Shareholders give nod to Daum-Kakao merger

Shareholders of Daum Communications Corp. and Kakao Corp. on Wednesday approved the merger of the two firms that will create the biggest company on South Korea's secondary bourse."As the merger deal passed the last step, (Daum and Kakao) will finalize the related procedures and officially launch the new entity on Oct. 1," the two firms said in a press release."With this, we have begun our full-fledged efforts to emerge as a global communication-information-life platform provider," they said.The

Aug. 27, 2014

Samsung resumes supplying DRAM to Apple

South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. has resumed its supply of dynamic random access memory products to its rival U.S. Apple Inc. for the iPhone 6 to be released next month, industry sources said Wednesday, in a sign of reconciliation after a series of patent disputes.The world's No. 1 maker of smartphones recently has been providing its 20-nano level mobile DRAM for Apple's new iPhone, the sources said. The U.S. tech player has been resorting to SK hynix Inc. and Micron Technology Inc. for the

Aug. 27, 2014

LG adds pen-equipped model to G3 smartphone lineup

LG Electronics Inc., South Korea’s No. 2 tech giant, said Tuesday it would add a new model to its flagship G3 lineup next month that comes with a stylus and is marked down in price.LG said the G3 Stylus would be a low-end version of the global hit G3 smartphone, equipped with a Rubberdium pen along with other original key G3 features such as “Knock Code,” which allows users to unlock their device by tapping the screen several times.The new model runs on the third-generation network, making it mo

Aug. 26, 2014

China's LTE market likely to become global No. 1 this year

The size of the long-term evolution market in China is expected to become the world's largest in 2014 by overtaking that of the United States, a report showed Tuesday."We predict China will overtake the U.S. as the number one LTE market in terms of LTE smartphone sales in the second half of 2014," Neil Shah was quoted in the report by Hong Kong-based industry tracker Counterpoint.China, which introduced the LTE service in December 2013, moved into the world's No. 2 position in LTE smartphone sal

Aug. 26, 2014

LG to suspend PDP business in near future

LG Electronics Inc., South Korea‘s No. 2 TV maker, said Monday it will suspend production of plasma display panel TVs in the near future amid falling demand.“We are internally conducting a study on when we should suspend the PDP business,” said Ha Hyun-hwoi, who heads LG’s home entertainment division. “We will make an official announcement on the issue in the future.”Samsung SDI Co., a battery arm of South Korea’s top conglomerate Samsung Group, already announced last month it will stop its PDP

Aug. 25, 2014

Activists demand that Samsung accept appellate ruling on workers' deaths

A civic group on Monday called for Samsung Electronics Co. to take full responsibility and comply with an appellate court decision last week that held the tech giant liable for the leukemia deaths of two former production-line employees."Samsung should follow the court ruling and provide compensation as well as a sincere apology to the families of the victims, and come up with viable measures to prevent any more such deaths," the Protector of Health and Human Rights of Semiconductor Workers (SHA

Aug. 25, 2014

Samsung takes top spot in Q2 LTE smartphone sales

Samsung Electronics Co. took top place in global sales of Long-Term Evolution smartphones in the second quarter, beating its rival and first-quarter No. 1 seller Apple Inc., data showed Sunday. According to the data by market researcher Strategy Analytics, Samsung sold 28.6 million LTE smartphones in the April-June period, grabbing a 32.2 percent market share. The LTE smartphones run on broadband LTE networks that allow users access and stream data faster than on the 3G network.The first-quarter

Aug. 24, 2014

Samsung tops NAND flash market in Q2

Samsung Electronics topped the global NAND flash market in the second quarter of 2014, data showed Friday, on the back of increased demand from Chinese smartphone makers who have been raising their profiles in the global market.The market share for the South Korean electronics giant in NAND flash reached 30.8 percent in the April-June period, up 0.8 percentage point from a quarter earlier, the data compiled by industry tracker DRAMeXchange showed.Along with dynamic random access memory chips, NA

Aug. 22, 2014

KT ordered to pay 100,000 won each to data-leak victims

South Korea's No. 2 mobile carrier KT Corp. was ordered by a local district court Friday to pay 100,000 won (US$97) in compensation to each customer who had personal data leaked in 2012.The Seoul Central District Court's ruling came after some 28,000 KT users filed a lawsuit against the mobile carrier for the leak of sensitive personal information, demanding compensation of 500,000 won per person.Police earlier discovered that the personal information of 8.7 million users, including social secur

Aug. 22, 2014

Samsung tops flatscreen TV market for 34th quarter

South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. said Thursday it has topped the world’s market for flat-screen TVs for the 34th consecutive quarter in the April-June period, backed by robust sales in emerging markets.Quoting data released by industry watcher DisplaySearch, Samsung said its global market share for flat TVs came to 31.8 percent in the second quarter, rising 1.2 percentage points on-quarter, keeping the company in the top spot.It biggest rival, LG Electronics Inc., saw its market s

Aug. 21, 2014

LG rolls out new 3G models in L smartphone series

LG Electronics Inc. said Wednesday it will roll out two new smartphone models in its low-end L series later this month that will feature high-tech features similar to the more expensive G series.The L Bello and L Fino come with 5-inch and 4.5-inch screens, respectively, along with an 8-megapixel camera on the back and a 1 megapixel camera on the front.The L Bello is equipped with a 2,540 mAh battery and 1.3 GHz quad-core processor, while the L Fino has a 1,900 mAh battery and 1.2 GHz quad-core p

Aug. 21, 2014

Mobile carriers slapped with 58.4 bln won in fines for illegal subsidies

South Korea's top mobile carriers were fined 58.41 billion won (US$57.15 million) by the telecom authority on Thursday for continuing to pay illegal subsidies to win new clients.The Korea Communications Commission (KCC) said two of the three carriers being punished -- SK Telecom Co. and LG Uplus Corp. -- will also be banned from signing on new customers for one week starting at the end of this month. KT Corp. was excluded from the suspension.SK Telecom, the biggest carrier, was ordered to pay a

Aug. 21, 2014

Samsung TV prices fall as company seeks bigger market share

Samsung Electronics Co.'s average sales price for its flat-screen TVs fell 13 percent in the first half of 2014 from last year, apparently as the firm sought a bigger world market share over profit, data showed Thursday.The price of the company's flat TV lineup averaged US$646 in the January-June period, while the combined shipment advanced 16 percent, the data compiled by Strategy Analytics showed.The industry tracker said demands for Samsung products gained in Latin America due to the FIFA Wor

Aug. 21, 2014