Financial News | Sundayobserver.lk

Samsung electronics is planning to start a branch office in Sri Lanka within a month said President and CEO, Samsung South West Asia, JungSoo Shin. He said that already Shankar Narayan has been appointed as the Country Manager for Sri Lanka. Speaking at the launch of 3D LED TVs in Sri Lanka Shin said that Samsung plans to be the market leader in the flat panel TV market as well as the mobile market by the end of this year.”Samsung enjoys a 30 percent market share in the flat panel TV market and are ranked second. In 64 markets Samsung is ranked as the market leader and we at Samsung are confident that we can be the market leader in Sri Lanka as well.”

President and CEO, Samsung South West Asia, JungSoo Shin shake hands with Country Manager for Sri Lanka Shankar Narayan. Pic by Sumanachandra Ariyawansa

To enhance its channel presence in Sri Lanka, Samsung has appointed Soft Logic as its distributor for electronic products.

Samsung products will be distributed by SoftLogic as well as its existing partners Singhagiri and Singer Sri Lanka. Samsung products are available to consumers in Sri Lanka through an expanded channel of around 350 dealers.

Shin said the 3D LED TVs will redefine the home entertainment experience for consumers in Sri Lanka and was confident that Samsung TVs will create an entertainment revolution in Sri Lanka. All TVs are designed to give the maximum convenience to customers.

The full line up of Samsung HD 3D televisions - LED 7000 Series will be available in the market from this week.

As a global market leader in colour televisions, Samsung remains committed to introducing new categories of entertainment like Full HD 3D TVs for consumers in Sri Lanka as in other parts of the world. Samsung’s proprietary built in video processor along with 3D processor, 3D optimized panel and frame rate conversion technology provide the best picture quality in 3D. Fluid motion. natural colour and real Full HD 3D are presented with the aid of Samsung 3D TVs’ Hyper Real engine creating an immersive viewing experience for consumers. For those who want to add the third dimension to their regular TV viewing, Samsung has included in its 3D processor an auto-conversion technology that renders 2D content into 3D in real time an industry first. Samsung is also seeking to create the 3D eco system in the country by launching its 3D Blu ray player BD-C6900 and 3D active glasses.

With built-in ethernet connection and wireless-ready capabilities, the 2010 Samsung 3D LED TV lineup is ready to meet the growing consumer demand for content without borders. The upgraded Internet@TV feature includes Samsung Apps providing consumers with an expanded, easy to navigate selection of content and applications from leading services like The Associated Press, Blockbuster, Fashion TV, Netflix, Picasa and YouTube amongst others. Applications can be downloaded and viewed all while watching TV. The entire range of 3D Full HD TVs launched include the upgraded Internet@TV with Samsung Apps.

The AllShare feature in the Samsung 3D TVs allows users to wirelessly connect their TV with compatible mobile devices .

This means that users can share movies, photos and music through a single device the Samsung 3D TV.

In keeping with Samsung’s theme planet first all products are made using environment friendly processes. SG

Micromax mobiles from Infinity

An array of sophisticated affordable cellular mobile phones will be within the reach of everybody soon.

General Manager-Sales, Micromax Mobile, Vikas Sahni (third from left) addressing the media in Colombo last week. Others in the picture are Director Micromax Mobile, Vikas Jain, Director Infinity Lanka Holdings (Pvt) Ltd, Gerald Vanderwall, Director Infinity Lanka Holdings (Pvt) Ltd, Sajith Hewa Kurumburage, Director Infinity Lanka Holdings (Pvt) Ltd, Upul Fernando and Director Infinity Lanka Holdings (Pvt) Ltd, Ronald Muller. Pic by Kavindra Perera

Cellular mobile phones with distinct quality, elegance with multi-functions that suit everyone’s purse will soon be available in all parts of the island through a network of retailers.

Micromax Informatics Limited has tied up with Infinity Lanka Holdings Ltd as a national distributor for Micromax cellular phones in Sri Lanka. Infinity Lanka Holdings Ltd has several retail outlets scattered across the country.

Micromax, one of the leading mobile handset companies in India, launched an array of cellular phones at a function held in Colombo last week.

The cellular phones in attractive colours and shapes captivated the audience. Micromax unveiled seven models of cellular phones and 3G USB cards ranging from less than Rs 3000 and upto Rs 25,000.

Micromax Informatics Limited Business Director, Vikas Jain said that they look at Sri Lanka as a very important business territory to access the untapped market.

“We will take heed on the multinational companies that dominate the cellular mobile phone industry in India and across the globe.” He said the launch in Sri Lanka will give them a chance to take Micromax from India to other SAARC nations as well.

Infinity Lanka Holdings Ltd, Director, Upul Fernando said they were launching an affordable quality mobile phone with all features such as Face Book and Internet for the middle and the lower segments of the market.

The new phones will have a warranty for one year and will be available in 57 sales outlets across the country.

Micromax Informatics Ltd Business Head for SAARC Territory Vikas Sahni said they were targeting the youth segment, the low tele-density and the rural population as their customer base. This was Micromax’s second international launch. Their first was in Nepal and the third will be in Bangladesh, ending up in the Middle Eastern countries. Micromax is one of the leading Indian Telecom companies with 23 domestic offices across India and an international presence in Hong Kong, USA, Dubai and Nepal.

Opportunities in tighter defence budgets

UK-based logistics solutions specialist IFS Defence is confident that tighter defence budgets will provide increased opportunities for the group as customers seek reductions in through-life program costs.

The company has identified a number of routes to growth, including a mergers and acquisitions strategy that is currently focused on the Asia Pacific region, India and the United States.

Since establishing a dedicated defence unit, IFS has provided asset management for a number of military platforms including the Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter, the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft and Saab’s JAS 39 Gripen fighter. Other clients include US primes Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics; Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation; UK-based companies Babcock International and BAE Systems; India’s Hindustan Aeronautics; and a number of armed forces.

Vice President, IFS South Asia Jayantha De Silva said “We are proud that 80% of our product is developed in Sri Lanka. Most of these large defence projects have been supported and implemented by Sri Lankans.

We have a wealth of experience in IFS defence solutions and we plan to help the defence establishment in our region.”IFS India provides all the defence manufacturing capability for Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), for example,” said Managing Director,IFS Defence, Iain Green “and we’re currently bidding with BAE HAL to extend applications for the Indian Air Force.”

The company recently won a contract with the UK Royal Navy to provide support and application hosting for the UK Ministry of Defence Navy Primary Maintenance Management System.

The contract outlines plans and options to procure services for upto five years, totalling upto GBP7.9 million (USD11.7 million).

People will pay for online news - Apple Chief

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said he believes that democracy hinges on a healthy press and that people will pay for news delivered on iPads and other Internet-linked gadgets.

“I don’t want to see us descend into a nation of bloggers,” Jobs said Tuesday during an on-stage interview at an All Things Digital conference in the Southern California coastal town of Rancho Palos Verdes.

“One of my beliefs very strongly is that any democracy depends on a free, healthy press.”

Jobs said he is “all for” anything Apple can do to help news gathering organizations find new ways of expressing themselves and getting paid so they can keep news gathering operations intact.

Apple’s vision for its iPad tablet computers includes the devices serving as Digital Age platforms on which newspapers and magazines can build profitable new business models.

“We all know what has happened to the economics of those businesses, and some of them are in real trouble,” Jobs said of traditional journalism operations.

“This is a potential opportunity to provide even more value than just a Web page and start to charge a little bit for that.

I think people are willing to pay for content. I believe in media and I believe in news content.”

Jobs had some advice for news operations regarding how to wring revenue out of stories hawked online.

“Price it aggressively and go for volume,” Jobs said. “I’m trying to get these folks to take more aggressive postures than what they charge traditionally for print.”

China, Canada among top five on US piracy watch list

US legislators condemned Canada, China, Mexico, Russia and Spain Wednesday for failing to crack down on piracy of movies, music, videogames and other copyrighted works.

Theft of intellectual property in the five nations was at “alarming levels,” the Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus said, placing them at the top of the “2010 International Piracy Watch List” for the second year in a row. The caucus, made up of 70 members of the US House of Representatives and Senate, said it was “greatly disappointed by their failure to make meaningful progress during the last year” in protecting copyrighted works.

“We are losing billions and billions of dollars because of the lack of intellectual property protections,” said Senator Orrin Hatch, a Republican from Utah. “These five countries have been robbing Americans.”

“Unfortunately, the United States is on the wrong end of the greatest theft of intellectual property in the history of humankind,” said Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island.

”The bipartisan caucus, citing industry estimates, said global piracy costs US firms over 25 billion dollars in lost sales annually.

The US legislators also released for the first time what they called a “list of notorious offenders” — websites making available unauthorised copies of the works of US creators.

The websites singled out were China’s Baidu, Canada’s is Hunt, Ukraine’s MP3fiesta, Sweden’s Pirate Bay, Germany’s Rapidshare and Luxembourg’s RMX4U.

The caucus called on US trading partners to “take action against websites based within their borders whose business models are premised on delivering infringing content.”

Mitch Bainwol, chairman and chief executive of the Recording Industry Association of America, which represents major record companies, said the “websites facilitate massive theft” and “undermine legitimate commerce.”

“The question for us globally is ‘Can we create a world in which the Internet becomes a place of order rather than a place of chaos?” he asked. Representative Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California, said pressure needs to be brought to bear on US banks and credit card companies whose services are being used to pay for pirated material on “rogue websites.”

“We not only have to put pressure on these countries that are tolerating piracy or encouraging piracy but we also have to put some pressure on companies here at home that are helping facilitate piracy,” Schiff said.

“We need to dry up that revenue stream as part of the attack on those sites.”

“This includes companies like Visa and Mastercard that facilitate financial transactions on these sites,” he said.

The caucus said Canada is a “leading host” of illegal file-sharing sites and its “enforcement record continues to fall short of what should be expected of our neighbor and largest trading partner.”

“At one point in 2009, five of the world’s top 10 illegitimate ‘bittorrent’ sites were registered, located, or operated out of Canada,” it said.

In China, “copyright theft is viewed in some sectors of the economy as a legitimate strategy for Chinese competitiveness,” the caucus said. “This must end.”

Mexico is a leading source for illegal camcorder copies of US films, the caucus said, and “piracy of hard goods and unauthorized use of software also remain severe problems.”

The caucus said Russia has made “inadequate progress in addressing Internet piracy” and needs to adopt “updated and uniform procedures for investigation and prosecution of copyright infringement.”

As for Spain, the caucus said it hopes the Spanish government will move quickly to tackle peer-to-peer piracy.

“Greater accountability and deterrence must be established in Spanish law,” it said.

Hewlett-Packard to cut 3,000 jobs

Hewlett-Packard, the world’s leading personal computer maker, said Tuesday it would cut 3,000 jobs as it makes a one-billion-dollar switch to fully automated data centers.

The investment in its Enterprise Services business entails the elimination of 9,000 jobs over the next three years, HP said.

“As a result of productivity gains and automation, HP expects to eliminate roughly 9,000 positions over a multiyear period to reinvest for further growth and to increase shareholder value,” the Palo Alto, California-based company said in a statement.

The company, in a presentation to analysts, said it would create 6,000 jobs in sales and deliveries as part of the restructuring.

The company planned to take a charge of around one billion dollars over the next several years for the technology upgrade, enabling clients “to run their businesses faster and more efficiently.” HP expected the restructuring to deliver gross annual savings of about one billion dollars, and net savings of 500-700 million dollars after reinvestment.

The restructuring is the latest in a series of steps HP has taken to integrate Electronic Data Systems (EDS), which it purchased in August 2008 and renamed HP Enterprise Services.

HP bought Texas-based business services outsourcing giant EDS as part of a 13.9 billion dollar deal aimed at creating a global powerhouse in computer services to compete against IBM.

“Hewlett-Packard, one of the world’s largest tech companies, will lay off 9,000 people as it tries to boost the productivity of its biggest unit — Enterprise Services,” said Douglas McIntyre at Moody’s Economy.com.

McIntyre noted that the purchase of EDS resulted in nearly 25,000 job cuts in 2009.

The operations account for about 25 percent of HP’s revenue and about the same portion of its operating income, he said.

Last month HP posted better-than-expected quarterly results as technology spending revived across all markets, with net profit of 2.2 billion dollars.

iPad lookalike on sale in China

Apple may have sold two million of its new iPad tablet computers in less than two months, but it now has a Chinese challenger — the identical looking iPed.

Apple’s iPad is not, officially, even on sale yet in China but the iPed can be bought in Shenzhen, southern China, for almost a fifth of the price of the US price of Apple’s gadget.

The world’s first iPad lookalike runs on Google’s Android operating system, is apparently powered by an Intel chip and sells for 105 dollars. The basic model iPad sells in the US for 499 dollars.

Pictures of the iPed, filmed by Japanese TV news and posted on YouTube, show the gadget being sold in a Shenzhen computer mall in packaging that even looks like an iPad box.

The change in vowel is seemingly the only major difference in appearance between the two gadgets.

A review of the iPed on tech website TECHi says “the iPed is exactly what you’re thinking: a Chinese knock-off.” “The iPed is an Intel-driven, Android-based copycat packaged like an Apple product and, to be honest — it doesn’t look half bad.” Last week, Apple and its contract electronics manufacturer Foxconn refused to confirm or deny rumours that the iPad was being made at Foxconn’s massive Shenzhen factory, which has been hit by a spate of staff suicides.

Apple, now the largest US technology company by value, said Monday it had sold two million iPads, outdoing even the iPhone on its launch.

Last Friday, the flat, 10-inch (25-centimetre) black tablet computer that Apple claims will revolutionise the industry went on sale in Australia, Japan, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland.

Demand in the United States was so strong that the company pushed back the global roll-out. It goes on sale in nine more countries in July, including Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

Last week, Apple dethroned software giant Microsoft as the largest US technology company in terms of market value.

Siedles launches Bravia LX900

Siedles unveiled its latest BRAVIA TV range based on a new iconic Monolithic design philosophy and first ever Full HD 3D TV BRAVIA for the home with the LX900 Series.

Featuring 3D integrated technology Motionflow PRO 200Hz, LED Backlight technology and built-in Wi-Fi access, at the Jaic Hilton Colombo recently.

Siedles (Pvt) Ltd General Manager David Martenstyn, said, “Sony believes that the 3D experience is the next stage in the evolution of multimedia entertainment for cinemas and homes.

With the new BRAVIA LX900, Sony seeks to provide the same high quality visual experience available at the latest 3D cinemas to consumers in the comfort of their homes”.

Siedles (Pvt) Ltd Marketing Manager Kamal Gunawardana said, “combining the prowess of the Internet and TV broadcasts, the BRAVIA NX series is a web-savvy AV enthusiast’s dream-come-true.

With built-in Wi-Fi, the BRAVIA NX series offers users the experience of seamlessly streaming a variety of on-demand Internet content such as YouTube video clips among a number of content providers, the way they now experience TV broadcasted programs. In addition, BRAVIA Internet Widgets lets users keep in touch with the world with configurable and customizable addons that allow access to the news, weather and all sorts of information”, he said.

Honda plant resumes operations

Japanese automaker Honda said its auto parts factory in southern China resumed full operations Wednesday after it offered a 24 percent pay rise to workers to end a crippling strike. The walkout at Honda Auto Parts Manufacturing Co in the city of Foshan brought the carmaker’s vehicle production in China to a screeching halt last week as its assembly lines ran out of key components. The parts plant “has resumed full production today and is at normal condition now,” a Beijing-based Honda spokeswoman told AFP, after a partial resumption of work the previous day. The spokeswoman said all of the workers due for morning shift at the factory showed up at their posts on Wednesday, although some of the staff are still dissatisfied with the pay rise offer. AFP

Honeybees disappearing: cell phone culprit

Electromagnetic frequency emitted by cell phones reduces bees’ colony size and the number of eggs laid by the queen bee and changes their behaviour, says the latest issue of Current Science. The magnetite in their bodies that helps bees navigate is sensitive to electro-smog that cell phones emit into the atmosphere. Scientists selected honeybee colonies at the university’s apiary for experiment. At the end of the experiment, there were neither honey, nor pollen nor brood and bees in the colony, resulting in the complete loss of the colony.

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