China accuses Alibaba of lax oversight of merchants

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has a “credibility crisis” fueled by its failure to crack down on shady merchants, counterfeit goods, bribery and misleading promotions in online malls, the Chinese government said.The scathing report by the State Administration for Industry & Commerce accused Alibaba of allowing merchants to operate without required business licenses, to run unauthorized stores that co-opt famous brands and sell fake wine and handbags. Alibaba employees took bribes, and the e-commerce

Jan. 28, 2015

Samsung to benefit from Qualcomm’s overheating fiasco

Samsung Electronics, which aims to become a powerhouse in the global mobile chip market, is likely to become the biggest beneficiary of the escalating overheating fiasco of its key supplier Qualcomm, industry watchers said Monday.“The latest thermal issues involving its competitor’s product could be another opportunity for Samsung to increase its presence in the global mobile chip market,” said Lee Seung-woo, an analyst from IBK Securities.“As a result, Samsung’s next flagship Galaxy S6 equipped

Jan. 26, 2015

Samsung SDI Q4 loss widens on costs from merger

Samsung SDI, a South Korean battery and chemical materials maker, said Monday its fourth-quarter loss sharply increased from the previous quarter mainly due to increased costs from the July merger with a part of its affiliate.Net loss for the October-December period reached 129 billion won (US$119 million), sharply widening from the 12.9 billion won net loss the previous quarter, the company's regulatory filing showed. It didn't disclose comparable on-year figures because Samsung SDI merged with

Jan. 26, 2015

Appeals court upholds decision blaming Samsung over leukemia death

A Seoul appeals court has upheld a ruling by a lower court that South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics is to blame for the leukemia death of one of its former employees at a chip-making facility, a court official said Sunday.In 2013, the Seoul Administrative Court recognized as an industrial accident the death of Kim Kyong-mi, who died of acute leukemia in 2009 at the age of 29 after working at Samsung's semiconductor production lines in Giheung, just of Seoul, between 1999 and 2004.The Kor

Jan. 25, 2015

Sony seeks to delay earnings over 'The Interview' cyberattack

TOKYO (AFP) -- Sony said Friday it was asking Japanese regulators for permission to delay its earnings release next month after a cyberattack at its Hollywood film unit compromised "a large amount of data".The Japanese firm said its US-based Sony Pictures Entertainment subsidiary will not have time to put together its financial statements after the attack, linked to its controversial North Korea satire "The Interview," which has been widely blamed on Pyongyang.The Tokyo-based firm, which was due

Jan. 23, 2015

U.N. official backs N. Korea abuses despite defector's changes

TOKYO (AP) -- The United Nations' official in charge of investigating human rights violations in North Korea said Friday he stands by U.N. findings of widespread abuses there despite recent backtracking by a prominent defector on the details of his life in the North's prison system.Marzuki Darusman said that although defector-turned-activist Shin Dong-hyuk has revised some of the details of his story, it remains for the most part valid and represents the experiences of just one of hundreds of de

Jan. 23, 2015

Court bans SK Telecom ad over LTE service

A Seoul court has banned an SK Telecom advertisement, saying Friday that it falsely claimed SKT was the first to commercialize triband Long Term Evolution services.“SK Telecom’s ad includes false and exaggerated information since it did not commercialize the triband LTE services,” the Seoul Central District Court said in its ruling.The court also said this sort of deceptive ad could be used to secure the top position of the mobile carrier in the domestic market and could damage the market order.

Jan. 23, 2015

LG’s smartphone sales up 25% on-year in 2014

South Korea’s No. 2 tech giant, LG Electronics is estimated to have posted a 25 percent gain in its smartphone sales last year from a year earlier, industry sources said Thursday, taking a step closer to claiming the third spot in the global market.The combined smartphone shipment of LG Electronics is estimated at 59.6 million units for 2014, up from the 47.6 million units posted a year earlier, the sources said. Industry watchers earlier expected its sales would hover around 60 million units la

Jan. 22, 2015

Samsung snubs Qualcomm chips

Samsung Electronics Co. will use its own microprocessors in the next version of the Galaxy S smartphone, dropping its use of a Qualcomm Inc. chip that overheated during the Korean company’s testing, people with direct knowledge of the matter said. Samsung, the world’s largest smartphone maker, tested a new version of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chip, known as the 810, and decided not to use it, the people said, asking not to be identified because the issue hasn’t been discussed publicly. Qualcomm shar

Jan. 22, 2015

SK Telecom faces probe over subsidies

The nation’s telecom regulator said Wednesday that it would probe an alleged illegal subsidy case involving SK Telecom.The Korea Communications Commission said SK Telecom is suspected of handing out illegal subsidies to lure subscribers from other mobile network operators.The KCC revealed its intentions after KT, one of the nation’s major telecom firms, submitted documents it said proved the illegal marketing activities of its rival earlier this week. “SKT cannot help but express its perplexity

Jan. 21, 2015