Japan Computer Industry Scan articles from January 2005

Japan Computer Industry Scan archives from January 2005

Rakuten, Matsui to launch commodity futures brokerage venture.(Matsui Securities Company Ltd.)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2005... TOKYO, Jan. 4 Kyodo Online shopping mall operator Rakuten Inc. and major online brokerage house Matsui Securities Co. will launch a joint commodity futures brokerage venture, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported Tuesday. The business...

IBM Japan director Mukai to lead Japan unit of Lenovo.(Hiroyuki Mukai appointed at Lenovo Group Ltd.)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2005... TOKYO, Jan. 4 Kyodo IBM Japan Ltd. said Tuesday that Hiroyuki Mukai, one of its directors, will assume the post of presidency at the Japanese unit of a new company which top Chinese computer maker Lenovo Group Ltd. will set up in New...

Matsushita, M'bishi, Sony to form power line-based network alliance.(Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Ltd., Mitsubishi Electric Corp.)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2005... OSAKA, Jan. 6 Kyodo Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and Sony Corp. said Thursday they have agreed to form an alliance for global diffusion of common specifications for high-speed power line communications....

Matsushita, HP to adopt each other's DVD recording formats.(Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Co., digital video disks)(Brief Article)
January 10, 2005... OSAKA, Jan. 6 Kyodo Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and U.S. computer maker Hewlett-Packard Co. said Thursday they will jointly develop digital electronic devices that are friendly to consumers. As the first step under the tie-up...

Computer virus reports tripled in Japan last year.(Brief Article)
January 10, 2005... TOKYO, Jan. 6 Kyodo The number of computer virus infection or detection reports in Japan last year was up almost three-fold from 2003 to a record 52,151, the government said Thursday. The increase, the first in three years, was...

eAccess plans to start mobile phone service in 2006.(Brief Article)
January 10, 2005... TOKYO, Jan. 6 Kyodo Broadband Internet service company eAccess Ltd. said Thursday it plans to start a mobile phone service next year and offer it at about half the price of existing services by other mobile phone carriers. The company...

3 U.S. film studios to release 89 films on HD DVD in late 2005.(high definition digital video )(Brief Article)
January 10, 2005... LAS VEGAS, Nevada, Jan. 7 Kyodo Warner Bros. Studios and two other major U.S. film studios said Thursday they will release a total of 89 films on HD DVD, a new high-definition digital video format developed by Toshiba Corp. and NEC Corp.,...

Rakuten to expand Internet services to search for certified experts.(Brief Article)
January 10, 2005... TOKYO, Dec. 29 Kyodo Online shopping mall operator Rakuten Inc. said Wednesday it will expand its Internet services to search for and make a contract with certified tax accountants to include other experts early next year, expecting...

LEAD: 26 firms to work on global high-speed cellphone standard.(Brief Article)
January 10, 2005... TOKYO, Dec. 31 Kyodo (EDS: ADDING MORE INFO) Twenty-six Asian, U.S. and European cellphone service companies and data communications equipment manufacturers have agreed to develop a unified standard for speedier next-generation...

IBM gives free access to 500 patents.(Brief Article)
January 18, 2005... NEW YORK, Jan. 11 Kyodo International Business Machines Corp. said Tuesday it has promised open access to key innovations covered by 500 IBM software patents to individuals and groups working on open source software, like the Linux...

Matsushita, Olympus to jointly develop digital SLR cameras.(Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Ltd., single-lens reflex)(Brief Article)
January 18, 2005... TOKYO, Jan. 13 Kyodo Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and Olympus Corp. said Thursday they will jointly develop digital single-lens reflex cameras amid increasingly fierce global competition. Matsushita, known for its Panasonic...

Rakuten, NTT unit offer services featuring S. Korean actor Bae.
January 18, 2005... TOKYO, Jan. 14 Kyodo Online shopping mall operator Rakuten Inc. and broadband service provider NTT-Resonant Inc. have launched new services featuring popular South Korean actor Bae Yong Joon to attract his middle-aged and senior female...

LEAD: Softbank offers to buy 3 Tu-Ka units for 200 bil. yen.
January 18, 2005... TOKYO, Jan. 15 Kyodo (EDS: RECASTING, ADDING MORE INFO) Internet investor Softbank Corp. has offered to acquire three Tu-Ka mobile service firms from KDDI Corp. for an estimated 200 billion yen, industry sources said Saturday. ...

Yamaha starts offering multimedia content in China.(Yamaha Corp's video clip service fro mobile phones)(Brief Article)
January 18, 2005... TOKYO, Jan. 17 Kyodo Yamaha Corp. said Monday it has started a new service in China providing multimedia content such as video with music through mobile phones. Yamaha, one of the world's largest musical instrument makers, said the...

Sega Toys to launch robot dog as musical pet.(Brief Article)
January 24, 2005... TOKYO, Jan. 19 Kyodo Sega Toys Co. said Wednesday it will launch a pet robot dog on April 1 that can compose, play and enjoy music along with its owner. A number of switches on the nose, head and other points of the ''idog'' robot...

Oricon buys South Korean video distributor for 275 mil. yen.(Cine Welcome Co.)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2005... TOKYO, Jan. 19 Kyodo Music information provider Oricon Inc. said Wednesday it has purchased a 58.6 percent equity stake in Seoul-based video distributor Cine Welcome Co. for about 275 million yen. Oricon hopes the acquisition would...

Fuji Photo buys into British ink manufacturer.(Fuji Photo Film Company Ltd., Sericol Group Ltd.)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2005... TOKYO, Jan. 19 Kyodo Fuji Photo Film Co. said Wednesday it will acquire British ink manufacturer Sericol Group Ltd. for about 123 million pounds (some 24.5 billion yen) with an eye on strengthening its printing business. A leading...

Global PC shipments up 11.8% in 2004, rising for 3rd straight year.(Global Computer Corp.)(Brief Article)
January 24, 2005... TOKYO, Jan. 20 Kyodo Global shipments of personal computers in 2004 expanded 11.8 percent from the previous year to 188.98 million units, gaining for the third straight year, information technology market research company Gartner Japan...

ADVISORY - CORRECTION.(Correction Notice)
January 24, 2005... TOKYO, Jan. 21 Kyodo In the story headlined ''Caucasian employees sue Marubeni for bias, seek $65 mil. in damages,'' please note following CORRECTION. At headline, please read...Caucasian employees sue Marubeni for bias, seek $65...

BizTrend: Digital photo booths spreading rapidly.
January 24, 2005... TOKYO, Jan. 21 Kyodo Coin-operated digital photo booths that offer high-quality passport and other photos are spreading rapidly in Japan. According to an industry estimate, about 70 percent of the 12,000 to 13,000 photo booths in...

Nihon Unisys, Softbank tie up in patent consulting business: report.(Brief Article)
January 24, 2005... TOKYO, Jan. 24 Kyodo Nihon Unisys Ltd. and Softbank Corp. have joined hands to provide consulting services to companies on intellectual property issues such as those involving patents, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported Monday. Nihon...

Elpida Memory revises earnings projection downward.(Brief Article)
January 24, 2005... TOKYO, Jan. 24 Kyodo Computer chip maker Elpida Memory Inc. said Monday it has revised downward its group net profit forecast for the current fiscal year to a range of 12 billion to 16 billion yen from 21.6 billion yen as forecast last...

Onkyo to develop Net-capable audiovisual products with Intel fund.(Brief Article)
January 24, 2005... OSAKA, Jan. 24 Kyodo Audio equipment maker Onkyo Corp. said Monday it will obtain some 760 million yen from major U.S. semiconductor maker Intel Corp. to develop audiovisual products capable of accessing the Internet. Onkyo will...

Subscribers to fiber optics-based services top 2 million in Japan.(Brief Article)
January 31, 2005... TOKYO, Jan. 26 Kyodo The number of subscribers to fiber optics telecommunication services in Japan topped 2 million at the end of last September, according to data released Wednesday by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications....

NTT East to launch fiber-optic IP phone services on Feb. 1.(Brief Article)
January 31, 2005... TOKYO, Jan. 26 Kyodo NTT East Corp. said Wednesday it will start offering full-fledged Internet protocol telephone services using fiber optics in Tokyo, Kanagawa and Chiba prefectures on Feb. 1. The fixed-line regional telephone...

Lenovo shareholders OK purchase of IBM's PC division.(Lenovo Group Ltd.)(Brief Article)
January 31, 2005... HONG KONG, Jan. 27 Kyodo Shareholders of Lenovo Group, China's top computer maker, approved Thursday the company's purchase of International Business Machines Corp.'s personal computer business, a deal that would make Lenovo the world's...

Sojitz to transfer commodity brokerage business to .Commodity.(acquisition)(Brief Article)
January 31, 2005... TOKYO, Jan. 27 Kyodo Sojitz Corp. said Thursday it will transfer its commodity trading brokerage business at the Tokyo Commodity Exchange to .Commodity (Dot-Commodity) Inc., a new trader founded by Rakuten Inc. and Matsui Securities Co....

ATTN SUBSCRIBERS: photo advisory.
January 31, 2005... TOKYO, Jan. 28 Kyodo A Scope feature story on Van Gogh, headlined, ''Museum gets new van Gogh drawing,'' and sent earlier, is accompanied by one photo, which is available via e-mail. Call +81-3-6252-8318 (feature editor) or...

New computer virus 'bot' spreading.(Brief Article)
January 31, 2005... TOKYO, Jan. 29 Kyodo A new computer virus called ''bot,'' which creates networks of infected computers to mount attacks on specific websites, is spreading, National Police Agency officials said Saturday. The NPA has been monitoring...