Samsung Group said Thursday Samsung Electronics vice chairman and heir apparent Lee Jae-yong has repurchased treasury shares of Samsung C&T and Samsung Engineering, worth a combined 230 billion won ($185 million). Lee acquired 1.3 million shares -- about 200 billion won -- of Samsung C&T, the de facto holding company, from Samsung SDI, the battery-making unit. Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong“The buyback aims to minimize the market impact, including any damage to minority sharehold

Strada Worldwide is a smart media solutions company that merges advertisements with information and communications technology. It creates advertisements using virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) devices and installs them at airports, movie theaters and shopping malls. In December 2015, visitors were captivated by a VR “play zone” that was set up at the Pangyo headquarters of the Gyeonggi Center for Creative Economy & Innovation, a sponsor of Strada Worldwide. 　VR is a technology that

KENYA DONATION – LG Electronics senior vice president Lee Chung-hak (left) talks with a girl who was given an artificial leg from the Korean tech giant in Nairobi, Kenya, Wednesday. Over the past 10 years, LG has donated prosthetic limbs for people who suffered injuries during wars in the African country. (LG Electronics)

Last public hearing held before regulator’s final verdict for SKT’s M&A deal

Korean telecom operator KT is accelerating its efforts to become a dominant global player by rolling out advanced network technologies and seeking partnerships with overseas firms, its chief executive said Tuesday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.“Becoming the global No.1 is not a far-fetched dream, but a goal that we must achieve in the future,” KT CEO Hwang Chang-gyu said in a press meeting at the trade fair, adding that the Korean firm also aims to introduce its vision of “GiG

Mobile messenger operator Kakao on Wednesday launched navigation app KakaoNavi, which allows users to share locations, destinations, and travel time with their friends on the KakaoTalk messenger. The new app is the upgraded version of Kimgisa that the Korean IT giant acquired for 62.6 billion won ($50 million) last year. (Kakao)

SK Telecom CEO Jang Dong-hyun, who is participating in the Mobile World Congress underway in Barcelona, said teaming up with global network operators will be a key strategy for the firm to make inroads in global markets.The chief of South Korea’s largest telecom operator is meeting with chiefs of global device makers and telecom firms at the trade show. SK Telecom CEO Jang Dong-hyun (left) and Deutsche Telekom CEO Timotheus Hoettges pose at the press meeting in Barcelona on Tuesday. (SKT)Network

Mobile chiefs of Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics made their debuts at Mobile World Congress, the mobile industry’s largest gathering held in Barcelona, Spain, this week. LG has usually launched its new phones after MWC but this year the company went head-on with its local rival Samsung. As much as their latest phones, presentations made by the mobile chiefs of both companies grabbed a lot of attention from industry people and journalists. Samsung’s mobile chief Koh Dong-jin, 55, is an eng

LG Electronics and Intel have teamed up to develop 5G telecommunications technology for next-generation cars.They announced their alliance at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, on Monday.  Telematics, the combination of wireless telecommunications and GPS technologies, aims to improve driving convenience and road safety for connected cars, including futuristic self-driving cars. LG, which has made a big push in automotive components, is already a market leader in telematics with a ne

Anticipation is growing as the showdown between top Korean Go player Lee Se-dol and artificial intelligence software AlphaGo will take place in Seoul early next month. The Go match, consisting of five games scheduled between March 9 and 15, has been garnering attention from the public, enthusiasts of the game and the technology sector.Jung Jae-seung, a bio and brain engineering professor of KAIST, said, “The match between Lee Se-dol and AlphaGo is more than just a challenge posed by an AI progra

Mobile carrier aims to expand its global footprint

Facebook CEO hints at strengthening partnership on VR headset

Korea’s largest telecommunications firm KT said Monday it would form an alliance with global mobile carriers and network equipment makers to take the lead in setting up standards for the next-generation network, or 5G.The Korean network operator said it has agreed with Japanese mobile carrier NTT Docomo, U.S. mobile network operator Verizon and SK Telecom of Korea to establish the 5G Trial Specification Alliance, aimed at cooperating to develop systems and platforms for test services of the 5G n

Latest smartphones cater to mobile gamers, virtual reality enthusiasts

LG Electronics on Sunday unveiled its latest flagship smartphone G5, touting it as the industry’s first modular type smartphone with a “Magic Slot” for enhanced camera and sound functions. “With the new phone, LG will create its own fandom culture among users,” said LG’s mobile chief Cho Juno during the official debut at World Mobile Congress in Barcelona.The G5 has an accessory slot at the bottom, which allows users to swap in different modules. The camera module, called “LG Cam Plus,” includes