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Tag: samsung

  • Wearable power supplies: the next new retail category

    Wearable power supplies: the next new retail category

    What’s the next new retail category in electronics? Wearable power supplies, judging by product innovations just revealed in Korea.

    Samsung SDI Co and LG Chem Co, South Korea’s two major battery makers, are expanding their product portfolios into flexible cells for wearable devices, a move seen to meet increasing global demand for bendable gadgets such as smartwatches.

    The two battery-making units of Samsung Group and LG Group showcased their latest flexible battery lineups at an exhibition in Seoul.

    Samsung SDI unveiled two types of flexible batteries – a stripe and band-type — that are designed to be applied for use in various wearable devices as necklaces and hair bands, the company said.

    The ultra-slim, 0.3mm-thin stripe battery, showcased for the first time, is a next-generation battery made with fibre which enables far greater flexibility than existing bendable cells, the company said.

    The band-type battery is designed to be used in smartwatches and is proven to resist over 50,000 bendings and enhance a gadget’s capacity by up to 50 per cent, it added.

    The Samsung unit supplies the bulk of its batteries to its bigger affiliate Samsung Electronics Co, the world’s top smartphone maker. Recently there have been market speculations that Samsung’s next flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S7, will come in a bendable form. The smartphone is forecast to be released early next year.

    LG Chem also put on display a wristband-type battery called “wire battery” that can be folded into half. The company developed a wire-type battery in 2013 for the first time in the world, before it came up with the world’s first hexagonal-shape battery in June.

    LG Chem said the band-type and hexagonal batteries will likely double the battery capacity for smartwatches.

    According to global market tracker Gartner, smartwatches are forecast to account for 40 per cent of wrist-wearing devices in the world by 2016, with its global shipments to surpass 100 million in 2020.

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  • Capital Group, Samsung Asset Management form strategic partnership in Korea

    Capital Group, Samsung Asset Management form strategic partnership in Korea

    Capital Group and Seoul-based Samsung Asset Management on Wednesday announced a strategic partnership to cooperate on developing active investment strategies for institutional and retail investors in Korea.

    Capital Group, with $1.4 trillion in assets under management, and Samsung Asset Management, Korea’s top manager with $166 billion in AUM, “will work together to co-develop retirement solutions and asset allocation products and enhance SAM’s active investment capability,” a news release said.

    Under the agreement, Capital Group will help its Korean partner become familiar with “Capital-style active management,” and work to provide management know-how in areas such as business management and client management.

    A Seoul-based spokesman for Samsung Asset Management said the partnership with Capital Group would be a cornerstone of the firm’s goal of becoming one of Asia’s top three home-grown asset management companies by 2020.

    Sung-hoon Koo, SAM’s CEO, said in the release that the partnership will pave the way for his firm to “upgrade its active equity investment capability and implement life cycle asset allocation product strategies.”

    The news release also quoted Tim Armour, chairman of the Capital Group, saying the “broader plan is to co-design investment solutions to fulfill the savings, retirement and insurance-linked needs of Korean investors.”

    The Samsung spokesman, in a telephone interview, and Tom Joyce, Capital’s head of global media relations, in an e-mail, said details of the economics of the relationship — specifically how co-developed products would be distributed and revenues shared — had yet to be worked out. “It is too early to say what the pricing and structures will be,” noted Mr. Joyce, adding “the economics will be worked through.”

    Separately, the news release said the partnership will include selecting and using “appropriate Capital Group products and services across multiple Samsung distribution channels.”

    Mr. Joyce didn’t respond directly to a question about whether this was the first time Capital Group had entered into such a partnership. Instead, he cited Samsung’s interest in learning more about Capital’s system and “way of investing,” while noting Capital’s interest in learning “how Samsung markets and distributes products to Korean investors.”

    According to data provider eVestment, Capital Group listed roughly $275 million in AUM managed on behalf of Korean investors.

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  • Samsung Pay hits $30m in first month

    Samsung Pay hits $30m in first month

    Samsung Electronics said Thursday its mobile payment solution has processed tractions totaling US$30 million in the month after its debut in South Korea.

    The company officially released Samsung Pay in South Korea on August 20.

    The platform, available for Samsung’s high-end smartphones, including the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy Note 5, supports magnetic secure transmission (MST) technology that works on traditional credit card machines.

    Like rivals Apple Pay and Android Pay, it also supports near field communication (NFC) that requires a separate transaction device.

    Over the one-month period, Samsung said around 1.5 million transactions have been made, with 60 per cent of them being from the Galaxy Note 5 phablet, a cross between a smartphone and a tablet PC showcased in August. Samsung Pay is also accepted at some 1000 ATMs operated by local bank Woori Bank across the nation.

    “Although the details on Samsung Pay usage are constantly being updated, the response we’ve received so far has been beyond our expectations,” said Rhee In-jong, Samsung Electronics VP.

    “We knew Samsung Pay would be a game changer in the mobile payment industry, and now with the user data, we are seeing the greater impact it is having on consumer behavior and on the lifestyles of our customers,” Rhee added.

    Samsung Pay is set to officially launch in the United States on Monday. Samsung added it will also reach Britain, Spain and China soon.

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  • Samsung Electronics unveils ‘future of shopping’

    Samsung Electronics unveils ‘future of shopping’

    The future is here. Pause to window shop and read information about the products displayed on the other side of a transparent OLED “window”.

    Try on outfits through virtual reality, and see how they look from all directions.

    Samsung Electronics will reveal new products using smart signage that will realize futuristic smart shopping at the IFA (Internationale Funkausstellung) 2015, in Berlin in a special space set up so visitors can experience ‘smart shopping’ through smart signage solutions such as transparent OLED and smart LED signage.

    Samsung’s transparent OLED will be revealed for the first time at the IFA. It boasts a penetration ratio of 45 per cent, which is the highest in the world, and full HD resolution.Through smart signage embedded with touch functions, virtual fitting solutions that can be used at apparel stores will also be exhibited. Customers can make a model in the screen try on the clothes instead, and see what they would look like through virtual reality. Information related to accessories that match the outfit can be provided for convenience.

    A mirror display that suggests beauty tips and information on makeup according to the user’s schedule, skin type and weather will also be revealed. The most unique part of the mirror display is that it reflects the user just like a mirror through the use of hi-tech reflecting panels.

    In addition, a smart LED signage solution with higher definition will be exhibited. The product has a high resolution with a pixel pitch (that’s the space between pixels) of 1.5mm and 2.5mm. It can be set up indoors, making it possible to be used in the lobbies of shopping malls or large scale displays.

    Samsung is also planning to show various LED signage products. “

    We are planning to suggest ideas of various usages of our signage products at the IFA. By introducing Europe to LED smart signage, we are determined to push into the global digital signage market,” said a spokesman.

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  • Korean banks back Samsung Pay

    Korean banks back Samsung Pay

    South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics says the country’s 10 credit card companies have agreed to support its new mobile payment system, slated for launch today, Thursday.

    Korea will be the first market in which the Samsung Pay service is launched. It supports not only the near field communication (NFC) technology like its rivals but also magnetic secure transmission (MST) and bar code technologies.

    The MST technology is significant as it is compatible with conventional credit card devices, and therefore, it can be used in a larger number of shops compared with Apple Pay. Samsung’s progress was made possible as it had bought US mobile technology firm LoopPay, which has patent rights related to MST.

    Samsung Pay is available through the Galaxy Note 5 and the Galaxy S6 Edge+ that were showcased last week, and software upgrades will be provided to the users of the two smartphones.

    The service will officially reach the United States on September 28.

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  • Mood darkens for trade in China

    Mood darkens for trade in China

    The business sentiment of Korean companies in China has worsened in the second quarter – particularly in the automotive and electronics sectors – mainly due to the slowdown in overall consumption in the Chinese market on the heels of a wobbling stock market.

    It was the second straight quarter that the business sentiment index remained below the 100 mark.

    According to a report by the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade (KIET) on Monday, the companies’ business survey index in the second quarter was 71, lower than 77 in the first quarter this year.

    The index reflects business sentiment, considering different business environments like quarterly profit performance, sales, costs and business regulations. As the index ranges from 0 up to 200, a number smaller than 100 means more survey participants expressed negative answers, while the index larger than 100 means more positive answers.

    The slump in business sentiment was the largest in automotive and electronic devices, two industries in which Chinese rivals are quickly catching up on Korean technologies and in which consumer demands change quickly.The survey was taken for a month from June 15, by the Korea Chamber of Commerce & Industry’s Beijing office and a Korean business association in China, on some 226 Korean companies operating in China. They were doing business in seven different sectors, ranging from electronics and automotive to chemical, textile and retail.

    Korean auto companies in China gave 45 points in the second quarter, a lot lower than the 94 points in the first quarter, during which the Chinese auto taste has quickly moved to favor sports utility vehicles (SUVs) that are more affordable than Korean autos.

    Korean electronics companies gave 54 points in the second quarter, also much more negative than the first quarter’s 88 points, after Samsung smartphones lost market share to Xiaomi and Huawei.

    Only Korean chemical and retail industries expressed positive assessments regarding their businesses in the second quarter, each giving 103 points and 100 points, respectively.

    Survey participants said the slowdown of demand in the Chinese domestic market was the main reason for their business hardships in the second quarter, followed by competition with Chinese rivals and elevated labor cost, which raised overall production costs.

    In the first quarter, a steep increase in labor costs was the main reason Korean companies found it hard to do business in China, reflecting the slowdown in the growth of the domestic economy.

    However, the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) rolled out a positive outlook on Monday that the Chinese economy will maintain its growth rate at the 7 percent range in the latter half of the year and Chinese investment is on its way to recovery thanks to state-led infrastructure building projects, which bring up both imports from other companies as well as local real estate transactions.

    The outlook said Korea’s export to China and local production of Korean companies will stay contracted until the third-quarter due to the unstable Chinese stock market and contracted consumption sentiment.

    The Chinese economy is forecast to rebound to last year’s level by the fourth quarter at the latest, the KITA outlook forecast, as the central government there is pushing policies to boost cash liquidity and the real estate market.

    “The sagging domestic economy made Chinese consumers lean towards frugal consumption, which helps local Chinese companies with advanced product quality gulping up market share against foreign products,” said Lee Bong-geol, a senior researcher at the Institute for International Trade at KITA

  • Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 to Hit Hong Kong Next Week

    Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 to Hit Hong Kong Next Week

    Last week, Samsung introduced its latest Galaxy Tab S tablets line up which is already up for pre-orders in some regions across the globe.

    If you’re based in Hong Kong waiting for the new tablet, you be glad to find out it will hit retail in the region next week.

    The Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 will be available in both WiFi and LTE configurations. The 9.7-inch WiFi variant is priced at HKD3,888 ($500), while the 8-inch model carries a slightly lower HKD3,088 ($400). The tablets will be available in both white and black color options, and will hit retail shelves in Hong Kong on August 4th. A gold color option for both tablets will also hit retail in mid-August.

    Users looking for LTE connectivity will have to shell out even more money as the 9.7-inch LTE Galaxy Tab S2 costs HKD4,888 ($630). On the other hand, the smaller 8-inch LTE model comes with a HKD4,088 ($527) price tag. Both LTE variants will hit retail in mid-August with the gold color option hitting retail sometime at the end of August.

    The tablets also comes with a number of goodies, including two-year free 100GB OneDrive storage, a coupon code from Expedia, free download of 1 book per month from Kindle and a little more.

     

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  • Reliance in 1000-store telco deal

    Reliance in 1000-store telco deal

    India’s Reliance Industries is to build a network of 1000 stores, the consumer face of a new 4G mobile phone network.

    The new mobile phone network will be launched in December with 1000 stores branded ‘Jio Centers’. The network itself will be called Jio.

    The store network will sell Jio-branded mobile phones and be backed up by 500,000 licenced connectivity outlets and one million recharge outlets. These customer contact points will be operational by December, when the network – undergoing beta testing from next month – will boast 80 per cent coverage of India.

    The stores will also sell Samsung, Apple, Huawei and Xiaomi phones for connection to its network.

    “Reliance Digital would be a catalyst by making available entry level to ultra premium 4G LTE smartphones… in driving the device ecosystem in India for Jio,” the company said in a statement.

    Reliance Industries operates in a number of sectors, although its base is in energy and retailing. It is headed by Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest individual.

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  • Apple iPhone’s Implodes in China Stock Crash

    Apple iPhone’s Implodes in China Stock Crash

    Apple iPhone sales appear to be in big  trouble, despite iPhone being on track to post a 40 percent year-over-year unit sales gain through the second quarter.

    Having lost the top position in U.S. smartphones sales to Samsung in May, virtually all of Apple’s positive sales momentum has been coming from the China. But after losing $3 trillion in the markets, and with their wealth frozen, a hundred million Chinese no longer need an iPhone.

    Apple is reported to be growing about five times faster than Samsung, despite excellent reviews of Samsung’s new Galaxy S6/Edge. Analysts’ positive opinion of Apple was reaffirmed when Samsung reported in May that it only achieved a 15 percent rise in profit to $6.1 billion on a 2 percent quarter-to-quarter revenue growth, to $43 billion.

    A close look at Apple’s numbers show that first quarter revenue from “Greater China” grew by 71 percent year-over-year, to $16.8 billion. The iPhone sales growth in China accounted for over 56 percent of Apple’s total revenue growth for the quarter.

    Analysts expect Apple to post another extraordinary sales report for the second quarter ending June, with over 50 million iPhone unit sales and revenue of $48 billion.

    Kantar Worldpanel Com Tel’s Carolina Milanesi published a comment last week that after losing U.S. market leadership to Apple in the three-month period through April 2015, the latest data shows that Samsung was again number one in U.S. vendor rankings in the first full month of Galaxy S6 availability.

    The iPhone 6 remained the best-selling smartphone in the U.S., and the iPhone 6 Plus was the fifth-most-popular for the period ending May 30. But Samsung’s Galaxy S5 held the second spot, and the Galaxy S6 held third place. As a result, for the three months ending May, Apple’s U.S. iPhone sales U.S. actually declined by 5 percent from the previous year.

    Kantar also exposes Apple’s Iphone poor performance in India and the three big Latin America markets of Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. Apple’s best penetration of these rapidly growing markets is Mexico, with only a 6.4 percent market share.

    Such a shocking turnabout would be a disaster.

    For the three months ending in May, China unit sales were up by 46.26 percent.The Apple’s growing dominance in the “Red Dragon” has been due to a concerted effort by Apple’s management to make iOS and Mac OS X easier for Chinese language users. Many of the upgrades at this year’s Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2015 were optimized specifically to target Chinese users, including new tools for developers to respond to the unique challenges associated with Chinese language.

    Apple has also won praise for the effectiveness of its retail stores and “Genius Bar” help desks in China. Apple’s’ head of retail stores, Angela Ahrendts, recently announced that the company opened 5 additional stores in February and is scheduled to expand from 15 to 40 stores over the next two years. Located in premium retail space, Apple’s retail stores in China are meant to distinguish the brand as aspirational.

    But all this good news for Apple was through the month of May, when the Chinese stock market was up over 150 percent for the year. Patriotically following China President Xi Jinping’s late 2013 call for “Silk Road” domestic reforms aimed at expanding consumption by taking public hundreds of state-owned-enterprises, the number of Chinese stock brokerage accounts for small individual investors exploded from 20 million to about 100 million. The ultimate sign of status became watching live stock prices on the iPhone 6.

    But after the Chinese stock markets lost $3 trillion in just 16 days of trading, the communist government on Thursday stepped in and suspended over half of the 2800 stocks in China for up to 6 months. Large holders are not allowed to sell stock and company insiders have been told to buy immediately.

    China’s stock market boom had been a wealth machine until it shockingly bankrupted tens of millions of Chinese in just a few weeks. With their capital frozen, demand for more iPhones to check suspended stocks seems ready to plummet.

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  • Samsung tests mobile payment service

    Samsung tests mobile payment service

    Samsung has launched a short, live beta test of its new mobile payment service.

    Samsung Pay, developed by Samsung Electronics, will soon be launched in its home market soon as a beta service for a 36 day trial period.

    Samsung Card says it will recruit beta testers for Samsung Pay until July 10. The testers will experience the Samsung Pay service at various major offline member stores of Samsung Card from July 15 to August 20.

    The card company will provide 10,000 points to those beta testers who spent more than 50,000 won through the payment solution. In addition, the company will hold a special event offering up to 50,000 points to active beta testers who use the service often.

    Samsung Pay, which is to be available in September, stands out from other competitors as the service supports virtually all forms of payment – near field communication (NFC), magnetic secure transmission (MST) and barcode technologies – which reaches far more point-of-sale devices than those of its rivals.

    Currently, other mobile payment services are used mainly online as they lack offline affiliates.

    Meanwhile, Samsung is planning to introduce the payment platform in the US later this year to compete with overseas mobile payment services like Apple Pay and Alipay.

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  • Indonesia offers virtual tour at World Expo Milano

    Indonesia offers virtual tour at World Expo Milano

    Visitors at the World Expo Milano (WEM) 2015 in Milan, Italy, can enjoy a virtual tour of Indonesia through an Oculus media show “Virtual Journey of Indonesia” at the Indonesian pavilion, a senior official stated.

    Director General for National Export Development of the Ministry of Trade Nus Nuzulia Ishak recently noted that the Oculus media show will provide visitors to the WEM at the Indonesian pavilion a feel of Indonesia through the Virtual Journey of Indonesia program.

    They can experience Indonesias tourism attractions such as hearing the whisper of sand at Mount Bromo or being present amid the car-free day in Jakarta.

    “Visitors at the WEM 2015 can virtually witness and feel Indonesias tourism attractions through the Oculus media show as though they were traveling in Indonesia,” Ishak remarked during the Virtual Journey of Indonesia premiere at the Indonesian Pavilion in Milan.

    Oculus is a virtual media platform that replicates a true-to-life experience of having visited a place. The latest technology medium, which was discovered by Palmer Lucky, is equipped with a special four-dimensional spectacle and a supporting screen to produce the desired effects.

    The users of the technology can also experience real-life effects such as dew and water, among others.

    The Indonesian pavilion, which aims to showcase Indonesias present and future, is therefore using the oculus media to let the visitors experience Indonesia.

    Visitors will feel as though they were actually visiting Indonesia through a virtual medium. The use of the medium through the Virtual Journey of Indonesia is expected to attract more visitors to the Indonesian pavilion.

    Moreover, the show is located near the “Bogor Cafe Desa Restaurant,” so that the visitors can enjoy Indonesian culinary specialties such as “sate ayam” (chicken satay), “nasi goring” (fried rice), and various others Indonesian delicacies.

    “So, if visitors want to enjoy unforgettable Indonesian tourism attractions and culinary specialties in a single day, they can just visit the Indonesian pavilion at the WEM, Milan,” added Ishak.

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  • Samsung Pay launch imminent

    Samsung Pay launch imminent

    Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest smartphone maker, says its new mobile payment platform, Samsung Pay, will be available for use by the second half of this year.

    The South Korean tech giant said it is moving to clinch ties with six local credit card firms by the summer and is aiming to open the service to the public during the second half of 2015.

    It has already joined forces with at least 10 US financial big names, including Visa and MasterCard, as well as US Bank, American Express, Bank of America and Citibank.

    Earlier this week, Samsung said its latest high-end smartphone, the Galaxy S6, which is expected to hit the market in April, will feature its own mobile wallet solution.

    Industry watchers said Samsung Pay stands out from other competitors, such as Apple Pay, as the service supports virtually all forms of payment — Near Field Communication (NFC), Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) and barcode technologies — which reaches far more registers than that of its rivals.

    The breakthrough was made possible after Samsung decided to buy US mobile technology firm LoopPay, which has patent rights related to MST, a payments solution that works with existing magnetic stripe readers, they said.

    While only 10 per cent of US-based shops and one per cent in South Korea have NFC-based services, more than 90 per cent of shops in both countries support the MST platform, implying Samsung Pay will be able to grab a strong market presence once launched, industry watchers added.

    Samsung, however, has not yet clarified how to generate profits from the new payment platform.

    “In the long run, Samsung Pay will issue gift cards or seek advertisement opportunities,” a Samsung official said. “For now, we plan to focus on the South Korean and US markets rather than the global market.”

    It has not yet come up with a plan to compete against Google’s “Google Wallet,” one of its key rivals. Last month, Google extracted an agreement from three US-based wireless carriers to pre-load Google Wallet on their Android smartphones.

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  • Samsung to freeze salaries in South Korea

    Samsung to freeze salaries in South Korea

    Samsung Electronics will freeze wages in 2015 for employees in South Korea for the first time in six years, after the world’s biggest smartphone maker saw profits fall in the face of rising competition.

    The cost-cutting move is the latest by Samsung Electronics, which in January reported its first annual profit decline since 2011, as it lost market share to Apple Inc’s new iPhones and cheaper Chinese rivals like Xiaomi Inc.

    The wage freeze also comes as the electronics giant is widely expected to unveil its next Galaxy S smartphone at a March 1 event, hoping to revive sales growth momentum.

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  • Samsung Pay to power in-store purchases on Galaxy S6

    Samsung Pay to power in-store purchases on Galaxy S6

    Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has unveiled Samsung Pay, a mobile payment service that will enable MasterCard cardholders to use their Samsung Galaxy S6 for everyday in-store purchases.

    Owners of the new device will be able to use their MasterCard credit and debit cards from participating banks directly through Samsung Pay.

    It will work at both contactless-enabled and most traditional point of sale terminals. This means that every purchase made with a MasterCard using a Samsung Galaxy S6 will offer the enhanced security, benefits and guarantees of a digital MasterCard transaction, including the latest tokenization technology.

    “This is an exciting time for payments,” said Ed McLaughlin, chief emerging payments officer, MasterCard. “As consumers are increasingly relying on their mobile devices in their everyday lives, we are excited to work with an industry leader like Samsung to deliver new payment options to our cardholders around the world.

    Injong Rhee, Executive Vice President at Samsung Electronics, added that Samsung’s KNOX security platform and fingerprint authentication make Samsung Pay transactions highly secure and easy to use.

    Samsung Pay will first be made available for US consumers this summer. MasterCard will be working with Samsung to roll out Samsung Pay to additional global markets, including Korea.

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  • Meet iBall: the tablet maker crushing Samsung in India

    Meet iBall: the tablet maker crushing Samsung in India

    Indian budget consumer electronics firm iBall raised eyebrows this week on a report that it has stolen South Korean juggernaut Samsung’s crown as India’s number one tablet vendor.

    Mumbai-based iBall claimed a 15.6 percent share of India’s tablet market in the fourth quarter of 2014, up from 4.5 percent a year earlier, as Samsung’s share shrank to 12.9 percent from 17.9 percent, according to IDC.

    iBall launched in 2001 with just one product category – the mouse. It ventured into the mobile phone business in 2010 and made its foray into tablet space a year later with the iBall Slide. In a price sensitive market, iBall products are attractive.

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