Square Enix Supplies New Game to iPod
Skylark Restaurant Group to Use Cell-Phone Coupons
Sony to Accelerate Sales to Emerging Markets
NEC Acquires Hungarian Communication Company
FE Technologies to Acquire Pioneer’s Plasma Panel Plant
Huawei and Mobilink Sign WiMAX Network Installation Contract
China’s Cell-Phone Sales Reach $42 Million in 1st Q 2008
Nokia Releases High-End Handsets in India

Square Enix, a Japanese video game company, announced the release of a new role-playing game (RPG) called "Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes" for the iPod, reported tech portal IT+PLUS in July 2008.

The diminutive iPod is the best-selling digital audio player series in history, having sold more than 150 million units worldwide. Now, as Apple prepares a new distribution framework and performance improvements for the regular iPod, which is still popular as a game console, Squire Enix has decided to capitalize on the demand it sees in the overseas game market. (Hudson Soft Co. and Namco Bandai Games are also supplying games for the iPod.)

"Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes" is the first game from Square Enix for the iPod and is available over the Internet at iTunes stores worldwide. It is a bilingual game that can be played in either Japanese or English and costs $4.99.

Characters in the game are determined by which songs are stored on the user's iPod. The game changes songs into "Tune Troopers" that the user can control in virtual battles using the iPod’s Click Wheel. The game can also be played on other iPod platforms, including the iPod nano with video, iPod classic, and fifth-generation iPod models. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

Skylark of Japan, a leading family restaurant chain, is planning to adopt the use cell-phone coupons at 2,400 of its restaurants throughout the country, reported tech portal IT+PLUS in July 2008.

The Gusto and Bamiyan restaurants, which belong to the Skylark chain, will be the first to use the cell-phone coupons. Patrons simply display the coupons pictured on their cell-phones at participating restaurants to receive discounts on their meals. The move by Skylark is the first instance of a Japanese family restaurant chain using the new "virtual coupon" technology.

The company has plans to expand the program to 4,000 other restaurants in its chain in the near future. It remains to be seen whether other Japanese restaurant chains will follow suit. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

Sony of Japan announced in June 2008 that it would accelerate sales to emerging markets in the so-called BRIC countries, Brazil, Russia, India, and China, reported tech portal China Press.

As part of its corporate strategy for fiscal 2008 to 2010, the company plans to double its sales to these booming markets from 600 billion yen ($5.6 billion @ yen 106.89 /$US 1) in fiscal 2007 to 2 trillion yen ($18.70 billion) by 2010.

Another Sony goal is to achieve a 10% ROE (return on equity) ratio by fiscal 2010. To achieve these lofty goals, the company will invest 1.8 trillion yen ($16.8 billion) into technology R&D and key operations over the next three years. It also plans to strengthen its LCD TV operation, with plans to become a leading LCD TV supplier in the same time frame. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

NEC of Japan has acquired Linecom, a Hungarian telecom engineering company and former outsourcing partner based in Budapest, reported EE Times in July 2008. NEC reportedly paid about 1 billion yen ($9.35 million @ yen 106.89/$US 1) for the acquisition.

Prior to the deal, NEC had been contracting to Linecom installation and maintenance of its Pasolink service in Eastern Europe. Pasolink is an ultra-compact microwave communication system that expedites the installation of telecommunication infrastructure to meet the demands of rapid growth. Through the acquisition, NEC aims to enhance its wireless operations, including the Pasolink services, in Eastern Europe and develop strategic business opportunities in Western Europe.

NEC Europe (London), NEC’s European subsidiary, acquired stocks of Linecom through Hungarian securities companies and others, making Linecom a wholly owned subsidiary of NEC. Linecom will provide support services to Eastern European wireless carriers. NEC will provide its expertise in building optimal wireless infrastructures, such as base station allocation and installation of communication networks. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

FE Technologies (FET) of Japan, co-owned by Sony and an external technology investment fund, plans to acquire Pioneer’s plasma panel plant in Kagoshima Prefecture, reported FujiSankei Business i in July 2008.

Pioneer previously announced in March 2008 that it would cease plasma panel manufacturing. FET wants to turn Pioneer’s plasma panel plant into its production base for FEDs. FET plans to mass-produce FED (field emission display) panels, a promising technology for next-generation flat panel displays, by the end of 2009. Similar to cathode ray tubes (CRTs), FEDs are only a few millimeters thick and energy efficient. They represent a flat-panel technology that has the quality of a CRT picture and is possibly more energy efficient than existing LCD and plasma displays.

FET is currently finalizing terms and conditions with Pioneer and hoping to reach an agreement before the end of 2008. The total investment is estimated at 20–30 billion yen ($187.09–$280.63 million @ yen 106.89/$US 1). If the deal goes through, FET would retain some Pioneer employees. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

Huawei of China and Mobilink of Pakistan signed an agreement that will allow Huawei to deploy Mobilink's WiMAX network in Pakistan, reported japan.internet.com in July 2008. Per the agreement, Huawei will install a WiMAX IEEE 802.16e network for Mobilink, the first GSM operator and largest cellular service provider in Pakistan. In addition, Huawei will supply WiMAX network solutions and equipment to Mobilink, which was previously owned by Motorola before being sold to Orascom.

After the initial phase of construction, Huawei’s WiMAX network will cover six major cities in Pakistan, including the capital city of Islamabad. Huawei began WiMAX R&D in 2001 and now has a WiMAX R&D staff of about 1,200 employees. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

Analysys International, a Beijing-based marketing research firm (http://english.analysys.com.cn/home/index2008.php), has just released its 1Q 2008 "Cellular Phone Market Report" for China, reported China Press.

According to the report, 42.1 million wireless handsets were sold in China during the first quarter of 2008. That's a 5.4% increase from the previous quarter and a 14.1% increase year on year.

Of the 42.1 million handsets sold, 39.26 million were GSM handsets and 2.84 million were CDMA handsets. The top suppliers in China are Nokia with a 35.3% market share, Samsung Electronics at 13.2%, and Motorola at 11.7%. Their combined shares represent 60.2% of the total cell-phone market, confirming that foreign handset brands still dominate the Chinese cell-phone market. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

Nokia India has released two new models in India, the Nokia E71 and Nokia E66, reported japan.internet.com in July 2008. The E71 and the E66 retail for 22,949 rupees ($531.72 @ rupees 43.16/$US 1) and 23,689 rupees ($548.86), respectively. The phones support Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF files as well as third-party e-mail solutions. The E71 also allows users to edit MS Office documents.

According to Nokia India’s marketing director, the two premium models are targeted at customers who lead mobile lifestyles and want quick and easy access to their personal and work e-mail. Both phones support HSDPA (3G) browsing, wireless LAN, 3G, quad-band GSM 850/900/1800/1900, and Bluetooth 2.0. The phones also share similar feature sets, including 2.4-inch display, 3.2-megapixel auto-focus camera, music player, assisted GPS (A-GPS), FM radio tuner, and 110MBytes internal dynamic memory (expandable to 8GBytes). Claimed battery life is over 7.5 hours.

According to market research firm IDC, during 4^th quarter 2008 Nokia had the largest share of the cell-phone market in India at 52.8%, followed by LG Electronics at 10.2%, and Samsung Electronics at 8.3%. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]