Samsung reduces PC business, follows rivals' path

South Korea's top tech giant, Samsung Electronics Co., said Thursday it plans to stop sales of its low-end ATIV laptop lineup in Europe amid the slowing global PC market, following the path of its rivals.   "We will no longer launch new versions of the Google Chromebook and ATIV in the European market, and instead will focus on high-end laptops and tablet PCs down the road," an official from Samsung Electronics said.   The company, however, said it will maintain the PC business in other areas, i

Sept. 25, 2014

Pantech to be put up for sale soon

South Korea's No. 3 smartphone maker, Pantech Co., under a court receivership, is set to be available for sale in the near future, industry sources said Wednesday, in a move to get the company back on its feet.    The latest development came as the Seoul Central District Court gave the nod to Pantech's plan to post itself on the market for sale, a month after it commenced the troubled firm's court receivership program.   Pantech's creditors, led by the Korea Development Bank, will accept bids fr

Sept. 24, 2014

No initial offering for Line this year: Naver

The country's top portal operator Naver Corp. has decided against listing its Japan-based affiliate Line Corp. in the U.S. and Japanese stock market this year, the company said on Monday.In a regulatory filing, Naver said that while it is still considering the overseas IPO of Line, which operates a popular messaging application of the same name, it has yet to reach a conclusion. It added that it will issue a regulatory filing within six months when further progress is made."We considered an IPO

Sept. 22, 2014

LG rolls out flip smartphone with Kakao button

LG Electronics, South Korea’s No. 2 tech player, said Monday that its first flip-style smartphone, which will come with a button allowing users to directly connect to the popular KakaoTalk messenger application, will go on sale later this week.The smartphone, dubbed the Wine Smart, comes with a 3.5-inch display and an 8-megapixel rear camera, along with a 1,700mAh battery. It runs on the long-term evolution network and is powered by Android 4.4 KitKat. Sales will start on Friday.The new phone’s

Sept. 22, 2014

LG sets Guinness record with billboard

LG Electronics Inc., South Korea's No. 2 tech giant, said Friday it has successfully won a Guinness World Record title for its new billboard installed in Saudi Arabia, which boasts a size of two football fields using 1,800 tons of steel.The 250-meter-wide, 12-meter-high sign, constructed near King Khaled International Airport next to Riyadh, is expected to be observed by 20 million users of the country's gateway per year and generate a wealth effect of around US$25 million annually for LG, the c

Sept. 19, 2014

ITU to discuss radio frequency spectrum for satellite tracking

A United Nations agency for information and telecommunications will discuss the allocation of a global radio frequency for air-ground satellite communication following the failure of a painstaking multinational search to find a missing Malaysian airplane, government officials said Wednesday. The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Technology said the International Telecommunications Union will first address the issue when senior officials and experts gather for a conference to be held in the Sou

Sept. 17, 2014

LG to roll out its first flip-style smartphone

LG Electronics, South Korea’s No. 2 maker of handsets, provided a teaser Tuesday of what looks to be its first flip-style smartphone. LG’s website showed a dim image of a flip-style handset dubbed the “LG Wine Smart.” If released, the Wine lineup will become the oldest existing handset brand in South Korea.First launched in 2007, LG’s Wine series has been one of the key brands in the local handset market. The latest model, Wine Phone 5, came out in April 2012 and ran on the second-generation net

Sept. 16, 2014

Samsung chairman loses W1tr on sickbed

Samsung Group’s de-facto head Lee Kun-hee, who has been hospitalized due to a heart attack since May, saw the value of his share holdings in the conglomerate plunge 7.19 percent from four months earlier, data showed Tuesday, with the decline led by Samsung Electronics’ lackluster performance.Lee’s holdings came to 10.6 trillion won ($10.2 billion) as of Friday, compared to the 11.5 trillion won posted on May 31, the data compiled by market tracker FnGuide showed. Along with smaller shares in oth

Sept. 16, 2014

Samsung seeks prosecution probe on LG executive on suspected vandalism

Samsung Electronics said Sunday it has asked the prosecution to investigate senior officials of its home rival, LG Electronics, on suspicion of intentionally damaging its products at a shopping mall in Germany.Samsung's petition names Jo Seong-jin, head of LG's home appliance division, and a number of other senior company officials, accusing them of vandalizing its laundry machines on display.The incident occurred earlier this month in Berlin just ahead of the Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA

Sept. 14, 2014

Samsung Electronics likely to suffer another earnings shock in Q3: brokerages

Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest mobile phone manufacturer, is expected to suffer another earnings shock in the third quarter, mainly due to weak demand for its new products and stiff competition from rivals.Local brokerages initially forecast operating profits for the July-September period to be in the 6 trillion won (US$5.8 billion) range, but some like IBK Securities Co. marked down their assessment to around 5 trillion won with a corresponding dip in sales after the five-day Chus

Sept. 14, 2014