Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer, on a swing through Taiwan this month, made time to meet with Peter Chou, his counterpart at HTC Corp.On Chou’s agenda: the low screen resolution that prompted HTC to scrap plans for a bigger smartphone using Microsoft’s mobile software, a person familiar with the matter said this week.Ballmer needs to stay on Chou’s good side. HTC could help his company vie with Apple Inc. and Google Inc. in the 718- million-unit smartphone market, where, ac

Samsung has overtaken Nokia as the top mobile phone brand for 2012 and has opened up a decisive lead over Apple in the smartphone market, a research firm said Tuesday.This will mark the first time in 14 years that Finnish-based Nokia will not sit atop the global mobile phone business on an annual basis, according to IHS iSuppli.Samsung is expected to account for 29 percent of worldwide cellphone shipments, up from 24 percent in 2011, according to the IHS, which said Nokia's share dropped to 24 p

South Korea has suspended its imports of Brazilian beef, becoming the sixth country to do so over a two-year-old case of mad cow disease, authorities said here Tuesday.South Korea joined China, Japan, South Africa, Egypt and Saudi Arabia in halting Brazilian imports in connection with an atypical case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) that was detected in an animal that died in 2010 in the southern state of Parana, the agriculture ministry said.The six countries take in only 3.8 percent

Apple and Samsung, the world's top two smartphone makers, each scored a significant victory on different continents that will allow both to keep selling their products without legal interference this holiday season.A federal judge in San Jose late Monday rejected Apple Inc.'s demands to block U.S. sales of three smartphones made by Samsung Electronics Corp. The ruling came weeks after a jury found that Samsung infringed six Apple patents.Hours later, Samsung announced it was dropping its demands

   Samsung Electronics Co. will withdraw patent lawsuits seeking to block sales of Apple Inc. products as part of litigation over the use of its technology in European countries, the company said Tuesday.    "Samsung has decided to withdraw our injunction requests against Apple on the basis of our standard essential patents pending in European courts, in the interest of protecting consumer choice," the Suwon, South Korea-based company said in an e-mailed statement Tuesday. The decision on Europe

Apple Inc.’s request for a U.S. sales ban on more than two dozen devices manufactured by Samsung Electronics was rejected by a federal judge, reports from the U.S. said on Tuesday.According to U.S. district judge Lucy Koh, the iPhone maker failed to establish that consumer demand for Samsung products was driven by technology that Samsung stole from Apple.In her ruling, Koh said that “it wasn’t in the public interest to bar Samsung devices because the infringing elements constituted a limited par

POSCO Engineering & Construction Co., a construction arm of South Korea’s largest steelmaker POSCO, said Tuesday it has signed a $400 million deal to build a steel processing facility in Vietnam.Under the contract with Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corp., an affiliate of Vietnam’s Formosa Group, POSCO E&C will build a raw material handling facility in a steel complex, located in northern Ha Tinh Province, with an annual production capacity of 7 million tons of steel, said the company.Imported materials

South Korean stocks closed 0.51 percent higher on Tuesday on the back of foreigners’ buying, but the gain was capped due to remaining corporate uncertainties, analysts said. The local currency fell slightly against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 10.02 points to finish at 1,993.09. Trading volume was moderate at 446.9 million shares worth 4.55 trillion won ($4.24 billion) with gainers outnumbering losers 426 to 384.“We’ve seen steady foreign inflows in rece

Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co., South Korea’s leading power equipment maker, said Tuesday that it has clinched a 600 billion won ($559.5 million) deal to build two power plant boilers in India.Under the deal with NTPC Ltd., India’s state-run energy service company, Doosan Heavy’s local unit, Doosan Power Systems India Pvt., will supply two 800-megawatt steam generator boilers to be built for its Lara plant in the central part of India, said the company.Doosan Heavy already won a cont

Major foreign investment banks anticipate the Japanese currency will trade lower against the U.S. dollar in 2013, a report showed Tuesday, while local analysts are mixed about the impact of a weaker yen on the local stock market.Thirteen global investment banks expect the yen will change hands at 81.62 yen against the U.S. dollar in the first quarter of next year, down 1.8 percent from 80.16 yen suggested a month earlier, according to the report by the Korea Center for International Finance.The

One day ahead of Wednesday’s presidential election, the nation’s three major mobile carriers stepped up intensive mobile traffic control on Tuesday to prevent possible data traffic surges and cyberterrorism. KT, SK Telecom and LG Uplus expect that mobile traffic may be overloaded on election day, as the use of mobile social networking services will likely soar as people use smartphones to check out real-time ballot counts and election results.Their election protection plans include expanding the

Renault Samsung Motors may develop a midsize model for Renault Group, aiming for an early 2015 launch, a local news daily reported Tuesday. But the carmaker immediately said “nothing has yet been decided.”Under the “Renault Samsung mid-term plan,” which was cited by the Chosun Ilbo, the Korean unit of the France-based Renault will be responsible exclusively for developing the upper body of the new version of its flagship SM5 sedan. If realized, it would be the first time for Renault Samsung, whi