A week in Japan tech
e-Commerce
- Excite Japan Co. will set up a mail-order sales site on the EZweb Net access service for KDDI Corp.'s "au" cellular phone users. Using KDDI's fee collection system, Excite will charge buyers of the mail-order sales site access fees along with their purchases allowing buyers to pay both fees together. Excite is hoping to expand sales on the site by touting this convenience. Called Shopping Excite, the mail-order site will be recognized as one of the official “au” net service sites.
Hardware
- Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. is on track to achieve its goal of increasing revenue by ¥1 trillion ($8.5 billion) in China by 2005, more than three times its revenue there in 2002, an executive said. The Japanese consumer electronics giant now expects revenue of ¥450 billion ($3.8 billion) in China in 2003 and ¥700 billion ($5.9 billion) in 2004 after generating Y300 billion ($2.5 billion) there in 2002.
- Semiconductor Energy Laboratory unveiled an organic electroluminescent (EL) display panel that could be seen from the front and back. This development paves the way for devices that would allow photographers and subject to see the same picture. Organic EL panels are expected to replace liquid crystal display (LCD) panels in the future because they need no backlighting and are thinner. Semiconductor Energy Laboratory's current "dual-emission" organic EL screen is 5 centimetres wide and .15 centimetres thick.
Internet
- eBay, the world's largest Internet auctioneer, was still searching for ways to re-establish itself in Japan, a key market in its international strategy, chief executive Meg Whitman said. eBay shut down its money-losing Japanese site in March last year, conceding that it was not making inroads into Yahoo! Japan's lead in the auction market. eBay spent two years working to increase the struggling site's business and said it would eventually re-enter the country. Whitman said eBay could re-open a site in Japan if the Japanese became more interested in cross-border selling and buying. It could also consider re-entering through an investment in another company.
Life Sciences
- The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology and Mitsui & Co. have nearly completed the development of technology to mass-produce porous silicon material, a new nanotechnology material that has a wide range of industrial applications. The bar-shaped material, which has numerous holes 1.5 to 6 nanometers in diameter, could boost the efficiency of refining drugs and other chemical substances by having chemical reactions occur in the holes, for instance. It can also be used to make absorbent chemicals.
- Horiba Biotechnology Co., a biotechnology subsidiary of Horiba Ltd., has developed reagents and testing equipment that makes use of antibodies to measure agricultural residues in vegetables. The approach provides a relatively inexpensive and fast way to makes such tests. The procedure entails causing a reaction between the antibody reagent, which is coated on a plate, and preprocessed vegetable material. The test, including preprocessing, can be carried out in two to three hours and can determine the presence and concentration of agrochemicals. From the coming fiscal year, the company will offer a set with 20 reagents. It plans to market the set, including measuring and related equipment, for roughly ¥2 million ($16,900).
Media, Entertainment and Gaming
- Digital Garage Inc., a provider of services for Internet businesses, and Digital Network Appliance Inc. (DNA), a Tokyo-based online video system firm, will sell a system enabling distribution of high-quality moving images at lower costs. Under the system developed by DNA, video taken from the Internet via a broadband network is stored on a dedicated terminal, which distributes the video via television. Digital Garage will establish a system to manage the content distribution. The video distribution system requires less investment, compared with the streaming method that can transmit images on a real-time basis, according to the two companies. In addition, as the moving images will be played on TV, without using personal computers, there will be less problems with illicit copying.
- Softbank is opening an online gaming portal in an effort to boost the number of users for its growing broadband service. BB Games will begin services on July 25th offering about 30 online games that can be played on a PC. The number of games will grow to about 200 by April next year, Softbank said. The company, which co-owns Yahoo! is banking on a broadband service called Yahoo! BB that has attracted nearly 2.7 million people.
Mobile / Wireless
- A group of Japanese publishers launched a campaign to stop people from using camera-equipped cell phones to photograph magazines instead of buying them. As camera-phone technology improves to produce sharper images, more people are using them in bookstores for digital shoplifting. So for the next two months, the association is posting notices at bookstores across the nation advising customers that such usage is illegal. The abuse of camera phones is a growing problem. There have been reports of people using them to photograph up women's skirts or furtively snap shots in off-limits areas, such as courtrooms or museums. Cell phone manufacturers, concerned by the unintended uses of their gadgets, have mounted cell phone etiquette campaigns asking customers to respect privacy and refrain from unauthorized photography.
- NEC said it wanted to increase the use of i-mode Internet-capable services pioneered by NTT DoCoMo, especially in the growing European and Asian markets. It would target firms in Europe and Asia in particular where demand for advanced mobile phones was growing, said NEC spokeswoman Akiko Shikimori. From June 26, Spain's largest mobile phone operator Telefonica Moviles Espana (TME) started using NEC's mobile Internet platform, which provides easy access to i-mode services such as e-mail and video pictures. NEC also already supplies the system to Taiwan-based mobile operator KG Telecom and Bouygues Telecom of France.
- Toshiba Corp. and NEC Corp. have separately developed quantum encryption technologies that can securely transmit data more than 100km without fear of interference or interception. A group of researchers at NEC, as well as Toshiba Research Europe Ltd., a research laboratory based in Cambridge, England, have created a highly sensitive detection device that senses movement of the photons that carry information in quantum encryption communications. When the detector is incorporated into a receiver, it enables secure data communications at a distance of over 100km, which had previously been impossible.
Semiconductors
- NEC Electronics Corp., a semiconductor company being split off from electronics conglomerate NEC Corp., set a tentative price range of ¥3,600 ($30.06) to ¥4,200 ($35.07) a share for its initial public offering of 34 million shares. The share offering, one of the biggest this year, is expected to highlight the strong investor demand for well-marketed IPOs. The deal follows the successful debut of Seiko Epson Corp., when shares of the Japanese maker of printers and electronic devices traded 42% above its offering price.
- Tokyo Ohka Kogyo Co. has started mass producing photoresists compatible with argon fluoride (ArF) lasers, which can etch extremely thin lines on silicon wafers. ArF lasers, which can also be used to make next-generation microchips, are expected to become the mainstream laser for creating circuit lines on wafers. By beginning mass production of ArF laser-compatible photoresists ahead of its rivals, the company aims to capture more than half of the domestic photoresist market by the year-end. Currently, the krypton fluoride (KrF) laser is the mainstream laser. But with a wavelength of 248 nanometers a KrF laser cannot create lines thinner than 110-130 nanometers. An ArF laser with a 193-nanometer wavelength can etch lines as thin as 90-110 nanometers.
- Nikon Corp. and Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co. announced that they will collaborate on a photolithography process for next-generation semiconductors made with circuits narrower than 90 nanometers. The two companies will work to combine Nikon's steppers with Dainippon Screen's photoresist coater-developers so the machines can be smoothly integrated on the same production line, sharing data in ways that will boost overall production yields when circuit patterns are defined on wafers. The two companies will cooperate to research methods for exchanging data between their respective machines and to develop a control system that can dynamically adjust the machines to compensate for changes in process conditions.
Telecommunications
- Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. affiliates NTT East & NTT West and NTT Communications reported that fixed-line traffic and revenues from voice communications services dropped sharply in fiscal 2002. Amid the proliferation of mobile phones, NTT East and NTT West reported a combined 28.5% drop in communications traffic over fixed lines from a year earlier, in terms of hours of usage. NTT East saw a 16.9% drop in connections to 18.7 billion calls, and usage fell 30.8% to 1.07 billion hours. Revenues from voice communications services declined 9% to ¥1.7 trillion ($14.4 billion), while revenues from data services jumped 86% to ¥59.7 billion ($504.9 million).
- Telecommunications operators risk going out of business if they fail to diversify into value-added services, NTT Com Asia managing director Kenji Sakata has warned. However, Mr Sakata said carriers could halt falling profit margins by providing value-added services, such as system integration services, Internet Protocol solutions and consultant services. The global telecom market had been suffering from overcapacity, slow growth and high competition, clouding earnings prospects of carriers, he said. Mr Sakata said NTT had been beefing up its efforts to diversify into value-added services, especially in China.
A week in Korea tech
Hardware
- Korean financial authorities are considering whether LG-Philips LCD Co., the world's largest TFT-LCD supplier, should be listed simultaneously on both domestic and US. According to financial industry sources, the authorities regard such listings at home and abroad as a good means of enlarging and diversifying the amount of financial resources available to the firm.
- LG is reinventing itself to come up with consumer electronics that caters to high-end customers. LG aims to beef up its brand by focusing on sales of high-technology home appliances that are more profitable. LG's strategy has paid off. It recorded earnings last year and its shares are at one-year highs after they were re-listed last April as a unit of holding company LG Group. The upturn in LG's mainstay appliance business - which made up 32% of revenues but 59% of profits last year - comes at an auspicious time. LG's other businesses - digital televison, computer monitors and mobile-phones - are facing increased competition and falling prices.
Media, Entertainment and Gaming
- Korea's game market is expected to be worth W5 trillion ($4.2 billion) in 2005, if the current bullish trend continues, government data showed. In a white paper released by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Korea Game Development Institute, the domestic game market grew 13% to W3.4 trillion ($2.8 billion) in value last year and is expected to break the W4 trillion ($3.3 billion) mark this year. The market is forecast to grow W5.2 trillion ($4.4 billion) in 2005. The spectacular growth expected in the mobile game market is estimated to be W380 billion ($321 million) in 2005. The online game market, led by NCsoft, is also expected to continue solid growth in the coming years. Online game service providers posted combined revenue of W450 billion ($380.1 million) in 2002, up 69 %from a year earlier.
- Microsoft Korea said that it would lower the prices of its Xbox and related game titles in an effort to turn around its sluggish sales in the fiercely competitive video game industry. The Korean unit of the software giant announced in a memorandum sent to its local distributors that the price reduction will be carried out on the first day of July. Accordingly, the retail price of an Xbox will be lowered 10.6% W249,800 ($208) from the previous price of W279,400 ($236). Microsoft Korea's decision to lower the prices of Xbox and its game titles is expected to make the items more price competitive against its dominant-position competitor Sony PlayStation.
Mobile / Wireless
- Samsung Electronics said it would ban employees and visitors from bringing their camera phones into semiconductor, flat-panel and electronics factories. The ban will is to protect the firms cutting-edge technologies against industrial espionage. Ironically, Samsung is the leading maker of high-end camera phones, dominating the domestic market and spearheading innovation in the global mobile handset industry.
- LG Electronics said that it has rolled out a new mobile handset that utilizes Korea's wireless Internet standard known as WIPI (wireless Internet platform for interoperability). The latest handset model, the LG-SD200, is designed to allow subscribers of any of the three mobile carriers in Korea to freely use wireless Internet content, regardless of which carrier they have signed up with. Up until now, wireless Internet content needed to be modified for each carrier, making it impossible for subscribers to download content belonging to other carriers due to the different formats and specifications.
Software
- SK Corp. has blocked its employees from using instant-messaging services to address the growing concerns over leakage of corporate information through new IT solutions. SK said it has put a firewall on its network so that that it can prevent workers from using mainstream messenger programs such as those provided by Microsoft MSN, Daum Communications Corp. and Yahoo! Korea. The company's move against instant-message services is the result of pressure by foreign investors including its largest shareholder Crest Securities Co.
Telecommunications
- KT Corp. announced that it would join the satellite digital multimedia broadcasting business, following on the heels of SK Telecom, the country's largest mobile carrier, which recently decided to tackle the project. Satellite digital multimedia broadcasting is a service that makes it possible for people to view TV programs through mobile phones in a moving vehicle, among other benefits. According to an official at the Ministry of Information and Communication, Korea and Japan secured the right to share the 2.605 to 2.530 GHz frequency band at the World Radio Communication conference currently ongoing in Geneva, Switzerland, thus allowing KT to launch the service.
- Thrunet Co. said it would stage a public auction to find a new major shareholder Aug. 25th, after receiving applications through July 15th, with a handful of telecommunications firms showing interest in Korea’s third-largest broadband carrier. Thrunet had 1.28 million subscribers as of the end of May but is in severe financial difficulties. Industry sources said serious bidders should consider offering at least W500 billion ($421 million) to secure the management rights of Thrunet. The embattled Thrunet specified that the successful bidder should use more than half of the takeover funds to purchase new shares that will be issued by Thrunet and should hold 50% of the newly acquired stake for at least one year.
- The LG Group is now expected to gain momentum in its bid to take over Hanaro Telecom Inc., as Hanaro's board rejected a take-over proposal by a U.S. consortium led by AIG. The AIG-led investment deal included a proposal to purchase $450 million worth of new Hanaro shares and a $600 million syndicated loan in return for a 40% stake, but the board of Hanaro turned down the offer, citing low prices. The decision has given the LG Group, the biggest shareholder of Hanaro with a 13% stake, a positive signal for a take-over. Analysts expected Hanaro would go in for simply delaying its decision in order to have the upper hand in its negotiations with LG but the outright rejection means Hanaro is openly wooing the LG Group for a merger deal. However, Hanaro is yet to formally approve LG's proposal for a $419 million rights offering. It is set to hold a board meeting July 8 and people familiar with the matter said Hanaro will likely approve a deal with LG.
A week in China tech
Mobile / Wireless
- The urban wireless services, called Xiaolingtong, offered by China's two fixed-line giants - China Telecommunications and China Netcom - have had a 70% increase in subscribers over the first five months this year. Users of the service reached nearly 20 million by the end of May, compared with 12 million at the end of last year. Xiaolingtong accounted for about 43% of the 18.46 million new fixed-line users signed up by China Telecom and China Netcom, and 8% of the mainland's 232.88 million fixed-line subscribers. The service is simply a wireless local loop access network that provides limited mobility in an urban area, so Xiaolingtong was classified as an extension of fixed-line services by the Ministry of Information Industry despite China Mobile and China United's objections. By charging only a fraction of mobile rates, Xiaolingtong is increasingly popular among low-end mobile users. The service is disruptive to the mainland's mobile networks because it competes with their mobile service offer and limits there pricing power.
- Germany's Siemens will launch its Xelibri brand handset in China this week to gauge demand for the quirky mobile phone in the world's biggest market. The Xelibri, which targets the fashion-conscious, will be distributed in 100 mainland cities after its launch in Hong Kong and Singapore last month. The handset, which has a different shape from traditional mobiles, is sold through department stores and trendy outlets. Xelibri brand president George Appling said China Cable Telecom and Cell Star had been appointed as mainland distributors and talks had been held with United States coffee chain Starbucks to sell the phones in China.
Software
- Indian Information Technology and Communication Minister Arun Shourie said that India was to make a concerted bid to sell software solutions to global manufacturing firms in China. He added that he asked his department to form a think-tank to explore ways of tapping the potential of the Chinese IT market. He said that Indian firms would not only forge strategic alliances with Chinese software firms but also attract Chinese software engineers into their offices in Shanghai and Beijing. The Indian IT industry's annual exports to China stand at Rs200 million ($4.3 million), a mere 0.05% of its total software exports.
Telecommunications
- A recent leadership reshuffle in China's telecommunications sector might signal the end of cheap asset injections and price stability among carriers, analysts said. The sector is going through a shake-up, including leadership changes at the Ministry of Information Industry and the carriers. Last week, China United Telecommunications Corp said its chairman Yang Xian Zu, who has retired, would be succeeded by his deputy Wang Jianzhu, marking the fourth leadership change in the industry within the past four months. In March, Wang Xudong was appointed to head the Ministry of Information, replacing Wu Jichuan who retired. Next was the departure of China Netcom Group's head Xi Guohua after just a year in the post who was replaced by Zhang Chunjiang. Moreover, the ministry of Information Industry has made complete network interoperability its priority for this year in order to boost competition. To demonstrate its determination, the regulator recently penalized China Telecom, Unicom and China Mobile for violating interconnection regulations.
A week in Taiwan tech
Mobile / Wireless
- Fubon Financial Holding Co. bought 75 million shares in Taiwan Cellular Corp., or a 1.7% stake, from Verizon Communications Inc. for NT$1.9 billion ($55 million). The purchase gives Taiwan's second-largest financial services company more control over the island's biggest provider of mobile-phone services. Fubon also found potential overseas investors to buy a stake in Taiwan Cellular owned by affiliate Taiwan Fixed Network, which would help improve the operations of both telecommunications companies. Fubon adds to its 17% stake of Taiwan Cellular with this purchase. Daniel Tsai, Fubon's vice chairman and the acting chairman of Taiwan Cellular, at a shareholders' meeting said that he plans to become the chairman of the mobile services company and start cost-cutting measures in a few months.
Semiconductors
- Macronix International Co., Taiwan's biggest maker of memory chips for electronic games, said it expects to become profitable next year after cutting investment. The company, which forecast a loss of NT$7.8 billion ($225 million) this year, reduced its spending more than three-quarters to NT$2 billion ($58.1 million), spokesman Patrick Tang said.
A week in Singapore / Malaysia / Philippines / Indonesia tech
Mobile / Wireless
- Maxis launched the first picture messaging service in Malaysia and said it aimed to attract 60,000 new customers by year-end with the new multimedia services. Maxis was offering customers up to 50 free pictures a month until September and would waive charges for the general packet radio services (GPRS) during the period to spur take-up. Depending on the phone's capacity, the new service allows users to take pictures or select provided picture content, add text and sound, and send it to other Maxis-customer phones within the country. Images can also be sent from the phone via e-mail to contacts overseas as well.
Telecommunications
- Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. Chairman Ang Kong Hua will step down in August and will be succeeded by Chumpol NaLamlieng, the president of Siam Cement PCL, the Singapore-based regional telecommunications company. Mr. Chumpol, who is 55 years old, will be the first non-Singaporean to head the two-thirds government-owned company. Mr. Ang's departure from SingTel, two years after he was appointed chairman, comes after a public relations fiasco last month, when reports surfaced that he had bought and sold shares in a rival mobile operator, MobileOne Ltd. Some analysts said it was inappropriate for him to trade a rival's shares.
- Singapore Telecommunications Ltd.'s overseas bets are ringing up some surprisingly solid payoffs. SingTel has boosted its fortunes recently with savvy regional investments and acquisitions, most notably the once-criticized purchase of a plucky Australian carrier, the former Cable & Wireless Optus Ltd. Optus was the main revenue driver in SingTel's latest fiscal year, and helped the company pull in record revenue of S$10.26 billion ($5.84 billion). While SingTel's net profit slipped 14% for the full year, earnings in the fourth quarter soared 72%, largely because of the company's foreign investments.
A week in Hong Kong tech
Telecommunications
- Hutchison Whampoa is selling one billion euros ($1.2 billion) worth of 10-year fixed coupon bonds. It is the first euro bond to be issued by the company since 1999. A Hutchison spokeswoman confirmed that HSBC had been designated as the sole bookrunner for the bond sale. A banking source said the initial price guidance of the 10-year euro bond had been set at 195 to 200 basis points above the standard reference rate for euro-denominated borrowing, implying an effective interest rate of nearly 6 per cent. The company has about $8.7 billion of debt due this year and next, according to a Reuters. News of the bond issue came just before the firm announced that it expected Hong Kong third-generation (3G) mobile services to be launched next month.
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