Samsung appeals to Southeast Asian consumers

Samsung Electronics’ home appliance business remains upbeat in Southeast Asia, with the recent expansion of its supply of system air conditioners to local companies there, the company said Tuesday. The South Korean electronics maker said it received additional orders for its 360 Bladeless Cassette, a circular-shaped air conditioning system for commercial areas, including a zoo in Singapore and 18 branches of The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf in Manila.  A 360 Bladeless Cassette air conditioning system

Aug. 1, 2017

Kakao Mobility officially launches as new company

Kakao Mobility officially took off as an independent subsidiary of Kakao on Tuesday, bringing together the South Korean mobile messaging giant’s key transportation services under one company. The new subsidiary is set to oversee the expansion and monetization of Kakao’s key mobility services including the taxi-hailing app Kakao Taxi, chauffeur app Kakao Driver and mobile navigation app Kakao Navi. Kakao Mobility CEO Jung Joo-hwan (Kakao)It also plans to partner with Korea’s parking space operato

Aug. 1, 2017

Nepalese worker in his 20s dies from tick-borne disease

HONGSEONG -- A Nepalese worker died from a tick-borne disease earlier this week in South Korea's first case of the illness contracted by a man in his 20s, the South Chungcheong provincial government said Tuesday.The 24-year-old man, who had been working at a livestock farm in Hongseong, a town in South Korea's central province of South Chungcheong, was diagnosed with severe fever and thrombocytopenia syndrome, or SFTS, and treated for the disease before he died on Sunday. This undated file photo

Aug. 1, 2017

Galaxy S8 series wins environment certificate in US

Samsung Electronics Co. said Tuesday its Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus smartphones won a top-level certificate from an environmental evaluation conducted in the United States.The South Korean tech giant said the smartphones won the Gold rating from the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool, approved by the Green Electronics Council and Underwriters Laboratories. (Yonhap)It marks the first time for smartphones to win a EPEAT certificate.The test focuses on various environmental aspects

Aug. 1, 2017

Netmarble's 'Lineage 2: Revolution' hits 1m preorders in Japan

Netmarble Games, South Korea's top mobile game developer, said the number of pre-registrations for its mega-hit title, "Lineage 2: Revolution," in Japan surpassed the 1 million mark Tuesday.Netmarble started accepting the preorders for the mobile role-playing game from the official website for Japanese players on April 28 before its launch during the third quarter of this year, the company said. The exact launch date has yet to be decided."It is very unusual for a mobile game to receive more tha

Aug. 1, 2017

Kakao Bank's usage yet to meet its size

The Internet-only Kakao Bank has succeeded in starting big, gaining over 1 million clients in just five days following its launch, but how the initial clients are using the service suggests there is room for improvement, industry watchers said Tuesday.Kakao Bank outdid four-months-old K-Bank, the country's first Internet-only lender, in terms of the number of subscribers. K-bank had gained 100,000 accounts in three days.However, 67 percent of Kakao Bank clients asked for debit cards, an indicati

Aug. 1, 2017

Samsung's average handset prices up on Galaxy S8

The average sales price of Samsung Electronics Co.'s handsets rose in the second quarter to the highest level in three years, data showed Tuesday, helped by the robust shipment of the Galaxy S8 flagship.According to the data compiled by Strategy Analytics, the average sales price of Samsung handsets came to $235 over the April-June period, marking the highest figure over the past three years.The average price has been falling as Samsung continued to roll out various budget models to tap deeper i

Aug. 1, 2017

Samsung begins official distribution of Harman products

Samsung Electronics will start selling Harman International’s consumer audio products from Tuesday through its local distribution channels, the company announced Monday. It is the first official business move since the South Korean tech titan completed its acquisition of the 70-year-old US-based audio system manufacturer for $8 billion in March.  Consumers look at audio products displayed at Samsung Digital Plaza in Nonhyeong-dong, southern Seoul, on Monday. (Samsung Electronics)Samsung will off

July 31, 2017

Kakao Bank attracts more than 1 million accounts in 5 days

Kakao Bank, South Korea's second Internet-only bank, said Monday it has attracted more than 1 million accounts in five days since its launch, a potential game-changing development in the country's financial sector.The bank said the number of clients hit the milestone as of 1 p.m. on Monday, with deposits and loans being estimated at 344 billion won ($307 million) and 323 billion won, respectively.It means that the lender has attracted customers at the pace of 9,800 accounts an hour. (Yonhap)Kaka

July 31, 2017

‘Starcraft: Remastered’ prelaunches in Korea

“Starcraft: Remastered,” a high-definition remake of Blizzard Entertainment’s hit PC strategy game “Starcraft” is now available at selected PC cafes in South Korea as part of a prelaunch event exclusive to Korea. 　As of Sunday evening, “Starcraft: Remastered” has become available at local PC bang -- internet cafes where one can play computer games -- that are licensed with Blizzard Korea, the company said Monday. The game is slated for official worldwide release on Aug. 15.  Blizzard Korea hoste

July 31, 2017

[Photo News] Samsung's air conditioner sales soar

AIR CONDITIONER SALES SOAR -- Visitors check out Samsung Electronics’ wind-free air conditioners at a Samsung Digital Plaza store in Seoul on Sunday. Samsung said it sold more than 1 million air conditioners from Jan. 1 to July 21, setting a new top sales record for the company. It attributed the sales hike to the rising popularity of its wind-free air conditioners, which accounted for around 60 percent of Samsung’s air conditioner sales in Korea for the year. (Samsung Electronics)

July 30, 2017

6-inch ‘super phablets’ to become mainstream: report

Upcoming smartphone models are expected to adopt six-inch or larger screens, as more and more users prefer consumption of multimedia content on their handheld gadgets, according to market sources Sunday. The “super phablets,” whose screens are larger than six inches, are forecast to account for 4.3 percent of total smartphone sales this year, selling about 66 million units, showed a report by US market researcher Strategy Analytics. The phablet is a combination of the phone and tablet, referring

July 30, 2017

SKT opens bid for 5G equipment for commercialization

SK Telecom has embarked on commercialization of the fifth-generation network by starting to receive bids for 5G equipment, it said Sunday. According to the announcement, SKT sent a request for proposals to network equipment manufacturers, officially beginning talks about establishing 5G network infrastructure as the first mobile carrier in South Korea. The latest proposal includes detailed requirements for core equipment and technologies, such as data transfer specifications for 5G frequency spe

July 30, 2017

LG to release new budget smartphone with full-vision display

LG Electronics Inc. said Sunday it will start sales of the LG Q6 budget smartphone this week, which adopts a "full-vision" display with an 18:9 screen aspect ratio.The South Korean tech giant said the sales of the 5.5-inch smartphone will kick off Wednesday with a price tag of 419,100 won ($373). The Q6 comes with storage capacity of 32 gigabytes. LG plans to release the Q6 Plus with 64 GB later in August.LG first adopted the full-vision display on the flagship G6 smartphone released earlier thi

July 30, 2017

LG Uplus reaps larger growth than bigger players in Q2

LG Uplus, South Korea’s smallest mobile carrier in terms of subscription, revenue and profit, reaped bigger growth in its second-quarter earnings than the top two players SK Telecom and KT, according to earnings announcements Thursday. LG Uplus posted 15.5 percent growth in operating profit in the second quarter compared to the same period last year, due to growth in its wireless and telecommunications service businesses. The company’s second-quarter sales stood at 3 trillion won ($2.7 billion),

July 27, 2017

Korea's vaccination rates for children higher than US, Britain: data

South Korea's vaccination rates for hepatitis B and several other major diseases are higher than those of the United States, Britain and Australia, government data showed Thursday.South Korea's vaccination rates for HepB, BCG, DTaP, IPV, Hib and MMR stood at 96.6 percent, according to the statistics by the Korea Centers for Disease Control which analyzed the vaccination records of 440,000 children born in 2013 in the four countries.(Yonhap)The comparable figures were 90.9 percent for the US, 94.

July 27, 2017

Korea's 2nd Internet-only bank to begin operations Thursday

South Korea's second Internet-only bank, Kakao Bank, is set to begin operations Thursday, in the latest move by the government to reinvigorate the nation's banking sector suffering from weaker growth. The planned launch of Kakao Bank, led by Kakao Corp., operator of Korea's dominant messaging app KakaoTalk, came after the first Internet-only bank, K-Bank, gained wide consumer appeal. Consumers can open an account at Kakao Bank by downloading an app and verifying their personal information throug

July 26, 2017

SK hynix to invest W9.6tr on DRAM, NAND facilities

SK hyinx Inc. said Wednesday it plans to allocate some 9.6 trillion won ($8.5 billion) this year to expand its production facilities for dynamic random-access memory and NAND chips.Through a regulatory filing, the South Korean chipmaker said it expanded the amount of investment originally estimated at 7 trillion won this year. (Yonhap)SK hynix said the investment is aimed at actively coping with changing market conditions while laying a firm foundation for its future growth. The investment will

July 26, 2017

Nexon's 'Dark Avenger 3' to hit Korea this week

Online gaming firm Nexon Korea Co. said Wednesday that the third edition of its mega-hit series "Dark Avenger" will launch in South Korea later this week.The action role-playing game will be officially available on both Android and iOS on Thursday, the latest edition of the mobile game series which has racked up more than 35 million downloads worldwide."The Dark Avenger 3 is the game that offers the same dynamic action and graphic quality presented by console games," said No Jung-hwang, a Nexon

July 26, 2017

Samsung's share in Chinese smartphone market estimated at 3%

Samsung Electronics Co.'s share of the Chinese smartphone market for the second quarter is estimated at 3 percent, data showed Wednesday, remaining in doldrums as Chinese rivals continued to roll out price-competitive models.According to the data compiled by Counterpoint Research, Chinese smartphone makers took up 87 percent of their home market in the April-June period. The top four brands -- Huawei Technologies Co., OPPO Electronics, Vivo Mobile Communications Co., and Xiaomi Inc. -- took up 6

July 26, 2017