The Korea Times

KT sees new growth in content

By Kim Yoo-chul Telecommunications giant KT plans to widen its partnerships with technology startups and creative talent as it believes its future growth momentum will depend on its ability to build a content ecosystem for mobile Internet users. The country’s biggest broadband Internet provider and runner-up mobile carrier believes it is critical for the company to become more than just a seller of network access and have a larger role in content value, like Apple has with its immense network of iPhone and iPad customers. KT Chairman Lee Suk-chae Monday announced plans to create a 100 billion won fund to help small- and medium-sized businesses and content developers devoted in games, animated films and music over the next three years as the company accelerates its efforts to create its own content pool for mobile Internet devices. The company will gradually increase its investment in the fund. ``Individual content producers and small- and- medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will use the fund. We will help them find business opportunities outside Korea if their content is c

Sep 17, 2012By Kim Yoo-chul

Tech & Science

Samsung beefing up camera business

By Kim Yoo-chul Samsung Electronics is seeking a major breakthrough in its stalling camera business. A top company executive is currently in the German city of Cologne to participate in the world’s biggest photo and imaging trade show. On Monday, Samsung has confirmed that its mobile chief Shin Jong-kyun, who is also handling the firm’s camera business, left Gimpo International Airport for the German city using a Samsung private jet. This is the first time that a president-level figure participated in the annual Photokina event, according to the company. Han Myung-seop, a senior executive for Samsung’s digital imaging business, will deliver a keynote speech at this year’s exhibition. ``Unlike smartphones, the camera business is still in difficulties. Samsung executives are expected to find new business chances there via business meetings,’’ said one Samsung official. Samsung’s global share in the camera market has been on a decline. Last year, it stood at 11 percent, down from the previous year’s 11.6 percent, said market research firms. Japanese companies are

Sep 17, 2012By Kim Yoo-chul

Tech & Science

Exclusive Galaxy S4 due in February

Samsung plans to unveil new device at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona By Kim Yoo-chul Samsung Electronics plans to unveil the latest in its Galaxy line, the S4, at a European technology exhibition in February, according to company officials and local parts suppliers for the technology giant. The timetable was released just three days after rival Apple introduced the iPhone 5, which has received a mixed response from industry experts and consumers as it is seemingly lacking in innovative features. ``Samsung is ready to unveil the next Galaxy smartphone _ the Galaxy S4 _ at early next year’s mobile world congress (MWC) in the Spanish city of Barcelona,’’ said an official from the firm asking not to be identified, Sunday. The new device is expected to hit shelves globally in March at the latest. MWC is the biggest exhibition in the world for telecom companies and Samsung, will exhibit the new Galaxy at its booth. The new Galaxy, expected to be the firm’s most powerful handset yet in terms of hardware specifications and software advancement, will help the Suwon-base

Sep 16, 2012By Kim Yoo-chul

Tech & Science

Microsoft aims to become ‘melting pot’

Software giant stresses ties with device leaders, Samsung, LG By Kim Yoo-chul Microsoft (MS) Korea aims to become a “melting pot’’ where people with diverse nationalities and cultural backgrounds commit to push the personal technology experience in a country obsessed with e-this and e-that. James Kim, the U.S.-educated general manager of the company, claims that a multicultural workforce will boost creative input and eventually make a visible difference in business results. He is proud that MS Korea is the only subsidiary among the U.S. software giant’s 112 business units worldwide to received its “Top Subsidiary Award’’ for the third consecutive year, and thinks that adding international talent will allow it to make another leap forward. The recognition from headquarters is meaningful, Kim says, because Korea represents one of the toughest markets due to consumers’ high technology literacy and reputation as a global test bed. The significance of the Korean market in Microsoft’s overall business plans was echoed by its CEO Steve Ballmer, who on a visit to Seoul

Sep 11, 2012By Kim Yoo-chul

Tech & Science

Exclusive Samsung to sue Apple over iPhone 5

LTE patent-rich Korean firm keenly awaits debut for assessment By Kim Yoo-chul Samsung Electronics will sue Apple over its release of the iPhone 5 for infringing on its fourth-generation (4G) long-term evolution (LTE) connectivity patents, according to industry sources, Monday. ``It’s true that Samsung Electronics has decided to take immediate legal action against the Cupertino-based Apple. Countries in Europe and even the United States ― Apple’s home-turf ― are our primary targets,’’ said an industry source. The Korea’s tech giant’s move came immediately after industry sources confirmed Monday that the U.S. technology giant will unveil the iPhone 5 featuring 4G LTE in Korea. The sources said that Apple has agreed with local mobile carriers to release the LTE-enabled iPhone on the local market for domestic telecommunications frequencies. The sources also added it’s unlikely Apple would release the new iPhone using conventional third-generation (3G) networks. ``Apple claimed the existing 3G-related patents are standard essential patents (SEPs) according to our earlie

Sep 10, 2012By Kim Yoo-chul

Tech & Science

Samsung SDS eyes Asian breakthrough

By Kim Yoo-chul Information technology and software services firm Samsung SDS has been regarded as the biggest fish in the pond, enjoying undisputed leadership in Korea but essentially anonymous once leaving friendly waters. Of course, a one-dimensional reliance on local customers is an embarrassing trait for an affiliate belonging to Samsung Group, the country’s biggest conglomerate and global giant. The company is determined to give its Korea-centric business a passport and Asia seems to be its first target in an ambitious plan to matter internationally. Samsung SDS is headed by Alfred Koh, a Korean-American, who believes that developing economies like China, India and Malaysia could combine as a launch pad for its global business. Koh appears to have the trust of the conglomerate’s upper management, which rarely appoints non-Korean national as CEOs of key business units. For this year, Samsung SDS is aiming for 30 percent of its projected 5 trillion won ($4.4 billion) revenue from overseas. It will invest 260 billion won in future business projects this year,

Sep 9, 2012By Kim Yoo-chul

Tech & Science

Is Apple turning into patent troll?

By Kim Yoo-chul Intellectual property disputes have escalated worldwide with Apple, the maker of iPhones and iPads, somehow involved in every technology feud that matters today. This has some observers wondering whether the California-based company is becoming less of an innovative force than an opportunistic “patent troll,” intent on trapping rivals with litigation rather than letting consumers decide which are the best products. David Drummond, a legal expert representing intellectual property related to Google’s Android mobile operating system, recently criticized Apple on his blog, saying that, “patents were meant to encourage innovation, but lately they are being used as a weapon to stop it.” Patent experts understand where Drummond is coming from. “It’s regrettable that Apple is concentrating more on taking competitors to court than developing its next line of wow products,” said Jeong Dong-joon, president of local patent firm, Su. “Under the leadership of the late founder Steve Jobs, Apple maintained a pace of releasing new products nearly every year. Unde

Sep 9, 2012By Kim Yoo-chul

Tech & Science

LSIS inks deal with K-Water

By Kim Yoo-chul LSIS, the nation’s leading supplier for electronic materials, has agreed a partnership with Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-Water) for water treatment technology, LSIS said in a statement. The collaboration is aimed at saving electricity costs for LSIS’s local factories by implementing advanced water consumption systems, company spokesman Kim Dae-seong said, Thursday. The estimation system could boost flexibility in water management as the technology makes it possible to monitor estimated water consumption on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, the statement said. ``Water distribution schedules will automatically be scheduled upon situations throughout various solutions,’’ Kim said. The LSIS factory in the local provincial city of Boryeong, south of Seoul, expects to save 700 megawatts of electricity yearly using the technology. ``On a nationwide basis, this will help cut costs by 5 billion won yearly and carbon dioxide emissions by 33,000 tons,’’ said the statement. LSIS’s expansion into the water treatment business comes after major technology fir

Sep 6, 2012By Kim Yoo-chul

Tech & Science

US experts argue Apple is innovation killer

This is the first in a series of articles analyzing and forecasting how the ongoing patent dispute between Samsung Electronics and Apple will unfold down the road. ― ED. Experts say US firm resorts to frivolous litigation to smolder smart creativity By Kim Yoo-chul Even U.S. officials and patent experts now see Apple's bid to ban the sale of Samsung Electronics smartphones as detrimental to keeping the information and technology industry innovative. Against this background, U.S. Judge Lucy Koh is being asked by Apple to triple the $1.05 billion in damages the jury in San Jose, Calif., told Samsung to pay the American firm in the patent suit. Her ruling is due on Sept. 24. However, there is growing evidence that suggests Apple is not as much of an innovator as has been believed with an internal memo showing it may have copied Samsung and LG products for its first iPhone. Government officials and patent experts in the United States argue that a complete sales ban on Samsung products will hurt innovation. On Thursday, John R. Read, chief of the antitrust division

Sep 6, 2012By Kim Yoo-chul

Tech & Science

Samsung seeks sales ban on LG OLED television

By Kim Yoo-chul Samsung Display, the world’s biggest flat-screen maker, is seeking a complete sales ban on its rival LG Display’s advanced flat-screen televisions using organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology. On Wednesday, Samsung filed the injunction request with the Seoul Central District Court. ``LG Display stole our key OLED technologies and employees. Thus, we are seeking a ban on the sale of LG’s OLED TVs in South Korea,’’ Samsung said. The firm is also seeking $1 million in compensation, though LG Display said it doesn’t plan to pay anything to its rival. Eleven people were previously charged with leaking the Samsung technology, according to prosecutors. Aside from the LG executives, six of the group were apparently former or current employees at Samsung Display. LG denied all allegations of industrial espionage. It said Samsung’s request ``doesn’t make any sense’’ as LG still believes none of its employees ever tried to steal the OLED technology. ``We don’t need Samsung’s OLED technology as LG Display is using WRGB-OLED technology as our key focus. I

Sep 5, 2012By Kim Yoo-chul

Kim Yoo-chul

Read more

KT sees new growth in content

Samsung beefing up camera business

Exclusive Galaxy S4 due in February

Microsoft aims to become ‘melting pot’

Exclusive Samsung to sue Apple over iPhone 5

Samsung SDS eyes Asian breakthrough

Is Apple turning into patent troll?

LSIS inks deal with K-Water

US experts argue Apple is innovation killer

Samsung seeks sales ban on LG OLED television

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