Japan Computer Industry Scan articles from April 2003

Japan Computer Industry Scan archives from April 2003

Sony unveils reorganization to strengthen group management.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2003... TOKYO, March 31 Kyodo Sony Corp. said Monday it will reorganize its group business structure into seven entities Tuesday in order to strengthen its group management. The seven entities are four ''network companies'' -- home,...

LEAD: Fujitsu, AMD integrate flash-memory operations.
April 7, 2003... TOKYO, April 1 Kyodo (EDS: ADDING DETAILS, QUOTES, EDITING) Fujitsu Ltd. and U.S. chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) said Tuesday they have agreed to launch a new joint venture in the United States to integrate their...

Compaq Computer allegedly hid 1.7 bil. yen in taxable income.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2003... TOKYO, April 1 Kyodo Tokyo tax authorities penalized the Japan unit of U.S. computer maker Compaq Computer Corp. for failing to report 3.6 billion yen in taxable income and concealing 1.7 billion yen of that amount, industry sources said...

4 telecom giants to boost capital of broadband content firm.(Broadband Service Planning Inc.)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2003... TOKYO, April 3 Kyodo Four electronics and telecom giants said Thursday they will jointly bolster the capital base of their joint venture to have it create Internet portal sites by procuring content for the sites. KDDI Corp., NEC...

LEAD: Yahoo Japan to distribute music for free.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2003... TOKYO, April 3 Kyodo (EDS: ADDING INFO IN 2ND PARA) Yahoo Japan Corp. said Thursday it has signed an agreement with the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers (JASRAC) to distribute music via the Internet...

Walt Disney to enter broadcast business in Japan.(Brief Article)
April 7, 2003... TOKYO, April 4 Kyodo Walt Disney Co. is planning to enter the Japanese broadcast business in November at the earliest, sources at the Japanese unit of the U.S. entertainment and media giant said Friday. Walt Disney is considering...

Nintendo cuts earnings estimates due to weaker console sales.(Brief Article)
April 14, 2003... TOKYO, April 7 Kyodo Game console and software maker Nintendo Co. said Monday it has revised downward its earnings estimates for the year ended March 31 due to lower-than-expected sales of game consoles. The company said it now...

LEAD: PC makers, post offices join hands in recycling home PCs.(Brief Article)
April 14, 2003... TOKYO, April 7 Kyodo (EDS: ADDING DETAILS) Personal computer (PC) manufacturers and Japan's public postal corporation have agreed to join hands in recycling used home PCs starting Oct. 1, an industry group said Monday. Under the...

Pasona, Randstad tie up in marketing to create global network.(Brief Article)
April 14, 2003... TOKYO, April 8 Kyodo Leading staffing agency Pasona Inc. said Tuesday it has begun joint marketing activities with Randstad Holding N.V. of the Netherlands to give their multinational clients a global network. The alliance enables...

5 firms to jointly offer broadband live roaming service.(Brief Article)
April 14, 2003... TOKYO, April 8 Kyodo NTT East Corp., Microsoft Co. and three other companies said Tuesday they have agreed to cooperate in broadband live roaming services using the Windows Media 9 series platform. As the first step of the cooperation,...

Subscribers of KDDI's 3G mobile phone service top 7 mil.(Brief Article)
April 14, 2003... TOKYO, April 10 Kyodo The number of subscribers to the third-generation (3G) mobile phone service of KDDI Corp. and its affiliate cleared the goal for the service's initial year at 7 million, the companies said Thursday. The number...

Number of DSL subscribers tops 7 mil. in March.(report from the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications )(Brief Article)
April 14, 2003... TOKYO, April 11 Kyodo The number of subscribers to digital subscriber line (DSL) high-speed Internet access services topped 7 million at the end of March, the telecom ministry said Friday. Subscribers totaled 7,023,039 as of March 31,...

LEAD: Sharp devises sensor for taking photos facing sun.(Brief Article)
April 14, 2003... OSAKA, April 14 Kyodo (EDS: UPDATING WITH LATEST INFO, INCLUDING WORD CHANGE FROM CAMERA TO SENSOR) Sharp Corp. said Monday it has developed an image sensor that enables small industrial-use digital cameras to take clear pictures...

Glitch hits Yahoo Japan's online payment service over 16 hours.(Yahoo Wallet)(Brief Article)
April 21, 2003... TOKYO, April 15 Kyodo A glitch plagued Yahoo Japan Corp.'s online payment service, Yahoo Wallet, for about 16 hours from Sunday night through Monday afternoon, a company official said Tuesday. Several thousand people are believed to...

KDDI to restrict access to mobile phone dating Web sites.(Brief Article)
April 21, 2003... TOKYO, April 15 Kyodo Telecom carrier KDDI Corp. and its unit Okinawa Cellular Telephone Co. said Tuesday they plan to introduce in the fall a function in their ''au'' brand mobile phone services which can be used to block access to...

Casio patent on multiscreen computer display declared invalid.(Brief Article)
April 21, 2003... TOKYO, April 16 Kyodo The Tokyo District Court ruled Wednesday that a patent held by Casio Computer Co. on multiple screen displays on computers was invalid and rejected its requests including banning computer sales by Sotec Co. under...

Takara Bio to hand out detection kits for SARS-causing virus.
April 21, 2003... OSAKA, April 16 Kyodo Takara Bio Inc. said Wednesday it will hand out to medical and research institutions detection kits for the corona virus believed to cause severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The kit was developed by the...

Pocket Card agrees on capital, business tie-up with Itochu.(Brief Article)
April 21, 2003... TOKYO, April 16 Kyodo Pocket Card Co. said Wednesday it has reached a capital and business tie-up agreement with the Itochu group in a bid to overcome the difficult business climate in the credit card industry. As part of the...

Global PC shipments rise 5.5% in Jan.-March qtr.(Gartner Japan report)(Brief Article)
April 21, 2003... TOKYO, April 18 Kyodo Worldwide shipments of personal computers (PCs) rose 5.5% in the January-March quarter from the same period a year earlier to 34.47 million units, information technology research firm Gartner Japan Ltd. said Friday...

Makers to begin recycling of household PCs in Oct.(Brief Article)
April 21, 2003... TOKYO, April 18 Kyodo A group of electronic manufacturers on Friday announced procedures for households to recycle unwanted personal computers (PCs), scheduled to begin in October. The Japan Electronics and Information Technology...

Matsushita eyes e-book business, paper says.(Brief Article)
April 28, 2003... TOKYO, April 22 Kyodo Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. plans to enter the electronic book business this fall with a special handheld reader it has developed, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun business daily reported Tuesday. The 500-gram...

Softbank BB withdraws suit against board member of rival firm.(Brief Article)
April 28, 2003... TOKYO, April 22 Kyodo Softbank BB Corp. has withdrawn a 300 million yen damages suit it filed last year against a board member of rival broadband services provider eAccess Ltd. over his remarks about Softbank's services, company officials...

NTT DoCoMo unveils ultra-compact PC with video capability.(Sigmarion III )(Brief Article)
April 28, 2003... TOKYO, April 22 Kyodo NTT DoCoMo Inc. on Tuesday took the wraps off a 19-centimeter-wide ultra-compact personal computer (PC) capable of playing videos and sending and receiving text files wirelessly. The 455-gram,...

NTT to offer interactive video service based on fiber optics.(Brief Article)
April 28, 2003... TOKYO, April 22 Kyodo Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (NTT) plans to start offering interactive video communication services for corporate clients on the basis of its fiber optical cable network in the spring of 2005, NTT officials...

Domestic PC shipments down 8% in FY 2002 for 2nd straight year.(Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association report)(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)
April 28, 2003... TOKYO, April 23 Kyodo Shipments of personal computers (PCs) in Japan came to 9.84 million units in fiscal 2002 that ended March 31, down 8% from fiscal 2001 for the second straight yearly fall, an industry association said Wednesday. ...

2ND LD: Sony posts 654.5% surge in group net profit.(for the year ended Mar 31, 2003)
April 28, 2003... TOKYO, April 24 Kyodo (EDS: UPDATING WITH ANNOUNCEMENT OF EARNINGS OUTLOOK FOR FY 2003) Sony Corp. said Thursday its group net profit skyrocketed 654.5% to 115.52 billion yen for the year ended March 31, buoyed by record sales in the...

J-Phone to sell new high-definition camera-equipped handset.(Brief Article)
April 28, 2003... TOKYO, April 24 Kyodo J-Phone Co., a unit of British wireless giant Vodafone Group PLC, said Thursday it will release a new mobile handset equipped with a high-definition camera in late May. The new model, J-SH53 produced by Sharp...

Sharp, Loewe to jointly devise big-screen LCD TVs.(Brief Article)
April 28, 2003... OSAKA, April 24 Kyodo Sharp Corp. said Thursday it has agreed with German consumer electronics maker Loewe Opta GmbH to jointly develop and market liquid crystal display (LCD) television sets. The accord aims ''to shorten the time...

Toray, Cargill Dow sign licensing agreement for fiber products.(Brief Article)
April 28, 2003... TOKYO, April 25 Kyodo Toray Industries Inc., a leading synthetic fiber maker, and Cargill Dow LLC of the United States concluded a master agreement Friday for Toray to manufacture and sell fiber products developed by Cargill Dow, the...

Yahoo Japan reports 106% group net profit jump for FY 2002.(for fiscal 2002 ended Mar 31)(Brief Article)
April 28, 2003... TOKYO, April 25 Kyodo Yahoo Japan Corp. said Friday it posted a consolidated net profit of 12.10 billion yen in fiscal 2002 ended March 31, up 106.1% over the previous year. Japan's leading Internet portal, listed on the Jasdaq...

Procket Networks to sell discounted routers in Japan.(Brief Article)
April 28, 2003... TOKYO, April 25 Kyodo Procket Networks Inc. of the United States said Friday it will release high-performance routers at discount prices in Japan. Shipments are planned to begin in June, said the California-based developer of...

Sky Perfect to boost subscribers via fiber optics.(Brief Article)
April 28, 2003... TOKYO, April 25 Kyodo Sky Perfect Communications Inc. on Friday unveiled a medium-term management plan envisaging a sharp increase in subscribers to its communications satellite-based digital broadcasting service through the use of fiber...

Retired guide dogs in Hokkaido pampered with Jacuzzi, sun-bath.
April 28, 2003... SAPPORO, April 26 Kyodo Hokkaido guide dogs retired from active duty now have a new nursing home worthy of the most luxury nursing facilities for elderly humans. They sun-bathe, they relax in Jacuzzi, they have access to 24-hour care...