Japan Computer Industry Scan articles from October 2002

Japan Computer Industry Scan archives from October 2002

Manufacturing overtime rises for 4th month in Aug.(in Japan)(Industry Overview)
October 7, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 30 Kyodo Overtime worked at Japanese manufacturers averaged 13.4 hours in August, up 11.0% from a year earlier for the fourth straight monthly rise, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said Monday in a preliminary...

Konami to make debut on NYSE.(Brief Article)
October 7, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 30 Kyodo Software developer Konami Co. said Monday it will make its debut on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) later in the day to increase the company's name recognition and expand its business operations in the United...

Sharp to start producing next generation liquid crystal.("system LC")(Brief Article)
October 7, 2002... OSAKA, Sept. 30 Kyodo Sharp Corp. plans to start production of next generation liquid crystal (LC), called ''system LC,'' at its Tenri plant in Nara Prefecture on Tuesday, company officials said Monday. System LC enables electronics...

NEC to combine 7seven units for communications system development.(Brief Article)
October 7, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 30 Kyodo NEC Corp. said Monday it will combine seven subsidiaries for development of communications systems in January to enhance its capacity of developing optical communications and other systems. The seven...

Fujitsu spins off printed circuit board business.(Fujitsu Interconnect Technologies Ltd. )(Brief Article)
October 7, 2002... TOKYO, Oct. 1 Kyodo Fujitsu Ltd. spun off its printed circuit board division into a new wholly owned subsidiary Tuesday with a view to raising sales of printed circuit boards to non-group firms, the company said. Capitalized at 10...

Softbank may face counter suit on broadband Internet service.(from eAccess Ltd.)(Brief Article)
October 7, 2002... TOKYO, Oct. 1 Kyodo A unit of Softbank Corp. may face a counter lawsuit in a case pitting it against an executive of one of its rival broadband Internet service companies over a new asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) service, the...

Toshiba develops multi-language speech synthesis middleware.(Brief Article)
October 7, 2002... TOKYO, Oct. 4 Kyodo Toshiba Corp. said Friday it has developed a speech synthesis middleware that covers nine languages, delivering text-to-speech with a clarity and natural intonation that imitates the human voice. The nine...

Toshiba says DVD players with Fujitsu HDDs may malfunction.(Toshiba RD-2000)(Brief Article)
October 7, 2002... TOKYO, Oct. 4 Kyodo Some of Toshiba Corp.'s DVD players equipped with hard-disk drives (HDDs) produced by Fujitsu Ltd. are liable to malfunction because of defective HDD parts, Toshiba officials said Friday. Last month, Fujitsu...

Fujitsu devises home robot controlled by cell phone.(Maron-1)
October 14, 2002... TOKYO, Oct. 7 Kyodo Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. said Monday it has developed a home-use robot that can be remotely controlled by mobile phone to run electronic appliances or monitor security. The ambulatory prototype robot is called...

LEAD: Fujitsu, Siemens to integrate PC operations.(Brief Article)
October 14, 2002... TOKYO, Oct. 8 Kyodo (EDS: UPDATING WITH FRESH INFO) Fujitsu Ltd. and Siemens AG of Germany will integrate their personal computer (PC) and server business operations, creating the world's fourth-largest PC group, Fujitsu officials...

Sony to take 6% stake in Palm's software division.(Brief Article)
October 14, 2002... NEW YORK, Oct. 8 Kyodo Sony Corp. has agreed to take a 6% stake in Palm Inc.'s software division for $20 million, the U.S. handheld computer maker said Tuesday. In addition to the minority equity investment in PalmSource, Sony...

NEC invests in Chinese software developer Sinocom.(Brief Article)
October 14, 2002... BEIJING, Oct. 9 Kyodo NEC Corp. said Wednesday the NEC group has invested about HK$12 million, or 190 million yen, in major Chinese software developer Sinocom Group to strengthen their business ties. NEC and NEC Soft Ltd. have equally...

Japan online ad market expected to top 328 bil. yen in 2006.(Brief Article)
October 14, 2002... TOKYO, Oct. 10 Kyodo Japan's online advertising market is expected to grow to 328.6 billion yen in 2006, accounting for 5.5% of the total domestic market for ads, an information technology market research concern said Thursday. The...

Toshiba set to become world's No. 1 notebook PC seller again.(Brief Article)
October 14, 2002... TOKYO, Oct. 11 Kyodo Toshiba Corp. expects to become the world's top seller of notebook personal computers (PCs) this year, a position it lost to Dell Computer Corp. of the United States last year, Toshiba Chairman Taizo Nishimuro said...

Sanyo Electric, Samsung develop Internet connection system.(Brief Article)
October 14, 2002... OSAKA, Oct. 11 Kyodo Sanyo Electric Co. and a Japanese unit of South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. have jointly developed an Internet connection system for stores, Sanyo Electric officials said. InterPia Co., Samsung's Tokyo-based...

Shipments of personal computers down 15.1% in Jan.-June.
October 21, 2002... TOKYO, Oct. 15 Kyodo Domestic shipments of personal computers in the January-June period this year declined 15.1% from a year before to 6,804,510 units, a research and consulting firm said Tuesday. However, shipments in the...

Toshiba to commercialize home-use server in 2005.(Brief Article)
October 21, 2002... TOKYO, Oct. 15 Kyodo Toshiba Corp. plans to begin commercial production in 2005 of a home-use server equipped with a micro processing unit (MPU) capable of controlling multiple home appliances to have them work together smoothly, company...

Toshiba to introduce fuel cell battery-operated notebook PC.(Brief Article)
October 21, 2002... TOKYO, Oct. 16 Kyodo Toshiba Corp. said Tuesday it plans to market a fuel cell battery-operated notebook computer by 2004 with an operation time of about 10 hours, three times longer than conventional batteries. The company says it...

Asia's largest digital expo kicks off in Tokyo.(Brief Article)
October 21, 2002... TOKYO, Oct. 16 Kyodo Some 500 Japanese and foreign electronics firms unveiled their new digital products, including personal computers (PC), cameras and mobile equipment, at a four-day exhibit that began Wednesday in Tokyo. Nikkei...

KDDI to start IP phone service for individual users.
October 21, 2002... TOKYO, Oct. 16 Kyodo KDDI Corp. said Wednesday it will start a trial service of Internet protocol (IP) phones for individual customers in December. A similar trial service for corporate users, which it launched in July, will go into...

Antivirus program market to grow 21.7% in 2001-2006.(according to Gartner Japan Ltd.)
October 21, 2002... TOKYO, Oct. 18 Kyodo The domestic antivirus software licensing market is expected to grow an average 21.7% annually from 2001 to hit 45.5 billion yen by 2006, according to an estimate released Friday by Gartner Japan Ltd. The research...

LEAD: Matsushita, Microsoft improve PC-devices linkage.
October 21, 2002... TOKYO, Oct. 18 Kyodo (EDS: UPDATING WITH FORMAL ANNOUNCEMENT) Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and Microsoft Corp. said Friday they have jointly developed a new technology that improves interoperability between personal computers...

NEC to foster young talent via BIGLOBE portal site.(Brief Article)
October 28, 2002... TOKYO, Oct. 23 Kyodo NEC Corp. said Wednesday it has launched a project on its BIGLOBE portal site to find and foster young talent in such fields as fashion, design and video production. Jiro Ishikawa, a magazine editor and...

LEAD: Yahoo Japan posts 108% rise in interim group net profit.
October 28, 2002... TOKYO, Oct. 23 Kyodo (EDS: ADDING INFO) Yahoo Japan Corp. said Wednesday it posted a group net profit of 4.98 billion yen in the April-September first half of the current business year, up 108.1% from a year earlier, due mainly to...

CORRECTED: Hacker intrudes into NTT DoCoMo's Web site.
October 28, 2002... TOKYO, Oct. 23 Kyodo An unidentified hacker broke into the Web site of NTT DoCoMo Inc., the top provider of Internet-capable mobile phone services, and tampered with part of its contents, the company said Wednesday. The tampered...

PC shipments skid 9.9% to 5.04 million units in April-Sept.(according to Multimedia Research Institute)
October 28, 2002... TOKYO, Oct. 24 Kyodo Domestic shipments of personal computers in the April-September period slipped 9.9% from a year before to 5.04 million units, market research agency Multimedia Research Institute said Thursday. On a value basis,...