Tag: Samsung

Here is the latest in the continuing smartphone wars:

South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. is gearing up to unveiled its all new flagship smartphone at this year’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, hoping to put the company back in the ring with arch-rival Apple Inc., corporate sources said Sunday.

The flagship, widely expected to be called the Galaxy 6, aims to lay the foundation for Samsung to recapture the No. 1 smartphone manufacturer title that it lost late last year following lackluster sales of its Galaxy S5 and strong sales of Apple’s first large-screen iPhone 6.

The launch is expected to take place at 2:30 a.m. on Monday (Korea time) at a dedicated “Unpacked” event.

Samsung is also hoping that the new smartphone may help it outpace Chinese upstarts, such as Xiaomi Tech and Huawei Technologies Co, which have made strides, particularly in the world’s second-largest economy.

The combination of Apple’s super popular iPhone and challenges by Xiaomi and Huawei caused Samsung to suffer an “earnings shock” last year.

Company sources said that the new Galaxy, which was called “Project Zero” in its development stage, emphasizes a completely new form factor with importance placed on the materials used to make the phone.

In the past, Samsung’s flagships have taken a beating for using “flimsy” plastic, but the company in more recent months has been churning out devices with metal frames, such as the Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Alpha, or with all aluminum uni-body designs in the cases of the A3, A5 and A7.

Besides the build quality, Samsung said through official teasers that the new phone will have better internals in the form of a more powerful processor, memory capacity, camera and streamlined software, which will enhance the overall performance and user experience.

The new Galaxy, which could well come in the conventional flat and dual-curbed screen “Edge” variants, will have a Samsung Pay system pre-installed. The system based on LooPay technology allows users to use the phone like a credit card. Unlike Apple’s payment system that requires special terminals, the LooPay arrangement allows it to work with existing credit card readers.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but it is going to be interesting to see if consumers prefer the old credit car technology that Samsung is banking on or the built in Apple Pay technology in the iPhone?

It looks like Samsung is developing their answer to Apple Pay:

South Korea’s tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. said Thursday that it has bought U.S. mobile technology firm LoopPay Inc., a move apparently aimed at making inroads into the mobile payment technology market against its rival Apple Inc.

“Samsung has made efforts to provide safe and convenient mobile payment service,” said Shin Jong-kyun who heads the mobile division at the Seoul-based company. “The acquisition will spur up the company to lead the world mobile commerce market.”

LoopPay has patent rights related to magnetic secure transmission, a payments solution that works with the existing magnetic stripe readers.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Yes they are and they even admit to it:

Part of the Samsung Smarttv EULA: “Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party through your use of Voice Recognition.”

This is part of their speech-recognition tech, which uses third parties (whose privacy policies Samsung doesn’t make any representations about) to turn your words into text.  [Boing Boing]

I recommend everyone read more about this over at the Marmot’s Hole.

The Samsung heir apparent has cracked Bloomberg’s Top 200 of the world’s richest people:

Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman of South Korean tech firm Samsung Electronics Co., made the list of the world’s top 200 richest people for the first time as Samsung Group’s heir apparent raked in big fortunes from successful initial public offerings of its two affiliates, the Bloomberg Billionaire Index showed Tuesday.

The 46-year-old Lee’s listed stock value was estimated at US$7.2 billion to rank 183rd worldwide in the latest Bloomberg index, making him the second-wealthiest person in South Korea after his father, Lee Kun-hee.

The senior Lee, who is recuperating from a heart attack he suffered in May, ranked No. 77, with his listed assets worth $13.1 billion as of early Tuesday, the index showed.

Formerly among the world’s 400 richest people in September, the junior Lee has made a big leap forward as the nation’s most powerful conglomerate listed two of its affiliates — Samsung SDS Co. and Cheil Industries Inc. — in just over a month, in a move seen as preparing for management succession. [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

#Samsung phones cleared for #US #government use http://t.co/9kTuG77fYE #technology #GALAXYNote4 #SouthKorea

— Asian Correspondent (@AsCorrespondent) October 21, 2014

It looks like Samsung and Facebook may be trying to come up with some kind of partnership to take on their business rivals:

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg visited Samsung Electronics Co. headquarters in Seoul on Tuesday, Samsung officials said, in an apparent bid to discuss new business models for the two firms.

A Samsung spokesman said Zuckerberg had visited the headquarters, without revealing other details including people he met with and the purpose of the visit. He is believed to have met with Samsung’s heir-apparent Lee Jay-yong, who was spotted entering the building shortly ahead of the spokesman’s remarks.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but I wonder if Samsung is trying to better integrate Facebook services into other Samsung products like their TVs or appliances? Anyone have any other ideas on what partnership they could be forging?

For all you ROK Heads living in Korea a highly successful woman is available:

The eldest daughter of Samsung Electronics Co. Chairman Lee Kun-hee is going through divorce proceedings, the company said Saturday.

Ending a 15-year marriage, Lee Bu-jin, 44, filed for divorce mediation with her 46-year-old husband, Im Woo-jae, at the Seongnam branch of Suwon District Court on Wednesday, according to the company.

Mediation during divorce is a way of finding solutions to issues such as child custody and spousal support without a formal trial. When an agreement is not reached amicably, a divorce trial can take place.

The younger Lee currently heads Hotel Shilla, the group’s hotel unit, while Im serves as the vice-president of Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co.

Born in 1968, Im joined Samsung C&T in 1995 and met the younger Lee in May of that year while performing extension work. The two married in 1999 and have one son.  [Yonhap]

This is an example of how absurd the competitive between Korean companies can get when things get this petty:

Following recent news that Korean alcohol company execs personally orchestrated a rumor-mongering campaign against the competition on Korean home turf, the bizarre story of an LG executive allegedly vandalizing Samsung-made washing machines in two Berlin appliance shops earlier this month leads one to question whether the country’s highly-competitive industries are taking it all a little too seriously.

On September 3rd, sales staff at the two different appliance shops in Berlin found five display models on the showroom floor with broken doors. The sales staff called local police after CCTV allegedly showed Jo Seong-jin, the president of the Home Appliance Division of LG Electronics, heavily leaning on the door hinges of the Samsung Crystal Blue washing machines so that they would be unable to close properly. The LG team was in town for the 2014 IFA electronics show.  [Busan Haps]

You can read more at the Busan Haps link.