Samsung Electronics

El grupo surcoreano Samsung Electronics ha anunciado hoy que en 2009 su beneficio neto aumentó un 75% y que sus ventas ascendieron hasta los 84.470 millones de euros (114.410 millones de dólares), con lo que se convierte en la mayor compañía de tecnología del mundo.

Eastman Kodak filed complaints with the International Trade Commission Thursday against Apple and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion. According to Kodak, mobile devices from both companies infringe on technology pertaining to its patented method for previewing color images.

TeliaSonera has launched the world's first commercial mobile services based on Long-Term Evolution (LTE) -- the final stage in the development of fourth-generation (4G) mobile technology based on the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) standard. Starting Tuesday, laptop users equipped with dedicated 4G modems in Stockholm, Sweden, and Oslo, Norway, can access super-fast mobile broadband connections that are 10 times faster than turbocharged 3G networks can deliver now, the company said.

Apple will soon begin offering its iPhones through carriers in South Korea. On Wednesday, Apple jumped its last hurdle in getting the iPhone into the hands of mobile-phone users in South Korea.

Despite advanced technology and years of dabbling in overseas markets, Japan's handset makers have little presence beyond the country's shores. They call the problem Galapagos syndrome.

At first glance, Japanese cell phones are a gadget lover's dream: ready for Internet and e-mail, they double as credit cards, boarding passes and even body-fat calculators.

But it is hard to find anyone in Chicago or London using a Japanese phone like a Panasonic, a Sharp or an NEC. Despite years of dabbling in overseas markets, Japan's handset makers have little presence beyond the country's shores.

Upping the ante on rival Microsoft, IBM has taken the wraps off a series of collaborative agreements aimed at dramatically increasing the visibility of the company's Lotus collaboration platform on wireless handsets.

Big Blue is partnering with Verizon Wireless, Orange Group, and Samsung Electronics to deliver IBM Lotus Notes and Domino software to smartphone users in the United States, Europe and elsewhere overseas. IBM and Research In Motion also have unveiled new Lotus collaboration software and developer tools for RIM's BlackBerry platform.

Samsung Electronics Co. announced a major restructuring Friday, consolidating business operations into two divisions as South Korea's most powerful and iconic corporation deals with the slowing global economy and expectations of looming red ink.

The new organization was included in an announcement of personnel changes at the company as well as at the broader Samsung Group of which it serves as flagship.

In recent years, Korean, Taiwanese, and Japanese makers of liquid-crystal display panels have fought hard to establish dominance in the key tech market. And for most of 2007 and 2008 there was plenty of business to go around. Today, though, the economic crisis is slashing demand for the panels, used in flat-panel TVs, computer monitors, and cell-phone screens. While that's likely to hurt everyone in the battle, the Koreans expect the downturn to play out to their advantage.

In September 2007, Apple upstaged rival electronics retailers with a new product available only at its 180 stores. Billed as the world's smallest laser printer, the SCX-4500 offered all the must-have features of an Apple blockbuster: sleek good looks, buttonless touch controls, and easy set-up. The logo on the front, though, wasn't Apple's. It belonged to Samsung Electronics -- one of the biggest suppliers of flat-panel televisions, cellular phones, and refrigerators in retailing -- which created the stunning, piano-black printer.

Toshiba, Japan's largest chip maker, reported a quarterly loss on Wednesday after the global economic slowdown aggravated a glut in the market for chips used to store data in consumer electronics.

The net loss was yen26.8 billion, or about $275 million, in the three months that ended Sept. 30, compared with a yen25 billion profit a year earlier, the company said. Sales fell 7 percent to yen1.88 trillion.

Toshiba joins Samsung Electronics and Sony among electronics makers reporting lower earnings this month.