Japan Computer Industry Scan articles from July 2007

Japan Computer Industry Scan archives from July 2007

2ND LD: Casio, NTT DoCoMo to form joint venture for digital payment services.
July 9, 2007... TOKYO, July 3 Kyodo (EDS: ADDING 7TH, LAST 2 GRAFS) Casio Computer Co. and NTT DoCoMo Inc. said Tuesday they will form a joint venture next week aimed at providing digital payment services. The joint venture, capitalized at 750...

Sales of game consoles, software set 1st-half high.
July 9, 2007... TOKYO, July 6 Kyodo Combined sales of video game consoles and software in Japan surged 25.8 percent in the first half of 2007 from a year before to a record 318.96 billion yen thanks to strong demand for new machines released for the...

Maruzen plans online shop based on Amazon Japan know-how.
July 16, 2007... TOKYO, June 26 Kyodo Maruzen Co., a retailer dealing mainly in books, said Tuesday it will operate its online store based on the Amazon Japan K.K.'s Internet system from late August. Shoppers will be able to purchase via Maruzen books...

Sony slashes PlayStation 3 price by $100 in U.S.
July 16, 2007... TOKYO, July 9 Kyodo Sony Corp. said Monday its U.S. game unit Sony Computer Entertainment America has reduced the price of its PlayStation 3 game console by $100 in the United States. The 60-gigabyte version of the PS3 is now priced at...

Pasona cuts group net profit estimate by 6% for 12 months through May.(Financial report)
July 16, 2007... TOKYO, July 11 Kyodo Major temporary staffing service company Pasona Inc. said Wednesday it has lowered its group net profit estimate for the business year ended May 31 by 6.3 percent to 4.19 billion yen. The downward revision is due...

Sony Computer Entertainment chief eyes big cut in operating loss.
July 16, 2007... SANTA MONICA, California, July 12 Kyodo Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. President Kazuo Hirai vowed Wednesday to substantially reduce the firm's losses on game machine operations through cost-cutting measures in the current fiscal year to...

NEC to repair certain laptop computers free of charge.
July 16, 2007... TOKYO, July 13 Kyodo NEC Corp. said Friday it is repairing free of charge some 54,500 laptop personal computers in three types because they could generate abnormal heat. The Lavie M, Lavie G Type M and VersaPro were shipped between...

3 video game titans slug it out with distinct sales strategies.
July 16, 2007... SANTA MONICA, United States, July 13 Kyodo The three-way battle continues to rage in the North American home-use video game market among Microsoft Corp., Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. and Nintendo Co. At the moment, Nintendo is far...

Sony to launch new PSP game player for Japan market on Sept. 20.
July 23, 2007... TOKYO, July 17 Kyodo Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. said Tuesday it will launch a new PlayStation Portable handheld game player for the Japanese market on Sept. 20, hoping to sharpen its competitive edge against Nintendo Co.'s popular...

Total sales of PlayStation 3 in Japan top 1 mil., lagging behind Wii.
July 23, 2007... TOKYO, July 18 Kyodo Cumulative sales of the PlayStation 3 game console in Japan have topped 1 million but still lag far behind those of the Wii console, according to a survey released by a game magazine publisher Wednesday. As of last...

Elpida Memory to found wholly owned unit in Netherlands.
July 30, 2007... TOKYO, July 26 Kyodo Elpida Memory Inc., Japan's leading maker of dynamic random access memory chips, said Thursday it will set up a wholly owned subsidiary in the Netherlands to oversee and support its operations in Asia and Europe. ...

Softbank to start fiber-optic Net phone service.
July 30, 2007... TOKYO, July 29 Kyodo Softbank Corp. will start an Internet telephone service using the fiber-optic line networks of other carriers in August, company officials said Sunday. The firm will forgo fees on calls between subscribers using...