Japan Computer Industry Scan articles from February 2004

Japan Computer Industry Scan archives from February 2004

Hitachi, Omron to integrate ATM operations.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... TOKYO, Jan. 26 Kyodo Hitachi Ltd. and Omron Corp. said Monday they will set up a joint venture to integrate their business operations concerning automated teller machines (ATMs) and other information technology equipment. The joint...

New computer worm found in U.S.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... TOKYO, Jan. 27 Kyodo A new computer worm that can churn out infected e-mails to addresses stored in infected computers is rapidly spreading in the United States, Network Associates Japan Co. said Tuesday. The worm, called Mydoom, was...

Electronics makers release PC peripherals for online gov't services.(NEC Infrontia Corp.)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... TOKYO, Jan. 27 Kyodo Electronics makers are introducing personal computer (PC) peripherals that can verify the user identity online, as local governments begin to launch full-fledged Internet-based administrative services. On...

U.S. recruiting firm MRI to enter Japanese market.(Management Recruiters International)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... TOKYO, Jan. 27 Kyodo Fuji Staff Inc., a midsize manpower agency, said Tuesday it has agreed on a business tie-up with Management Recruiters International Inc. (MRI) of the United States. The deal gives MRI, the world's leading provider...

50 firms back next-generation wireless PC communication formula.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... TOKYO, Jan. 27 Kyodo Texas Instruments Inc. (TI) said Tuesday it will form a corporate consortium by the end of March to promote a set of technological standards for the ultra wideband (UWB) wireless communication for such gadgets as...

Sharp's new Kameyama factory begins LCD TV shipments.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... TSU, Japan, Jan. 28 Kyodo Sharp Corp. said Wednesday its new factory in Kameyama, Mie Prefecture, has begun shipments of large-scale liquid crystal display (LCD) televisions. The new factory is the world's largest producing LCD TVs and...

Seiko Epson reports 8.5-fold net profit jump for April-Dec.(2003)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... TOKYO, Jan. 29 Kyodo Seiko Epson Corp. said Thursday it posted a group net profit of 33.73 billion yen in the nine months ended Dec. 31, up 749.9% over a year earlier. Seiko Epson attributes the sharp profit increase to the...

Businesses using mobile phones to improve services.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... TOKYO, Jan. 29 Kyodo Japanese businesses are increasingly using mobile phones as a tool for better services such as sending payment information to their customers and receiving payments from them. KDDI Corp. said Thursday its ''au''...

Japanese broadband subscribers up 1.7-fold in 2003.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... TOKYO, Jan. 30 Kyodo The number of subscribers to broadband Internet access services in Japan stood at 13.64 million at the end of December 2003, up about 1.7-fold from 7.80 million a year earlier, the government said Friday. Breaking...

Kyodo economic news summary -8-.(Brief Article)
February 9, 2004... TOKYO, Feb. 2 Kyodo ----- Sharp to review reward for inventors of innovative products OSAKA - Sharp Corp. President Hiroshi Saji said Monday the company will review its in-house reward system for inventions of innovative products....

Casio-Hitachi mobile phone joint venture to be launched April 1.(Brief Article)
February 9, 2004... TOKYO, Feb. 3 Kyodo Casio Computer Co. and Hitachi Ltd. said Tuesday they will launch a joint venture on April 1 after spinning off their mobile phone businesses in line with an agreement they announced last November. The...

Microsoft opens new Web site in face of impeding MyDoom attack.(Brief Article)
February 9, 2004... NEW YORK, Feb. 3 Kyodo Microsoft Corp. said Monday it has opened a new Web site to prepare for a possible attack on its home page by a spreading spam e-mail virus. Users can get product, security and other information at...

2ND LD: NEC to sell plasma-display unit to Pioneer.(Brief Article)
February 9, 2004... TOKYO, Feb. 3 Kyodo (EDS: UPDATING WITH PRESS CONFERENCE BY PRESIDENTS OF THE TWO FIRMS) Pioneer Corp. will acquire in fiscal 2004 all outstanding shares in NEC Plasma Display Corp., a producer of plasma-display panels wholly owned...

NTT West to test high-speed calculation using home PC network.(Brief Article)
February 9, 2004... OSAKA, Feb. 3 Kyodo NTT West Corp. said Tuesday it will begin an experiment in mid-February which will harness the untapped power of home personal computers (PCs) to carry out high-speed computing for genetic studies. NTT West will...

14 firms to create forum to make standard for Internet appliances.(Brief Article)
February 9, 2004... TOKYO, Feb. 4 Kyodo A group of 14 electronics and telecom companies, including Sony Corp. and NTT Communications Corp., will set up a forum to create a single industry standard for Internet-capable digital home appliances, industry...

Sony to stop selling AIBO robots at retailers.(Brief Article)
February 9, 2004... TOKYO, Feb. 4 Kyodo Sony Marketing (Japan) Inc. will only accept orders for AIBO robot pets through the Internet and by telephone starting in April, after it terminates store sales at the end of March, company officials said Wednesday....

Sony's domestic PC market share down 3.9 points in 2003.(Brief Article)
February 9, 2004... TOKYO, Feb. 5 Kyodo Sony Corp. saw its share of the domestic market for personal computers (PCs) decline substantially in 2003 because makers of low-priced machines, such as Dell Inc. of the United State, ate into it, according to domestic...

Mitsubishi Heavy to launch anti-virus mask Feb. 14 in Japan.
February 9, 2004... TOKYO, Feb. 6 Kyodo Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. said Friday it will launch on Feb. 14 in Japan a mask that it believes can inactivate 80% of viruses, including SARS and bird flu virus, with its special enzyme-woven fabric. ...

Microsoft, Disney join forces for digital home entertainment.(Brief Article)
February 17, 2004... NEW YORK, Feb. 9 Kyodo Microsoft Corp. and Walt Disney Co. on Monday announced a multiyear agreement to cooperate on long-term digital media initiatives to improve the quality of digital contents for the users of digital television sets...

14 Japanese firms to set single standard for Net appliances.(Brief Article)
February 17, 2004... TOKYO, Feb. 10 Kyodo Fourteen Japanese electric appliance makers and Internet service providers, including Sony Corp. and Nifty Corp., set up a forum Tuesday to create a single industry standard for Internet-capable digital appliances,...

Softbank eyeing 6 mil. subscribers to ADSL service by Sept. 2005.(Brief Article)
February 17, 2004... TOKYO, Feb. 12 Kyodo Softbank Corp. will seek to win more than 6 million subscribers to its Yahoo! BB asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) high-speed Internet access service by September 2005 as a new target for the fast-growing...

Sony, Mitsubishi create environment-friendly vegetable-based plastic.(Brief Article)
February 17, 2004... TOKYO, Feb. 12 Kyodo Sony Corp. said Thursday it has developed an environment-friendly biodegradable plastic for use in its electronics products by teaming up with Mitsubishi Plastics Inc. Sony will first apply the new...

Source code for Windows 2000 operating system leaked, posted on Web.
February 17, 2004... TOKYO, Feb. 13 Kyodo Microsoft Co., the Japanese arm of Microsoft Corp., said Friday the source code for its Windows 2000 operating systems (OS) was leaked and posted on certain Web sites. A source code constitutes a key part of an...

British forwarder Exel to take over Fujitsu Logistics.(Brief Article)
February 17, 2004... TOKYO, Feb. 16 Kyodo Exel Japan Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of British forwarder Exel PLC, will purchase Fujitsu Ltd.'s entire stake in Fujitsu Logistics Ltd., the two parent companies said Monday. The deal will enable computer...

Sega, Hyundai Digital tie up on online car-racing game for PC users.(Brief Article)
February 17, 2004... TOKYO, Feb. 16 Kyodo Amusement equipment maker Sega Corp. said Monday it has signed a business tie-up agreement with Hyundai Digital Entertainment Co. of South Korea to jointly develop and globally market an online car-racing game for...

Sammy chief Satomi becomes Sega chairman.(Brief Article)
February 23, 2004... TOKYO, Feb. 17 Kyodo Sega Corp. said Tuesday Hajime Satomi, president of Sammy Corp., has become its chairman with the right to represent it, effective the same day. Sammy, a major producer of ''pachinko'' slot machines, became the...

Digital subscriber lines most popular means for Net access in Japan.(Brief Article)
February 23, 2004... TOKYO, Feb. 20 Kyodo The greatest number of respondents to a government survey released Friday accessed the Internet using digital subscriber line services such as asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) services in 2003 for the first...

LEAD: NTT DoCoMo to offer unlimited flat-rate data communications.(Brief Article)
February 23, 2004... TOKYO, Feb. 21 Kyodo NTT DoCoMo Inc. is considering introducing a monthly flat-rate fee for unlimited cell phone data transmissions as early as the summer, sources familiar with the plan said Saturday. The new service will first be...

NEC to launch remote trouble-shooting services.(Brief Article)
February 23, 2004... TOKYO, Feb. 21 Kyodo NEC Corp. will launch remote services in May to fix clients' personal computer (PC) problems using broadband lines, company officials said Saturday. NEC staff will help fix problems with clients' PCs, linked to...