WIRE REPORTS

UDPATE 1-Apax in talks to buy Polycom for $3 bln - FT Reuters UL] and Japanese consumer electronics giants Sony Corp (6758.T) or Panasonic Corp (6752.T) have been named as potential buyers of Polycom by analysts. ... and more » Manufacturers' Chip Spending To Rise Notably In 2010 -ISuppli Wall Street Journal Foxconn is expected to increase spending 19% to $22.6 billion, boosted by its manufacturing of HP products, Nintendo Co.'s (NTDOY, 7974.OK) Wii, Sony Corp. ... and more » Asia-Pacific Semiconductor Suppliers Defy the Downturn in 2009 TMC Net Casualties of the downturn The hardest hit companies among the Top 25 suppliers were Sony Corp. and Freescale Semiconductor Inc. with revenue declining by ... and more » Batman GOTY Edition PS3, Xbox 360 to include 3D play Punch Jump (blog) Interactive Entertainment this week said it will release Batman: Arkham Asylum Game of the Year Edition to Sony Corp.'s Playstation 3, Microsoft Corp. ... and more » Headlines: Weird press releases, Part IV: Libertarians do not count, dammit. News Trends (blog) s Wii and Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 last month to become the best-selling video-game console in the US for the first time in more than two years, ... and more » Silicon Valley Startups Flock to Texas Show on 'Nerd Birds' BusinessWeek The conference is more casual than the industry's big trade shows, such as the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where executives such as Sony Corp. ... Sony to sell Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker PSP bundle Punch Jump (blog) Sony Corp. this week said it will a new PSP bundle to include Konami Corp.'s Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker June 8. The Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker PSP ... and more » Sales Grew 2.3% At Asia-Pacific Chip Firms In 2009 -ISuppli Wall Street Journal Hardest-hit companies in the top 25 were Sony Corp. (SNE, 6758.TO) and Freescale Semiconductor Inc., where revenue dropped more than 30%. ... and more » BOJ Loan Program May Resound More With Government Than Economy BusinessWeek Companies from Toshiba Corp. to Sony Corp. are refraining from boosting their capital spending even after Japan's economy pulled out of its worst recession ... and more » Best Buy offers $10 off God of War III PS3 and Collection Punch Jump (blog) Inc. stores this week began offering $10 off Sony Corp.'s God of War III for the Playstation 3 with the purchase of the God of War Collection SKU. ... and more »

DAILY REPORTS

Mar 14 After Sony, Samsung and Panasonic Get Ready For The 3D Battle Last week, Sony Corp. unveiled the latest in technology by introducing the 3-D Television in Tokyo. Even though it launched the product in Japan, the company plans to introduce the product in America somewhere in June while Samsung and Panasonic plan to gear up and start selling 3D sets this month. Samsung 3D and Panasonic 3D are here to rock your home cinema. (sevensidedcube.net) Mar 11 Sony unveils motion-sensing game control kit Sony has a new message for Nintendo Wii gamers: Come join us. The maker of the PlayStation 3 unveiled on Thursday its highly anticipated motion-based controller system, as it takes aim at Nintendo's dominance in gaming. With PlayStation Move, Sony hopes to lure gamers who have outgrown Nintendo, which launched the Wii in 2006 and became the first to introduce motion-detecting controllers. (Japan Times) Mar 11 Nikkei climbs to 7-week high as exporters gain Japan's Nikkei average rose 1 percent to a seven-week high on Thursday, with exporters such as Sony Corp (6758.T) climbing after the yen dipped and U.S. wholesale inventories fell unexpectedly in January. Gains in financial shares also helped buoy the broader market, with big banks such as Mizuho Financial Group (8411.T) rising after a rally in their U.S. peers and consumer lenders extending gains after an upbeat brokerage report on the sector. (Reuters) Mar 11 Sony 3D glasses to cost $133 in Japan Gizmodo is reporting today that Sony Japan has announced the release of standalone shutter glasses that can be used alongside the company's upcoming 3D-supporting HDTVs. Roughly converted from yen, the Sony TDG-BR100 and TDG-BR50 active shutter glasses will cost $133 each, with a June release date. The infrared emitter necessary to drive the glasses will cost $55 extra. (afterdawn.com) Mar 9 Sony to Begin Worldwide 3D TV Launch in June Sony will begin selling 3D TVs in Japan on June 10 and worldwide at about the same time, it said Tuesday. A firmware upgrade to its PlayStation 3 console that adds 3D support and other 3D-compatible home electronics products will also be available to coincide with the television launch. Sony's first two sets, which are 40- and 46-inch models, will come bundled with two pairs of 3D glasses and will cost ¥290,000 (US$3,215) and ¥350,000 respectively. In July it will launch six further sets: 52- and 60-inch models that come with 3D glasses and four "3D-ready" models that have 3D circuitry inside the set but require the purchase of glasses and an infrared transmitter. (PC World) Mar 4 PlayStation 3 leap-year bug fixed Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. said a leap-year bug in its flagship PlayStation 3 console that locked out countless gamers on Monday and Tuesday is no longer causing disruptions. All models of the console except the latest slimline version were affected by a software glitch that incorrectly treated 2010 as a leap year. March 1 did not register because the machines "read" Monday as Feb. 29. (Asahi) Mar 2 Japanese Stocks Rise as Chip Companies Advance; Sekisui Gains Japanese stocks rose for a third day as global chip sales climbed and U.S. consumer spending increased more than expected. Sumco Corp. led gains by chip-related stocks. Sony Corp., an electronics maker that gets almost 25 percent of sales in the U.S., advanced 1.3 percent. Sekisui House Ltd., Japan's second- biggest homebuilder, climbed 3.3 percent after the company forecast a return to profit. Nintendo Co. jumped 3.1 percent after Kyodo News said the company sold more than 10 million Wii consoles in Japan. (BusinessWeek) Feb 24 Beatles, Jackson honored at Japan's Gold Disc Awards The Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) has handed out its Gold Disc Awards, with boy band Arashi and the Beatles among the winners. The Feb. 24 awards, the 24th edition of the ceremony, celebrated the artists that have sold the most in sales categories including singles, downloads, albums and total sales. On the strength of their re-mastered box sets, the Beatles snatched the Japan Gold Disc Award for international artist of the year. Michael Jackson picked up the international album of the year for the Sony Music CD release of "This Is It." (billboard.biz) Feb 23 Retro-looking dongle ups the sound; Sony slims down new Vaio The word "retro" is inadequate to describe the appearance of the X-Tube AS301DTS. The USB dongle looks like a refugee from a museum. The gadget is intended to provide a decent impression of DTS surround sound on laptop computers. Using a VIA VT1610 chip set, the dongle plugs into a USB port and delivers a simulated five-speaker surround-sound system through any pair of stereo headphones plugged into it. (Japan Times) Feb 16 Sony pulls organic television in Japan Sony said on Tuesday that it would stop selling a groundbreaking television that uses organic light-emitting diodes in Japan after exhausting demand for the Y200,000 ($2,224) sets. The 11-inch XEL-1 was the first OLED TV to market in 2007 and Sir Howard Stringer, Sony's chairman and chief executive, heralded it as evidence that Sony can innovate. Stopping sales of the XEL-1 in Japan without launching a long-promised 27-inch successor suggests that OLED will not rescue Sony's struggling TV business. (FT.com) Feb 13 Japan Is Still Big Portable Country In Japan, the PSP and Nintendo DS platforms are still outselling the home console competition. And it's the bigger versions of each portable platform, the standard PSP-3000 and Nintendo DSi LL, that Japan's buying more of. Sony's PlayStation Portable once again tops the charts, thanks to strong sales of God Eater and the three-way split of the Nintendo DS platform. Combined, the DS would have sold some 52,000-plus units, but that's not how sales tracker Media Create does it. (Kotaku) Feb 9 Panasonic to launch 3D plasma TV in Japan April 23 Japan's Panasonic Corp said on Tuesday it plans to launch 3D televisions on April 23 in Japan. The company said last month it would launch 3D TVs in the United States in the spring. Top consumer electronics makers including Panasonic and Sony Corp are launching 3D TVs this year as they seek to offer differentiating products that will be shielded from the sharp price falls plaguing the conventional flat TV market. (Reuters) Jan 31 Woes at Toyota, JAL, Sony bruise Japan Inc.'s stellar reputation Toyota is the latest Japanese corporate icon making headlines for all the wrong reasons. News of the automaker's massive vehicle recalls over faulty gas pedals came just days after Japan Airlines, a once proud flag carrier, filed for bankruptcy, saddled with billions in debt. Sony has lost its lead in consumer gadgets to the likes of Apple Inc. and has suffered its own quality mishaps. Honda, Japan's No. 2 automaker, is recalling 646,000 cars worldwide because of a faulty window switch. Taken together, Japan Inc.'s stellar reputation for quality has taken a hit - just as China is about to overtake it as the world's No. 2 economy and rising South Korean companies compete ever more aggressively. (Canadian Press) Jan 28 Sony to shadow Apple store strategy in Japan Sony this week outlined a plan to fight back against Apple by opening its own flagship retail stores. Starting with Sony Store Nagoya, the stores will imitate the multi-floor design of Apple flagships like Ginza and use large, spacious display areas divided by category. The first floor of the Nagoya store will focus on portable devices like Cyber-shot and Handycam cameras, the PSP, Sony-Ericsson phones, Walkman players and VAIO PCs; a second floor will focus on home theater equipment such as Blu-ray players and TVs. (electronista.com) Jan 27 Japan Plans 3D Broadcasts as Sony Preps 3D Truck Television broadcasting in 3D took a couple of steps further towards reality on Wednesday when Japan joined the list of countries planning to launch the new format and Sony said it will soon deliver a truck equipped to broadcast 3D programming on the go. Japan's Sky Perfect Communications plans to launch 3D broadcasting in the middle of this year with two to three programs per month, it said Wednesday. The announcement adds Japan to the list of countries planning to launch 3D broadcasting this year at about the same time compatible televisions begin appearing on the market. (PC World) Jan 27 Sony Music Japan Chairman Calls for Tougher Piracy Law Enforcement Sony Music Entertainment Japan chairman Masao Morita spoke about music piracy and the lack of enforcement by the Japanese government during his keynote speech at MIDEM yesterday. The Japanese government has recently added a law that makes downloading unauthorized content illegal, but Morita is concerned that this will never be enforced. (shoutcastblog.com) Jan 27 Toshiba Blu-ray recorders, mCube90 make life more compact If you can't beat them, don't join them - just copy their ideas and improve them. Toshiba is endeavoring to do just that having abandoned its HD-DVD format and instead opted to craft versions of Sony's brainchild, Blu-ray. Nobody can accuse Toshiba of not doing a wholehearted about face, what with three new Vardia-branded Blu-ray recorders to hit the market next month. The best of the bunch is the D-B1005K, which sports a prodigious 1-terabyte hard disk for recording up to 500 hours of high-definition TV footage. (Japan Times) Jan 21 IC recorders gaining popularity Integrated circuit audio recorders have come a long way in terms of sound quality, memory capacity, ease of use and affordability. IC recorders now are used in more diverse situations. They are now used not only in business situations, such as for recording conferences and meetings, but also in language studies and by people studying musical instruments to record practice sessions. Makers said the devices have become popular also among women and students. (Yomiuri) Jan 21 NTT DoCoMo to launch Xperia smart phone Japan's top mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo Inc. on Thursday said it will launch Sony Ericsson's Xperia smart phone in April, in a direct challenge to heavyweight Apple's iPhone handsets. With the touchscreen Xperia, a model that the Japanese-Swedish enterprise will introduce globally in the first quarter, NTT DoCoMo hopes to catch up with its smart phone rivals in Japan's already saturated market. (Economic Times) Jan 18 Mophie to give Japanese iPhones FeliCa with apps Mophie today promised to give Japanese iPhone owners much-requested support for FeliCa wireless payments. The team-up with two local firms will see a version of Mophie's casing that uses the same RFID wireless as the Sony standard. In tandem with an iPhone app, the add-on will let Apple's device pay for many goods by bringing the iPhone within an inch of a FeliCa source, such as at a store. (electronista.com) Jan 16 Japanese PS3s Get DVR Add-on We're still waiting for information as to whether we'll be getting these in the US, but Japan finally got their DVR. Torne is an adapter for Japanese PS3s that essentially gives the system DVR functionality. European markets were granted the privilege back in 2008, and Japan finally got it this week, but there's no word on a US release. (Cairns Post) Jan 12 Kindle upgrades, but DX e-reader is just the start of a boom Sony produced the world's first e-ink device for reading books, some six years ago. While Sony is still in the e-ink reader game, U.S. giant Amazon now leads the global market. Amazon is set to land a second blow against Sony in the form of its much-anticipated Kindle DX. Although the DX must be ordered from Amazon in the U.S. and delivered from there it will be usable in Japan, allowing wireless downloading of electronic books over 3G networks, reputedly in 60 seconds. (Japan Times) Jan 11 Japan tech needs M&A but patent war more likely There's a lot of that kind of introspection going on among Japanese tech executives at the Consumer Electronics Show this week, where the dominance of Sony Corp and Panasonic Corp seems to be a thing of the past, usurped by South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and LG Electronics Inc (Reuters) Jan 8 TV production war enters new dimension Japanese manufacturers, seeking to dominate the future in home entertainment, showcased their three-dimensional televisions and recorders at an electronics fair Wednesday. The makers unveiled both market-ready models and prototypes of 3-D appliances, while others announced plans for their own 3-D sets. Front-runners Sony Corp. and Panasonic Corp. also said they were getting involved in broadcast content by tying up with U.S. companies to create programs using the 3-D technology. (Asahi) Dec 28 PS3 Japan sales No. 1 amid Final Fantasy XIII Sales for Sony Corp.'s Playstation 3 ranked as the top-selling hardware for the week in Japan amid the release of Square Enix Holdings Co.'s Final Fantasy XIII. Media Create Co. on Fri. said the PS3 sold 237,086 units between Dec. 14 Dec. 20 to rank as the top console and No. 1 overall hardware for the week. (punchjump.com) [ More... ]