The Korea Herald

Micron’s Elpida purchase to challenge Samsung

Jul 4, 2012

Micron Technology Inc.’s 200 billion yen ($2.5 billion) purchase of bankrupt Japanese chipmaker Elpida Memory Inc. will give the U.S. company a stronger foundation to challenge Samsung Electronics Co. in the market for memory used in computers and mobile devices. “We can see so many synergies and so many opportunities to really become a much stronger competitor in the memory space,” Chief Executive Officer Mark Durcan said in a Bloomberg Television interview today. “While we’re not quite as big
Apple reportedly plans smaller iPad to compete with Google Nexus

Jul 4, 2012

Apple Inc. plans to debut a smaller, cheaper iPad by year-end, two people with knowledge of the plans said, to help maintain dominance of the tablet market as Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. prepare competing handheld devices.The new model will have a 7-8 inch screen, said the sources, who asked not to be identified because Apple hasn’t made its plans public. The product, which Apple may announce by October, won’t have the high-definition screen featured on the iPad that was released in March, o
SKT establishes personal data protection system for customers

Jul 3, 2012

SK Telecom, Korea’s largest mobile carrier, has put in place a personal data protection system for consumers subscribing to the company’s mobile network services.The system will be used at some 2,200 nationwide retail stores certified by SK Telecom where customers can sign up for its services or purchase new mobile phones without filling out paper forms.They also can use its security system to request product information or consultation via tablet PCs such as Apple’s iPads or Samsung Electronics
Samsung develops faster, energy-efficient DRAM chip module

Jul 3, 2012

Samsung Electronics, the world’s biggest memory chip manufacturer, has developed the industry’s first 30 nanometer-class Double Data Rate 4 DRAM module.The memory chip module, used for enterprise servers and controller solutions, can transfer data at a rate of nearly 3.2 gigabits per second, the company said.The new DDR4 module can not only process data faster, but is also 40 percent more energy-efficient compared with its previously developed DDR3 DRAM module with speeds of 1.6 gigabits per sec
Pantech to unveil new smartphone

Jul 2, 2012

Pantech plans to release its new smartphones next week in a bid to sway consumers from Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy S3, which has been grabbing most of the spotlight in the global mobile markets.Using its trademark “Vega,” the smallest of Korea’s three mobile phone developers will introduce Vega S5 with 5-inch or hand-size display, allowing consumers to easily control the phone with just one hand instead of two.The letter “S” in Vega S5 refers to screen, style, strong, speed and special care, whi
Nexus ban to have limited impact on Samsung: Goldman

Jul 2, 2012

HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― The recent ban on the sales of one of Samsung Electronics Co.’s smartphones in the United States will likely have a limited impact on the South Korean tech giant, as the Galaxy Nexus smartphone is an older model, Goldman Sachs said Monday.Last Friday, a U.S. district court ruled that the Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone, an Android-based smartphone co-developed by Samsung Electronics and Google Inc., infringed on some of the patents belonging to iPhone maker Apple Inc., block
Kwon to head Samsung’s new display affiliate

Jul 2, 2012

Kwon Oh-hyun, vice chairman and CEO of Samsung Electronics, will head Samsung Display as the chief executive of the world’s largest display panel manufacturer.Officially launched on Monday, Samsung Display has been formed through mergers of Samsung Electronics’ LCD business division, Samsung Mobile Display and S-LCD. S-LCD was a joint venture between Samsung Electronics and Sony. Sony exited the joint venture last year. Samsung Mobile Display produces OLED panels for mobile devices.The newly est
SKT launches multicarrier service

Jul 1, 2012

SK Telecom, Korea’s biggest mobile carrier, said Sunday that it has officially launched its new multicarrier service as of midnight, July 1.This marks the first time for a telecom company anywhere to offer such a service, which uses two frequencies of 800 MHz and 1.8 GHz for Long Term Evolution smartphones.It allows 4G consumers to experience less mobile traffic in locations such as Gangnam in southern Seoul where people using mobile devices are densely populated.The telecom giant launched a tes
Samsung Electronics expected to hit record earnings in second quarter

Jul 1, 2012

But technology giant will still fall short of market expectations, analysts saySamsung Electronics, the world’s largest smartphone maker, is likely to have reached record-high earnings in the second quarter of this year.But the company is expected to deliver results below market expectations, with many analysts lowering their initial forecast due to the eurozone crisis and continued slowdown in the semiconductor sector.The general consensus among analysts indicated that the tech manufacturing gi
Newly acquired LG unit to develop next-generation fuel cell technology

Jun 28, 2012

LG Group announced Thursday that it will jump into the fuel cell technology business, which it considers to be the next-generation energy source.The conglomerate said that it invested a total of $45 million to acquire a 51 percent stake in an affiliate of Rolls-Royce Fuel Cell Systems, a firm that has been key for fuel cell development.With its majority stake in the Ohio-based firm, it will be newly named LG Fuel Cell Systems and it will target commercializing its own fuel cell technology for po
LG Display seeks shared growth with five suppliers

Jun 28, 2012

LG Display, Korea’s display manufacturing giant, said Thursday that it has expanded partnerships with its five suppliers to further share profit and technical know-how in line with the country’s move to promote shared growth.The five subcontractors LG Display has sought to boost benefit-sharing with are Exax, a chemical and electronics materials maker; Heesung Metal, a metal and materials company; Glonix, a display glass materials maker; Dong Yang Industrial, a plastic materials maker; and Oh Su
SKT wins award for innovative femtocell

Jun 28, 2012

SK Telecom, Korea’s largest mobile carrier, won recognition at a ceremony held in London Wednesday for having and commercializing femtocell technology and services.At the Small Cell Industry Awards hosted by the Small Cell Forum, SK Telecom received an innovative award for its femtocell, which allows mobile phone users to remain connected in small and limited spaces via broadband networks.SK Telecom’s partners Contela, a Korean wireless solution firm, and Mindspeed Technologies, a U.S.-based sem
Google to sell prototype of futuristic glasses

Jun 28, 2012

Google Inc employee wears Project Glass internet glasses during a demonstration during at the Google I/O conference in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Wednesday. (Bloomberg-Yohap News)Google is making prototypes of its futuristic, Internet-connected glasses available for people to test out.The company is selling the device, known as Project Glass, for $1,500 to people attending its annual conf
Hyundai Motor sells 310,000 units in China

Jun 27, 2012

HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― Hyundai Motor Co. sold more than 310,000 vehicles in China in the first five months of this year, a market researcher said Wednesday, indicating Korea’s largest automaker has managed to maintain growth in the world’s largest auto market. According to LMC Automotive, a global research firm for the automotive industry, Hyundai Motor sold 314,600 units in China during the January-May period, up 2 percent from a year earlier.In May, Hyundai Motor sold 62,350 units, compared
OLED to overtake plasma, cathode ray tubes in TVs

Jun 27, 2012

Organic light-emitting diode television, the next emerging display technology following liquid crystal display TVs, will soon replace plasma display panels and traditional cathode ray tube TVs in people’s living rooms, according to DisplaySearch.The global OLED TV market is forecast to grow 10-fold annually by 2014, and reach over 10 million sets in terms of annual sales by 2016, the global display research firm said.With Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, two leading global TV giants, expe