆ second-largest phone company reported a subscriber base of 18.1 million as of end-June, compared with 16.9 million as of end-March. The countryÆs No. 1 phone company Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. reported 27.1 million cellular subscribers as of end-June.
Mobile/Wireless
ò Oceanlake Commerce Inc. announced that it has entered into a managed services agreement with PT Smart Telecom (Indonesia) to utilize the OceanLake MobileMail service platform. Under the agreement, Smart Telecom will be bundling mobile email as part of selected service plans to make it available to all new subscribers. OceanLake MobileMail enables carriers to provide an affordable, real-time, push email service for the mass consumer market. It allows service providers to provide their users the ability to send and receive e-mail with any internet-enabled mobile phone or PDA at a fraction of the cost of other solutions in the market place. OceanLake's Asia Pacific headquarters are in Singapore and will be providing local implementation and support services for Smart Telecom. PT Smart Telecom is a new cellular telecommunication service provider in Indonesia utilizing CDMA 2000 1X-EVDO technology at 1,900 MHz frequency. This network allows users to communicate or send data with lower cost yet higher capacity. Smart Telecom's network is growing nationwide and will soon cover almost very part of Indonesia. OceanLake Commerce is a publicly traded company on the Toronto Venture Exchange and has offices in Singapore and Toronto, Canada.
Ventures/Investments
ò With the company's first ATM (automatic teller machine) developed in Singapore, Wincor NixdofÆs global strategy is shaping up with Asia taking a central role. The company also said that it has plans to set up a new logistics center in the island-state, slated for operation by early 2008. According to its CEO, Singapore has ôdeveloped from a production location into the nerve center of our Asian business activities." Asia is Wincor Nixdorf's fastest-growing market for hardware, software and service. The German IT manufacturer plans to increase its current net sales of US$286 million over the next few years, and is projecting a 30 percent net sales growth from the region comprising the Asia-Pacific and Africa this fiscal year. The company also disclosed that it aims to open a subsidiary company in India with its Indian partner AGS in October.
Software
ò Business Software Alliance (BSA) and Singapore-based, not-for-profit CommerceNet (CNSG) announced their signing of an agreement that is seen as providing some 420 companies in the republic better protection from inadvertent software rights infringement. Under the agreement, CNSGÆs accredited companies will enjoy benefits such as protection for 12 months from BSA-initiated enforcement action. The move aims to give these companies time to implement software asset management practices and verify that their software comply with licensing agreements.
ò Pacific Internet Philippines, an affiliate of Pacific Internet Ltd., announced a new business model for its products anchored on the Sentinel, a multilevel security solution to meet the growing threat of computer crime and security. According to Pacific Internet Philippines product manager, the company will bundle Sentinel to enable users to protect data and information. With the offering, Sentinel will also allow business organizations to build security infrastructure without spending a huge amount of resources.
ò ePLDT subsidiary iPLUS announced that it is offering start up call-centers an all-in-one premise-based solution, called Call Center in a Box (CCiB). According to its marketing director, iPLUS is targeting start-up call centers, contact centers with local customers, as well as Internet help desk operations. Compared to the other center solution, CCiB is described as a single-server technology that can balance the load of incoming and outgoing calls across different locations. The Philippine-based company said the CCiB is powered by Genesys, a leading software solution for the contact center industry.
Telecommunications
ò Telenor, a Norwegian telecom operator, announced that it will cut its stake in Malaysia's DiGi.com to below 50 percent from the current 61 percent before the end of the year. The move to cut the stake is part of an agreement with Malaysia's government, which has demanded that Telenor own less than 50 percent of the mobile telecom company. The Norwegian firm was set to cut its stake in Digi.com last year but was granted an extension by the Malaysian government until the end of 2007. According to its spokesperson, the Norwegian firm will still be committed to Malaysia and Digi.com despite having cut its stake in the company.
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