Favorites: November 2008

Friday 21 November 2008

Saturday 15 November 2008

2008 Victoria's Secret Models Part2

Friday 7 November 2008

MS eyes Korea`s online video market

Microsoft Corp. is set to challenge its rival Google in Korea`s online video market with the launch of its localized video service, possibly next month.Microsoft Korea has launched a Korean-language beta version of MSN Video, which includes a user-generated video service, which is similar to Google`s YouTube.The site also offers news, sports and entertainment videos in partnership with local media firms."We expect to begin a MSN Video service (in Korean) next month," Yoon Shin-cheol, a PR official for Microsoft Korea, said, adding that the timeframe for the launch has not been finalized.U.S.-based Microsoft Corp. offers local versions of MSN Video in major markets such as the United States, Europe and Japan, Yonhap news said.Google Korea launched YouTube`s Korean-language site in January 2008, tapping into the nation`s growing online video-sharing market. YouTube Korea has since achieved rapid growth, posting a 66 percent rise in the number of visitors per month in the first half, but still falling behind its local rival Pandora.

Luxury phones buck trend

Samsung Electronics has sold more than 100,000 Haptic 2 phones in four weeks, underlining the steady popularity of premium handsets despite an economic slowdown.The surging popularity of Haptic 2 contrasts with the fall in the total sales of handsets amid a slowing economy and reduced subsidies for handset purchasers.Samsung said yesterday that Haptic 2, priced at up to 890,000 won, sells at a faster pace than its hugely popular predecessor Haptic, priced at around 750,000 won. It took five weeks for Haptic to reach the 100,000-mark last year."Upgraded functions and designs that reflect customer needs and high brand recognition appear to be the secret to the popularity of Haptic 2," a Samsung official said.Samsung touts the new handset`s customer-friendly interfaces and features, such as vibration tones that can be designed by users, and up to 50 widget icons that allow users to custom-make their mobile screens.LG Electronics, Korea`s No. 2 handset vendor, also said its premium phones account for 25 percent of its total handset sales."We sell an average of 50,000 handsets per month and 200,000 of them are priced over 600,000 won," an LG Electronics spokesperson said yesterday.SK Telecom, the top mobile carrier, earlier said handsets priced at more than 600,000 won accounted for 21 percent of mobile phones sold last month, up from 2.3 percent in January this year.By contrast, the share of handsets priced at less than 400,000 won went down from 72.7 percent to 42.9 percent during the same period.Choi Moon-sun, an analyst at Korea Investment and Securities, said that the handset is considered a personal necessity in Korea and is less susceptible to economic cycles than other electronics goods.He added, "A handset has become a fashion item. When others buy it, one also wants to buy it." Defying the slowing economy, Samsung and LG have been vying to introduce high-margin premium handsets.The two companies plan to introduce 8 mega-pixel camera phones this year. Samsung will also sell its touch-screen smartphone Omnia in Korea in November.Handset sales stood at 1.5 million in August, falling below the 2 million mark. The fall came after mobile carriers slashed subsidies for new handset buyers to cut marketing costs, industry officials said.In September, sales slightly rose to 1.6 million. Samsung controls 49.6 percent of the market, LG Electronics 27.5 percent and Pantech 17 percent.

Samsung bets on new LCD TVs

A senior executive of Samsung Electronics said yesterday that next-generation liquid crystal display televisions (LCD TVs) will become a new growth engine for the LCD industry."The next-generation LCD TVs will open a new market for the LCD industry," Chang Won-kie, vice president of Samsung Electronics, said in a keynote speech at the FPD International, an exhibition on flat panel displays, in Yokohama, Japan."So far, the LCD business has undergone three turning points," he said, referring to the development of laptop LCDs, monitor LCDs and TV LCDs."Those new LCDs have driven the growth of the LCD industry," Chang said.He forecasted that the industry would face another turning point after 2010 when LCD sales were likely to stagnate.The executive said Samsung, the world`s top LCD maker, was considering building the 11th generation line to meet the rising demand for 40-inch and larger LCD panels.Using just one glass plate, the 11th-generation line is able to produce six 72-inch LCD panels, eight 62-inch panels, 15 46-inch panels and 18 40-inch panels, Samsung said.Under Samsung`s plan, its 40-inch and larger LCDs will account for 70 percent of its total displays, and shipments of its 60-inch and larger displays will reach 1 million in 2012.