Japan Computer Industry Scan articles from September 2002

Japan Computer Industry Scan archives from September 2002

PC sales mark 2nd-biggest fall in July.
September 2, 2002... TOKYO, Aug. 26 Kyodo (EDS: ADDING MORE INFO) Sales of personal computers (PCs) in July declined 32.2% from a year earlier, the second-biggest fall on record, despite price-cut sales promotions by manufacturers, the Nippon Electronic...

Softbank sues eAccess exec for allegedly obstructing business.
September 2, 2002... TOKYO, Aug. 27 Kyodo Softbank Corp. President Masayoshi Son filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Yoshihiro Obata, an executive of its competitor eAccess Ltd., for allegedly obstructing the Softbank group's Yahoo! BB high-speed Internet access...

Sony, Microsoft to cut game console prices by 17% in Europe.(Sony's PlayStation-2 and Microsoft's Xbox will now sell at about 249 euros)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... NEW YORK, Aug. 28 Kyodo Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. and Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday announced fresh price cuts for their game consoles in Europe, saying they would reduce the suggested retail price by 17% effective Friday. ...

Softbank sells part of stake in Yahoo!, UTStarcom.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... TOKYO, Aug. 29 Kyodo (EDS: UPDATING WITH SOFTBANK'S NEW ANNOUNCEMENT ON SELL-OFF OF YAHOO! SHARES) Internet business investor Softbank Corp. said Thursday it has sold a part of its stake in Net portal Yahoo! Inc. and wireless...

Softbank again sells off Yahoo!, UTStarcom shares.
September 2, 2002... TOKYO, Aug. 30 Kyodo Internet business investor Softbank Corp. said Friday it has sold a part of its stakes in Net portal Yahoo! Inc. and wireless equipment maker UTStarcom Inc. in the second sell-off of its stockholdings in the two...

S. Korean anti-computer virus maker Ahnlab to enter Japan.
September 9, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 3 Kyodo South Korea's biggest anti-computer virus software maker Ahnlab Inc. said Tuesday it will break into the Japanese market on the strength of its V3 Virus Block software and a new type of defense service for corporate...

Nintendo, Bandai tie up to boost game console, software sales.
September 9, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 4 Kyodo Video game console maker Nintendo Co. and toy and software maker Bandai Co. said Wednesday they have tied up in a bid to bolster sales of Nintendo's ''Game Cube'' console and an upcoming series of Bandai game...

Computer printer shipments down 8.2% in Jan.-June.
September 9, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 5 Kyodo Shipments of computer printers in Japan fell 8.2% in the January-June period from a year earlier to 3.26 million units, information technology (IT) research firm Gartner Japan Ltd. said Thursday. The value in the...

April-June server shipment shows record-low growth.
September 9, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 5 Kyodo The shipment of computer servers in the April-June quarter in Japan registered record-low growth in both volume and value terms amid prolonged repercussions to the collapse of the Net bubble, market research agency...

Illegal Net music swap, CD copying dent...
September 9, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 4 Kyodo (EDS: ADDING BACKGROUND INFO, AVEX PRESIDENT'S COMMENTS) A growing number of Net-based music file exchanges and the copying of CD music albums onto CD-R disks by pop music buffs have hammered the sales and...

Sony, Philips tie up in near-field radio communications field.
September 9, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 5 Kyodo Sony Corp. of Japan and Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands said Thursday they will jointly develop a new near-field radio-frequency communications technology that enables short-range communications networks...

Planet's PDA enables CD shoppers to 'browse' music in stores.(Product Announcement)
September 9, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 5 Kyodo Net venture business Planet Co. said Thursday it has developed a personal digital assistant (PDA) that enables customers to ''browse through'' or listen to the contents of music CDs simply by having the PDA sensor...

Sony to unveil PCs with ability to record TV programs.
September 16, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 9 Kyodo Sony Corp. said Monday it will shortly take the wraps off 31 models of personal computers, some of them featuring the ability to record hundreds of hours of TV programs on hard disks. Sony will put the new...

Fuji Photo Film to start fiber-optic business.(develops plastic optical fiber)
September 16, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 10 Kyodo Fuji Photo Film Co. has developed a plastic optical fiber enabling households to set up fiber-optic networks for broadband communications more cheaply than with conventional fiber-optic cables, company officials...

Subscribers to DSL total 3.9 mil.(Brief Article)
September 16, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 10 Kyodo The number of subscribers to digital subscriber line (DSL) high-speed Internet access services stood at 3,915,740 at the end of August, the telecommunications ministry said Tuesday. The figure was up 305,000 from...

Charges for Internet access lowest in Tokyo: ministry.(Brief Article)
September 16, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 11 Kyodo Charges for 24-hour Internet access services in Tokyo are the lowest among major cities in the world, reflecting intensified competition in the market for asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) high-speed access...

Fujitsu to post extra profit of 26 bil. yen from share sale.(of Fanuc Ltd.)(Brief Article)
September 16, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 11 Kyodo Fujitsu Ltd. said Wednesday it will book an extraordinary profit of 26 billion yen on its consolidated results for the first half of fiscal 2002 as it sold part of its equity stake in Fanuc Ltd. at the end of August....

Sept. 11 computer virus warning issued.(by Trend Micro Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 16, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 11 Kyodo Tokyo-based computer virus buster company Trend Micro Inc. warned Wednesday of a virus disguised as information related to the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. The ''Chet'' virus is sent by an e-mail...

Fujitsu briefs labor union on plan to cut extra 3,000 jobs.
September 16, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 12 Kyodo Fujitsu Ltd. has informed its labor union of a plan to eliminate an additional 3,000 jobs in fiscal 2002 from its workforce based on an incentive program under which it will pay special allowances to those who...

Fujitsu recalling 10 million hard-disk drives.
September 16, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 13 Kyodo Fujitsu Ltd., Japan's largest computer manufacturer, said Friday some of 10 million hard-disk drives (HDDs) produced by the company from September 2000 to September 2001 had defective parts and all the products...

FTC OKs integration of IBM, Hitachi HDD operations.(Brief Article)
September 16, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 13 Kyodo The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) on Friday approved the proposed integration of the hard-disk drive (HDD) operations of Hitachi Ltd. and International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) of the United States, saying it...

Noritsu Koki, Eastman to ink joint development accord.(will jointly develop mini-laboratory photo-processing systems)(Brief Article)
September 23, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 17 Kyodo Noritsu Koki Co. said Tuesday it will jointly develop mini-laboratory photo-processing systems with Eastman Kodak Co. of the United States. The two companies will sign an agreement Sept. 25, Noritsu said. ...

Authentic develops new speaker built into LCD.(Brief Article)
September 23, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 17 Kyodo Authentic Ltd. said Tuesday it has developed what it says is the world's first-ever speaker built into a liquid crystal display (LCD). The new speaker, developed in cooperation with NEC AccessTechnica Ltd., a...

Japan ranks 20th in mobile Internet use.
September 23, 2002... GENEVA, Sept. 17 Kyodo Japan lags behind leading developed nations in use of the Internet from mobile platforms, ranking 20th in the Mobile/Internet Index, according to the first survey of this kind released by the International...

Defects found in Pioneer DVD recorders, writers.
September 23, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 17 Kyodo Pioneer Corp. said Tuesday it has found defects in one model of DVD recorder and three models of DVD recordable and rewritable (R/RW) writers, and announced measures to deal with the problem. A similar...

Web sites of Sanyo Electric, Fuji Photo hacked into.(Brief Article)
September 23, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 18 Kyodo Sanyo Electric Co. and Fuji Photo Film Co. announced Wednesday that they have closed parts of their Web sites as a result of hacking. Sanyo said it closed a section on its site Monday after an official found...

Video game show kicks off in Tokyo suburb.(Tokyo Game Show 2002)
September 23, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 20 Kyodo Japan's biggest video game software show kicked off Friday at the Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba, a Tokyo suburb city, with 85 domestic and overseas software companies exhibiting 500 new products. The...

Private organ set up to foster e-business professionals.(Brief Article)
September 23, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 20 Kyodo Iwao Nakatani, president of Tama University, and more than 20 information technology-related companies have jointly founded an organ to produce professionals well versed in electronic business, founders said...

NEC ups profit forecast, revises down sales estimate.(NEC now expects a net profit of 1 billion yen)(Brief Article)
September 23, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 20 Kyodo NEC Corp. said Friday it has revised upward its group profit forecast for the fiscal first half to Sept. 30 and the full year to next March 31, while revising downward its sales projection. Behind the better...

Japan seeks Net translation of Japanese, Chinese, Korean.
September 23, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 20 Kyodo Japan will ask China and South Korea to jointly develop Internet technology enabling automatic translation of Japanese, Chinese and Korean into one another, telecommunications ministry officials said Friday. ...

14% of e-mail ads sent to mobile phones found illegal.
September 30, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 24 Kyodo Roughly 14% of bulk e-mail ads sent to mobile phones are illegal, failing to indicate they are unsolicited ads as legally required, according to a survey by NTT DoCoMo Inc.. The survey was conducted in August...

Nintendo sells stake in game developer Rare to Microsoft.(Brief Article)
September 30, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 24 Kyodo Nintendo Co. said Tuesday it has sold its 49% stake in U.S. video game developer Rare Ltd. to U.S. software giant Microsoft Corp. for an undisclosed sum. The Japanese video game company owned 37.8% of Rare...

FEATURE: More elderly people attracted to the Internet.(in Japan)
September 30, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 24 Kyodo With more than 40% of Japanese now using the Internet, an increasing number of elderly people have found a new way of enjoying life by opening their own homepages or establishing ''seniors' Net clubs.'' While...

Sega to develop video game with 'Jurassic Park' author.(Michael Crichton)(Brief Article)
September 30, 2002... NEW YORK, Sept. 24 Kyodo Sega of America Inc., a branch of Japan's Sega Corp., said Monday it has agreed with Michael Crichton, author of ''Jurassic Park,'' to work together to create a new video game. The game software will be...

Matsushita, NEC tie up in Internet access service.(Brief Article)
September 30, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 24 Kyodo Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and NEC Corp. said Tuesday they have agreed to tie up in Internet access services. Under the agreement, subscribers to Matsushita's Panasonic hi-ho access service will be able...

PC industry to unify disclosure criteria for problems.(Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association's plans)(Brief Article)
September 30, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 25 Kyodo The Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA) said Wednesday it will work out unified disclosure criteria that personal computer (PC) makers should follow when they announce...

Mitsubishi Electric devises IP cell phone technology.(Brief Article)
September 30, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 25 Kyodo Mitsubishi Electric Corp. said Wednesday it has developed an Internet protocol (IP)-based mobile phone technology combining wireless local area network (LAN) communications and personal handy-phone system (PHS)...

Forum on Java technology begins in Yokohama.
September 30, 2002... YOKOHAMA, Sept. 25 Kyodo A three-day conference on Java, a programming language developed by Sun Microsystems Inc. of the United States, began Wednesday in the city of Yokohama south of Tokyo. Most of the participants at the 2002...

Trend Micro finds Web site glitch.
September 30, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 25 Kyodo (EDS: CLARIFYING INFO THROUGHOUT WITH CORRECTED EXPLANATIONS BY COMPANY OFFICIALS) The Web site of antivirus software maker Trend Micro Inc. developed an encryption glitch that could have led to online shoppers...

Matsushita, Toshiba to consolidate CRT business.
September 30, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 26 Kyodo (EDS: ADDING INFO FOLLOWING PRESS CONFERENCE) Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and Toshiba Corp. said Thursday they will consolidate their cathode ray tube (CRT) business into a single joint venture by March...

Pasona to start dispatching Chinese IT engineers to Japan.
September 30, 2002... TOKYO, Sept. 26 Kyodo Pasona Inc., a leading staffing agency, plans to dispatch Chinese information-technology (IT) engineers to Japanese electronics firms suffering a dearth of engineers in what will be the first major recruiting...