my timesThe Korea Times

Kim Yoo-chul

Korea Times Business Reporter

Go to Email

Read more

Tech & Science

LG Display swings into black in Q3

By Kim Yoo-chul LG Display, the world’s biggest flat-screen manufacturer, swung to profit in the third quarter for the first time in two years on the back of brisk sales. During the July-September period, the firm reported 253 billion won in operating profit, while quarterly revenue reached a record-high 7.6 trillion won, up 21.2 percent from a year ago, LG Display said in a statement late Friday. Net profit for the last quarter was 158 billion won.

Oct 26, 2012By Kim Yoo-chul
Tech & Science

Samsung reaps record profit

Smartphones account for 70% of total earnings By Kim Yoo-chul Samsung Electronics has reported record quarterly profits driven by bullish sales of its Galaxy devices and a major turnaround of its unlisted display-making business. The company said Friday that its operating profit during the July-September period reached 8.12 trillion won, up 91 percent from a year earlier. Its quarterly revenue rose to a record high 52.18 trillion won, an increase of 26 percent from year earlier. ``Hit by steady price falls, our chip-making business reported less profit than expected. But the continued stronger sales of our mobile devices and the steady growth of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays have helped secure the bottom line,’’ said Samsung. Its mobile division has already emerged as the major cash-generator replacing the decades-long traditional areas of semiconductor and displays. The division reported 5.63 trillion won in quarterly operating profit, accounting for 70 percent of the company’s quarterly operating profit. Samsung’s quarterly report is based on an int

Oct 26, 2012By Kim Yoo-chul
Tech & Science

Google privacy policy slammed

By Kim Yoo-chul A respected global privacy expert said Thursday that U.S.-based search giant Google is the ``No. 1’’ global privacy problem because Google’s culture is demonstrably hostile to privacy. At a forum organized by The Korean Council on the Protection of Personal Information (KCPPI) held at a Seoul hotel, Scott Cleland, the author of ``Search & Destroy: Why You Can’t Trust Google Inc.,’’ strongly criticized the U.S. tech giant for its forced integrated privacy policy, saying that the policy pushes the world towards lowest common denominator privacy standards. ``The decisions by the Fair Trade Commission and Department of Justice (USDOJ) have amounted to a unilateral disarmament of law enforcement power in an entire area of anti-trust oversight ― privacy ― perversely encouraging an anything-goes-environment and systemic abuse,’’ Cleland slammed. His remarks have been taken seriously in South Korea in the light of recent developments on the same subject matter coming out of Brussels. The European Union says a recent change in Google’s privacy policy, allowing it t

Oct 25, 2012By Kim Yoo-chul
Tech & Science

Samsung to appeal ITC ruling

US commission sides with Apple over patents By Kim Yoo-chul Samsung Electronics said Thursday that it will appeal against a preliminary ruling by the U.S. trade commission in favor of Apple’s patent infringement claims. The move came after the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled Wednesday that some Samsung mobile devices infringed upon four Apple patents. In the preliminary ruling, the ITC Judge Thomas Pender found Samsung Electronics in violation of four Apple patents, including intellectual property for touch-screen technology. “Samsung plans to ask the trade commission in the United States to review the initial determination, immediately. We believe that a review will overturn the decision,” spokesman Park Han-yong told The Korea Times, Thursday. He said the initial determination will have no substantial impact on its electronics business in the world’s top consumer electronics market. Under U.S. regulations, a firm is allowed to seek a review of a preliminary ruling if the decision is considered to be significant even before a final ruling is made.

Oct 25, 2012By Kim Yoo-chul
Tech & Science

Smartphones have LG back in black

By Cho Mu-hyun, Kim Yoo-chul LG Electronics posted an operating profit of 220.5 billion won (about $195 million) in the third quarter, rebounding from last year’s deficit. The turnaround was thanks to the company’s smartphone business finally showing a pulse and its television division reaming robust returns despite a global decline in the demand for consumer electronics products. Revenue was measured at 12.38 trillion won, a 4 percent decline year-on-year mainly due to a drop in the sales of feature phones, while net income came in at 157.1 billion won. LG has been paying heavily for being late to the lucrative market for smartphones, which appears to be shaping up as a duopoly between Apple and Samsung Electronics. However, under the aggressive leadership of new mobile boss Park Jong-seok and positive reviews generated from its Optimus brand, LG finally appears to be seeing light at the end of the tunnel. The company’s mobile division posted 21.45 billion won in operating profit and 2.45 trillion won in sales in the three months through September. This was a

Oct 24, 2012By Kim Yoo-chul
Tech & Science

Samsung touts new hybrid PC

By Kim Yoo-chul, Cho Mu-hyun Samsung Electronics launched its much-anticipated Ativ Smart PC Wednesday, a portable computer with an 11.6-inch touch-screen and detachable keyboard that allows it to switch between laptop and tablet modes. The consumer electronics firm hopes that its new product, powered by Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system, will spark the struggling personal computer market. The success of the Ativ series is also important for Microsoft, which has been struggling to extend its dominance in operating systems for desktop computers to mobile Internet devices. While other computer makers such as Lenovo, Hewlett-Packard and Sony have been announcing Windows 8 products recently, the Ativ line appears to be generating the most buzz from global technology geeks. Through its Ativ computers, Samsung is also extending its lineup of touch-screen computers that support styluses. Late Apple founder Steve Jobs, credited for the revolutionary iPad, once claimed that earlier models of these slate-like computers failed because the makers refused to ditch the s

Oct 24, 2012By Kim Yoo-chul
Tech & Science

Out of woods

SK hynix swings to profit despite low PC demand By Kim Yoo-chul SK hynix, the world’s second-largest maker of computer memory chips, said Wednesday that it swung to profit in the third quarter from a year earlier, defying a dismal global market for personal computers. For the three months through September, the company posted a net profit of 2 billion won (about $1.8 million), compared to a net loss of 563 billion won a year earlier. Third-quarter operating loss was 15.1 billion won, compared with a 277 billion won deficit a year earlier, while sales rose 5.8 percent year-on-year to 2.4 trillion won. While the level of profit was nothing to write home about, the figures still represent an impressive showing because chipmakers have been struggling mightily in the global downturn, which has been eating into the market for high-priced technology products such as computers. The rise in mobile Internet devices like smartphones and touch-screen computers is also kicking the traditional PC market in the teeth. SK hynix officials have expressed confidence that things wi

Oct 24, 2012By Kim Yoo-chul
Tech & Science

Apple fires Korea’s country head

By Kim Yoo-chul Apple, headquartered in Cupertino, California, has dismissed its Korea country manager Dominique Oh, allegedly over sluggish sales of its products here. "It is true that Dominique is no longer with us since last week," Apple spokesman Steve Park said by telephone, late Tuesday. "We acknowledge that there are many speculations surrounding Oh's leaving, but we do not comment on internal matters," Park said. The contract termination comes amid the deepening global patent war with its biggest client and rival Samsung Electronics. Apple failed to attack the lead of Samsung Electronics in the local smartphone market despite its ambitious launch of i-branded products. Apple is also being criticized about its passive response to after-sales (AS) service policies, here, and the firm was always the target of many local iPhone users over its stiffer stance that’s not favorable even to loyal i-device users. ``It’s very rare for Apple to fire a senior executive ahead of a key product launch. Korea is the tomb for Apple executives,’’ said an official who is knowl

Oct 23, 2012By Kim Yoo-chul
  • By Apple's logic, Galaxy should cost $2 mil.
  • How will ‘prior art’ impact Apple’s patent argument?
Tech & Science

How will ‘prior art’ impact Apple’s patent argument?

By Cho Mu-hyun, Kim Yoo-chul Since the verdict by a U.S. jury in California that awarded Apple $1.05 billion from Samsung Electronics, the two technology giants have been arguing back and forth over the legitimacy of the decision. Of many legal points made by the Korean manufacturer, one of the most convincing points have been the matter of “prior art.” Put simply, prior art refers to certain information that has already gone public before an invention is patented and is related. If the invention is proven to be described previously, the patent becomes invalid. The prior art conception was apparently highlighted by Google Chairman Eric Schmidt during his recent visit to South Korea. At that time, the Google boss said, ``With respect to Apple patents, the best thing we can tell there is plenty of prior art and I don’t want to go beyond that.’’ And the jury foreman Velvin Hogan apparently misunderstood what qualifies as prior art, according to Samsung and industry officials contacted by The Korea Times. The nine U.S. jurors discussed prior art presented at the Calif

Oct 23, 2012By Kim Yoo-chul
  • Samsung vs. Apple ― What Judge Koh has to know for ruling
Tech & Science

By Apple's logic, Galaxy should cost $2 mil.

US patent expert suggests Judge Koh check holes in iPhone maker's argument By Kim Yoo-chul, Cho Mu-hyun What has motivated Apple to be so persistent in pressing for its patents in smart devices? It may be the ghost of its founder Steve Jobs, who had reportedly planned a firestorm of legal action 10 years before his death, or it could be a survival tactic of those left behind at the firm after Jobs’ demise. Although Apple is ridiculed for patent-trolling, Brian J. Love of the Santa Clara University School of Law said it was not just about money but, more importantly, recognition as a true innovator. Prof. Love is an expert in patent disputes. “Apple wants more than money and sales bans. Apple wants to send a message to the world that Apple made the smartphone as ubiquitous as it is today and that Android is a mere copycat,” Prof. Love said. “Apple executives want to shout it out from the rooftops,’’ he said in an email interview. Regarding the ruling expected on Dec. 6 by the U.S. Federal Judge Lucy Koh, the professor raised an interesting point. “Some have

Oct 23, 2012By Kim Yoo-chul
  • Samsung vs. Apple ― What Judge Koh has to know for ruling
previous page
192193194195196
next page

Top 5 stories

Korea Times
About Us
Introduction
History
Contact Us
Products & Services
Subscribe
E-paper
RSS Service
Content Sales
Site Map
Policy
Code of Ethics
Ombudsman
Privacy Policy
Youth Protection Policy
Terms of Service
Copyright Policy
Family Site
Hankookilbo
Dongwha Group
FacebookXYoutubeInstagram
CEO & Publisher: Oh Young-jinDigital News Email: webmaster@koreatimes.co.krTel: 02-724-2114Online newspaper registration No: 서울,아52844Date of registration: 2020.02.05Masthead: The Korea TimesCopyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.