Korean parts firms Samsung Electro-mechanics and LG Innotek’s profits have been buoyed by growing demand for dual camera phones in the global market, industry watchers said on Thursday. A dual-camera smartphone is a handset sporting two rear camera lens that typically work together to provide unique photography with different view angles and focuses. LG Innotek, which produced the world’s first dual cameras in 2011, went ahead of its rivals after becoming a sole supplier to Apple’s iPhone series

Technology Feb. 16, 2017

애플이 한국 시장에 애플페이 출시를 타진하고 있는 것으로 알려졌다. 업계관계자는 “작년 11월 애플 본사의 법률 책임자와 수석고문이 한국을 방문해서 금융당국과 애플페이에 대한 논의를 했다”고 말했다. 애플 임원들은 이 자리에서 애플페이에 대한 기술적 운영방식과 보안성(토큰화)에 대해 설명하면서, 애플페이는 현재 12개국에 출시되어 사용되고 있으며 토큰화 방식을 사용해서 보안성이 뛰어나다고 강조했다.  토큰화는 신용카드나 지문인식 정보를 암호로 만드는 보안기술로 현재 삼성페이에서도 사용되고 있다. 업계관계자는 “이들은 한국출시가 정해지면 국내 카드사와 협력할 예정”이지만 출시시점에 대해서는 말을 아꼈다고 전했다. 국내에서 모바일 결제 서비스를 결제하려면 해당 기업은 금융당국과 전자금융업 등록 여부를 먼저 논의해야 한다. 단순히 결제 서비스만을 제공하는 것인지 송금 업무 등의 금융서비스를 제공하는 것인지를 판단하기 위해

한국어판 Feb. 15, 2017

Apple’s executives recently held a meeting with South Korean financial authorities, a move that can be viewed as the company testing the waters before fully reviewing a potential launch here, sources said Wednesday. “Apple’s legal director and senior counselor came to Korea in November to have a meeting with financial authorities. They explained Apple Pay’s technical operation and security method -- tokenization,” a source familiar with the matter told The Korea Herald. Tokenization, which Samsu

Technology Feb. 15, 2017

With the extraordinary parliamentary session slated to end within two weeks, calls are growing to scrap or revise the law that places a limit on telecom operators and phone makers in providing subsidies for new subscribers.South Korean consumers often change their telecom operator to buy a new handset, as the firms provide a certain amount of kickbacks to new customers on the condition of a two- or three-year contract. Handset subsidies, which began in the late 1990s when mobile phone service fi

Industry Feb. 14, 2017

US ride-sharing company Uber Technologies said Seoul National University has infringed upon its trademark and it is preparing to take legal action, according to Korea’s top university on Friday. “Uber told us the name of our self-driving car SNUver infringed their trademark Uber and it is in preparation of taking legal action. We consider this as tyranny of the multinational corporation,” a Seoul National University professor Seo Seung-woo, who has led the development of self-driving car SNUver,

Technology Feb. 10, 2017

LG Electronics unveiled the world’s first smartwatches to run on Google’s Android Wear 2.0 in the US on Wednesday. Android Wear 2.0 is Google’s newest operating system designed exclusively for smartwatches, a follow-up from the first Android Wear 1.0, which was unveiled in 2014. LG said its two smartwatches, LG Smart Sport and LG Smart Style, will go on sale Feb. 10 (local time) in the US market. It plans to soon unveil the devices in the UK, UAE, Taiwan, Russia and Canada gradually. They will b

Technology Feb. 9, 2017

Captured photo from Chinese Peng Pai newsSamsung SDI said it is figuring out the cause of a fire, which broke out on Wednesday at its plant located in Tianjin, China on Wednesday. According to Chinese news reports, a fire broke out at the company’s factory in the morning but was soon put out by firefighters. The employees extinguished the fire when it broke out from the waste but it was revived by the embers, the reports said.“Since the fire broke out at waste, it did not affect the production o

Industry Feb. 9, 2017

LG Display is reviewing building the world’s first 10th-generation OLED assembly line in Paju, the tech firm said Wednesday. If the plan is finalized, the 10th-generation assembly line -- which is optimized for 65-inch (165 centimeters) television panels -- will be producing the world’s first and largest organic light-emitting diode panels. Currently, LG’s 55-inch (140 centimeters) panels from the 8.5-generation assembly line are the biggest such panels. Since the end of 2015, LG Display has bee

Technology Feb. 8, 2017

LG Electronics sent out press invitations on Tuesday for the unveiling of its new flagship smartphone G6 at the upcoming Mobile World Congress to be held in Barcelona, Spain. The invitation says the company will host an unpack event for the G6 at Sant Jordi Club on Feb. 26, a day before the tech congress kicks off. The launch event, which will last around 100 minutes, is expected to be attended by around 1,000 reporters, business partners and tech experts, the company said. LG describes the G6 a

Technology Feb. 7, 2017

Samsung Electronics has jumped into the US veterinary device market in partnership with medical supplies distributor Henry Schein, the tech firm said on Tuesday. Samsung, which estimated the US pet market at around $63 billion, unveiled its new blood test analyzer PT10V at the North American Veterinary Community conference this week in Florida. During the conference, PT10V was selected as one of the top five must-see products among the 700 participating companies, the company said. “Entering the

Industry Feb. 7, 2017

Moon Jae-in, a former leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, maintained a substantial lead in two-way hypothetical races with all potential rivals for the presidency, a survey showed Monday.After former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon renounced his presidential ambitions on Wednesday, Moon's front-runner position appears to have been bolstered with South Chungcheong Governor An Hee-jung and Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn quickly rising in popularity.The survey -- com

Politics Feb. 6, 2017

The head of a group representing the rights of Korean residents in Japan on Monday formally requested South Korea remove a girl statue symbolizing wartime sexual slaves that was recently erected before Japan's consulate here, driving a wedge between the neighbors.O Gong-tae, chief of the Korean Residents Union, also known as Mindan, conveyed an official letter requesting the removal to Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se during their talks held earlier in the day, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Social Affairs Feb. 6, 2017

The Korean government concluded Monday that Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Note 7 explosions were caused by faulty batteries and vowed to strengthen battery safety and recall measures for smartphones. The conclusion came after the state-run Korean Agency for Technology Standards conducted tests for three months with 14 overheated smartphones, 46 normal phones and 169 batteries given by Samsung Electronics. “We found batteries (made by Samsung SDI and ATL) had some factors that cause explosions and

Technology Feb. 6, 2017

Korean business moguls came to pay their respects over the weekend to Huh Wan-koo, the son of LG Group’s co-founder, who died on Friday at the age of 81. The late Huh is the fifth son of LG Group co-founder Huh Man-jung and uncle of GS Group Chairman Huh Chang-soo. Huh, who graduated from Wingate University in North Carolina, founded the logistics and real estate company Seungsan in 1969 and acquired the US steel company Farwest in 1991 to expand his business. He donated 10 billion won ($8.7 mil

Industry Feb. 5, 2017