NEW YORK -- Sprawling roughly between West 16 Street and Hudson Street in Manhattan, the Meatpacking District was where meat factories were up and running in the early 1900s. The blocks in the area, currently filled with upscale restaurants and bars and fashion boutiques, have since become the gem of New York City, attracting millions of tourists, partygoers and locals every year.Samsung Electronics opened its marketing center, dubbed Samsung 837, in the heart of the district at Washington Stree

NEW YORK -- When Samsung Electronics first launched the Galaxy S6 Edge featuring a curved display in 2015, it caught the eyes of many thanks to its stunning, unprecedented design.However, Samsung fell short of gaining traction in sales as it failed to catch up with the demand for the S7 Edge due to glitches in producing the display curved on both sides.Now having achieved a rather satisfactory level of production yields for the Edge display, Samsung said it would put more focus on smartphone mod

[THE INVESTOR] NEW YORK -- Since its 2011 launch, not many expected that Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Note smartphone would survive the tough competition with smaller-size peers including Apple’s iPhone, the most popular option at the time.The Note lineup, which had its latest and sixth model Note 7 unveiled Tuesday in New York, has evolved and gained a great deal of popularity for itself along the way, so much so that almost all global smartphone makers that used to look down on the Note phablet

[THE INVESTOR] NEW YORK -- Samsung Electronics took the wraps off the much-anticipated Galaxy Note 7 smartphone at its annual Samsung Galaxy Unpack event in New York on Tuesday.Although the latest large-size smartphone -- often called a “phablet,” a combination of phone and tablet -- is the sixth in the Note lineup, it has been dubbed the Note 7 to align the numbering with the Galaxy S lineup.It comes with a slew of new features that will probably provide reason enough for those currently using

Tech giant Samsung Electronics unveiled the Galaxy Note 7, the sixth of the phablet lineup, in New York on Aug. 2. (Samsung Electronics)

[THE INVESTOR] While Samsung Electronics is busy with the upcoming launch of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, it is also preparing to showcase other big products, including the Gear S3, before the end of this year.The South Korean tech giant filed the trademark for Gear S3 Frontier at the nation’s patent office on July 26, implying that there could be more than one smartwatch model the firm has up its sleeves.The new project for Samsung smartwatch is reportedly named Solis, meaning the sun in Spani

[THE INVESTOR]  LG Electronics' clout in the global smartphone market is steadily declining on the back of cut-throat competition in the sector.And the Korean firm’s bet on its next high-end smartphone, the V20, which succeeds the V10, is not expected to bring about a dramatic turnaround, according to industry watchers. LG V10 phablet. Its successor, tentatively called V20, is expected to come out in September. LG Electronics"LG’s upcoming new high-end smartphone will not be able to offset the s

[THE INVESTOR] Korea’s antitrust watchdog has fined the hot-selling food delivery app Baedal Minjok and five other similar firms for slyly manipulating online user reviews.The Fair Trade Commission announced on July 28 that it imposed a combined fine of 17.5 million won (US$16,000) on the six food delivery app companies for hiding negative online reviews and ordering their employees to post positive ones.Baedal Minjok is the No. 1 food delivery app in Korea.The companies were also found to have

[THE INVESTOR] Telecommunications firm KT posted second quarter operating profit of 427 billion won (US$379.6 million) -- its highest quarterly operating income in four years -- thanks to solid performances in its wireless network, landline telecom, and media businesses.The quarterly profit reflected a 15.8 percent increase on-year, KT said on July 29. Sales were up 4.5 percent to 5.68 trillion won. KT headquartersThe number of subscribers for KT's Long Term Evolution network service in the seco

[THE INVESTOR] SK Telecom said July 28 that it would increase its capital expenditure by 100 billion won (US$88.90 million) to 2.1 trillion won this year to upgrade its existing telecommunications infrastructure.The company announced the investment plan after announcing its second-quarter earnings on the day. The head office of SK Telecom in SeoulSome market watchers considered the latest decision an unexpected move as the nation’s telecom market has reached a near-saturation point.The mobile ne

[THE INVESTOR] LG Electronics saw its operating income soar nearly 140 percent on-year to 584.6 billion won (US$519.7 million) in the April-June period on the back of strong sales of home appliances and air-conditioning systems, the company said in its earnings report on July 28.The company’s revenue came in at 14 trillion won, up 0.6 percent from a year earlier. LG Electronics’ R&D center in Seocho, Seoul  /  LG ElectronicsLG’s home appliance & air solution unit and home entertainment unit -- t

[THE INVESTOR] South Korea’s Internet giant Naver said it would try to increase its global presence with its mobile services, including the webtoon platform, Snow, a Snapchat-like app, and V-App, a video streaming service focused on Korean pop culture.“The webtoon, Snow and V-App services have made remarkable achievement so far in the global market,” said Kim Sang-hun, CEO of the Pangyo-based company, in the second-quarter conference call on July 28.“If the company pushes further together with i

[THE INVESTOR] Electronic components firm LG Innotek said July 28 that it would invest US$ 230 million by 2018 to build a camera module factory in Haiphong, the third largest city of Vietnam.The company’s board of directors approved a new funding of US$ 20 million to be used for setting up a local branch at a meeting in Seoul on July 27. LG Innotek`s camera moduleLG Innotek will roll out camera modules for smartphones and vehicles at the new factory in Vietnam, where the monthly minimum wage is

[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electronics is pinning high hopes on its upcoming Galaxy Note 7 smartphone with a curved screen that will debut on Aug. 2 in New York, London and Rio de Janeiro. “Like its Galaxy S7 sibling that is receiving positive market reviews, the Galaxy Note 7 will meet market expectations,” a Samsung executive said in the firm’s second-quarter conference call on July 28. Together with its high-end flagship models, the company said its budget smartphones such as the Galaxy A, J and

[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electronics said in its second-quarter conference call on July 28 that it would for the time being focus on rolling out 10-nanometer semiconductors rather than moving onto still-fledgling 7-nanometer chips. “The 10-nanometer chip production boasts the highest efficiency and is fit for commercialization,” an official from the tech giant said in the conference call held in the morning. Samsung Electronics’ 10-nano class DRAM chips.The company added that it is ready to produc