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☆ Apple to sell Vision Pro AR headset for triple Meta's top-line price
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Stephen Nellis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/4] People use cameras as Apple's Vision Pro headsets are on display at Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference at the company's headquarters in Cupertino, California, U.S. June 5, 2023. Apple's headset will be available early next year in the U.S. with more countries coming later in 2024. The Vision Pro has two hours of use with an external battery, which Apple said would reduce the weight on the user's head. Investors and tech fans alike are focused on how much Apple's view of the virtual reality market overlaps with Meta's. In addition to Meta, Sony Group Corp (6758.T) and ByteDance-owned Pico both recently released virtual reality devices.

Persons: Loren Elliott CUPERTINO, Apple, Alan Dye, Tim Cook, Walt Disney's, Mark Zuckerberg, there's, John Ternus, Apple's, Craig Federighi, Stephen Nellis, Yuvraj Malik, Dawn Chmielewski, Katie Paul, Peter Henderson, Aditya Soni, Lisa Shumaker Organizations: Developers, REUTERS, Apple Inc, Pro, Apple, Vision, Reuters, Adobe, Microsoft, Unity, Meta, Sony Group Corp, Pico, Research, IDC, Mac Pro, Mac, Intel, Thomson Locations: Cupertino , California, U.S, Loren Elliott CUPERTINO , California, Bengaluru, Dawn, Los Angeles, New York

☆ Apple expected to reveal mixed-reality headset at developer conference
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Stephen Nellis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

CUPERTINO, California, June 5 (Reuters) - Apple Inc (AAPL.O) is expected to unveil a mixed-reality headset at its annual software developer conference on Monday, its first big move into a new product category since the introduction of the Apple Watch nine years ago. Like Meta's Quest Pro from last year and Quest 3 announced last week, Apple's device is likely to blend a video feed from the outside world with a virtual world displayed on screens inside the headset. Investors and tech fans alike will be focusing on how much Apple's view of the virtual reality market overlaps with Meta's. In addition to Meta, Sony Group Corp (6758.T) and ByteDance-owned Pico both recently released virtual reality devices. Investors will also look for updates on CarPlay, Apple's software for vehicles, which the company said last year would start to power more dashboard functions.

Persons: It's, Mark Zuckerberg, Stephen Nellis, Edwina Gibbs Organizations: Apple Inc, Apple Watch, Apple, Facebook, Meta, Meta's, Quest, Sony Group Corp, Pico, Research, IDC, Apple Park, Thomson Locations: CUPERTINO , California, San Francisco

☆ Here's what Apple unveiled at WWDC: Vision Pro, 15-inch MacBook Air, OS updates
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Vision Pro sports 12 cameras and a digital crown similar to the Apple Watch to toggle between the AR and VR environments. M2 ULTRA CHIPApple unveiled M2 Ultra, its most-powerful processor so far, that comes to its desktop computers Mac Pro and Mac Studio. LARGER MACBOOK AIR, POWERFUL DESKTOPSApple launched a 15-inch MacBook Air featuring the M2 chip and an 18-hour battery life. The company beefed up its desktop computers, introducing a new version of its flagship Mac Pro with the M2 Ultra chip, starting at $6,999. WIDGETS FOR APPLE WATCH, OS UPGRADES, JOURNALING APPApple announced fresh versions of operating systems across its products.

Persons: Apple, Yuvraj Malik, Maju Samuel Organizations: Apple Inc, Meta, PlayStation VR, Sony Group, Apple Watch, Disney, Microsoft, Adobe Inc, Vision, Apple, Mac, Mac Pro, Max, APP Apple, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ In challenge to Meta, Apple expected to unveil mixed-reality headset
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Stephen Nellis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"Meta and Apple are competing with each other. The difference is that Meta is doing it publicly, while Apple is doing it privately," said Anshel Sag, principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy. Analysts say that the Apple device, which Bloomberg has reported could cost near $3,000 and look like a pair of ski goggles, is a place holder of sorts. While Meta has products on the market, Apple has major advantages in defining the emerging field among software developers, said Jitesh Ubrani, a research manager who tracks the XR market at IDC. "And Apple is in a much better position to give you an experience that works across devices than Meta is."

Persons: Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg, Greg Joswiak, iPhones, Sag, Ben Bajarin, Meta, Jitesh Ubrani, Ubrani, Stephen Nellis, Peter Henderson, Matthew Lewis Organizations: FRANCISCO, Apple Inc, Apple, Worldwide Developers, Meta, Moor, Strategy, Analysts, Bloomberg, Sony Group Corp, Quest, Creative, IDC, San, Thomson Locations: California, Cupertino , California, Silicon Valley, San Francisco

☆ Sony eyes finance unit listing, doubles down on entertainment
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Sam Nussey | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Sony said it is considering a time frame of two to three years to spin off Sony Financial Group - whose operations include life insurance and banking - with an eye to listing the business and retaining a stake of slightly under 20%. The conglomerate is pursuing synergies between its business lines, which include video games, music and movies. A partial spin-off of Sony Financial, which the group said was made possible by changes in tax rules, would allow the newly listed business to retain Sony branding. The finance business reported a 5% fall in revenue to 1.45 trillion yen ($10.74 billion) in the year ended March. Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida said he recently watched the movie in Tokyo and used to play "Super Mario" too.

☆ Sony eyes listing for heavyweight finance unit
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Sam Nussey | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Sony said at a strategy briefing it is looking at listing Sony Financial Group, whose operations include life insurance and banking, and retaining a stake of slightly less than 20%. The announcement comes just three years after Sony took full control of the business in a $3.7 billion transaction. The financial unit reported a 5% decline in revenue to 1.45 trillion yen ($10.74 billion) in the year ended March. Operating profit rose 49% to 223.9 billion yen following one-off gains from a real estate sale. Sony shares were up 6% in Tokyo morning trade, a day after the group announced a buyback of up to 2.03% of its shares.

☆ Sony shares tumble on weaker-than-expected annual outlook
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TOKYO, May 1 (Reuters) - Sony Group Corp's (6758.T) shares fell as much as 4.8% on Monday after the Japanese electronics and entertainment conglomerate's annual profit outlook fell short of market expectations. The company on Friday posted a record operating profit for the year ended March 2023, driven by a robust performance at its music and microchip units. For the current business year, however, it projected a 3.2% profit decline to 1.17 trillion yen ($8.55 billion), missing an analysts average estimate of a 1.275 trillion yen profit, as it expects slow recovery in profitability in the videogame unit. Jefferies analyst Atul Goyal said in a note to clients Sony's outlook "is overly conservative," and that its PlayStation 5 (PS5) game consoles and game software are likely to benefit from pent-up demand. The conglomerate aims to sell a record 25 million units of the PS5 in the year to next March.

The Japanese company said it expects operating profit in the year to March 31 to fall 3.2% to 1.17 trillion yen ($8.65 billion), lower than an analysts' average estimate of a 1.275 trillion yen profit, according to Refinitiv data. For this business year, the company forecast profit at its gaming and network unit to rise by 8% to 270 billion yen. Software sales ought to have grown in tandem with hardware," Yasuda said. Sony also predicted that image sensor operating profit will dip by 5.8% to 200 billion yen. The firm said overall operating profit for the three months that ended March 31 fell 7.3% to 128.5 billion yen, with full year profit nudging up to a record 1.21 trillion yen.

[1/6] Takeshi Hakamada, "ispace" 's founder and chief executive, is pictured at a venue to watch landing of the lander in HAKUTO-R lunar exploration program on the Moon, in Tokyo, Japan, April 26, 2023. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-HoonTOKYO, April 25 (Reuters) - Japanese startup ispace (9348.T) said its attempt to make the first private moon landing had failed on Tuesday after losing contact with its Hakuto-R Mission 1 (M1) lander, concluding it had most likely crashed on the lunar surface. The M1 lander appeared set to autonomously touch down about 12:40 p.m. Eastern time (1640 GMT Tuesday) after coming as close as 295 feet (90 meters) from the lunar surface, a live animation of the lander's telemetry showed. The company said in a statement Wednesday in Japan that it believes the spacecraft may have made a "hard landing" on the lunar surface. The M1 also carried an experimental solid-state battery made by NGK Spark Plug Co (5334.T), among other objects to gauge how they perform on the moon.

[1/6] Takeshi Hakamada, "ispace" 's founder and chief executive, is pictured at a venue to watch landing of the lander in HAKUTO-R lunar exploration program on the Moon, in Tokyo, Japan, April 26, 2023. But a lunar landing would be an ambitious feat for a private firm. The Japanese firm "determined that there is a high probability that the lander eventually made a hard landing." In disclosure to the Tokyo Stock Exchange, ispace said it did not expect an immediate impact on its earnings forecast. The lander completed eight out of 10 mission objectives in space that will provide valuable data for the next landing attempt in 2024, Hakamada said.

☆ Analysis: Investors seek to break through Japan Inc's 'value trap'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Ankur Banerjee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

SINGAPORE, April 20 (Reuters) - Corporate governance in Japan has suddenly become a cause celebre, rousing the world's third-largest stock market out of decades of lethargy and drawing in hordes of foreign investors. Japan's stock market has long been seen by investors as a 'value trap' where companies focus on market share, hoard cash and care little about shareholder returns. What has prompted investors globally to sit up and take notice is an endorsement from legendary billionaire investor Warren Buffett. The MSCI Japan Value index (.dMIJP0000VPUS) is up 9% since August 2020 versus a 9% drop for the MSCI Japan growth index (.dMIJP0000GPUS). "I think the value trap that was Japan is no longer."

OAKLAND, California, April 19 (Reuters) - Chip manufacturer GlobalFoundries Inc (GFS.O) said on Wednesday it had filed a lawsuit against International Business Machines Corp (IBM.N), accusing it of unlawfully sharing confidential intellectual property and trade secrets. New York-based GlobalFoundries said in its complaint that IBM had shared IP and trade secrets with Rapidus, a new state-backed Japanese consortium that IBM is working with to develop and produce cutting-edge two-nanometre chips. It also asserted that IBM had unlawfully disclosed and misused its IP with Intel Corp (INTC.O), noting that IBM had announced in 2021 it would collaborate with Intel on next-generation chip technology. "IBM is unjustly receiving potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in licensing income and other benefits," GlobalFoundries said in a statement. GlobalFoundries is seeking compensatory and punitive damages as well as an injunction against IBM to stop using the trade secrets.

☆ Japan to add $2.3 billion subsidy to Rapidus for Chitose chip plant, media report
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TOKYO, April 10 (Reuters) - Japan's industry ministry is finalising a plan to provide state-backed chip maker Rapidus an additional 300 billion yen ($2.27 billion) in funding to build a semiconductor plant in the northern island of Hokkaido, a local paper reported on Saturday. Rapidus, which in February picked Chitose, near Sapporo, as the site for a cutting-edge two-nanometre chip factory, previously secured an initial 70 billion yen funding from the government. The additional grant will be used to help Rapidus build a prototype line scheduled to launch in 2025, the Hokkaido Shimbun paper said, citing multiple unidentified sources. The Japanese government is also offering up to 476 billion yen in subsidies to a Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) (2330.TW) plant in Kyushu, in which Sony Group Corp (6758.T) and Denso Corp (6902.T) each have a minority stake. ($1 = 132.3100 yen)Reporting by Kantaro Komiya; Editing by Kenneth MaxwellOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Want Better Customer Service? Join the (Membership) Club
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Katie Deighton | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +7 min

Others such as online travel agent Booking.com and Sony Group Corp.’s PlayStation provide priority customer service for high-ranking members of their loyalty programs. Other companies that offer premium customer support also say the perk is often a small part of more comprehensive packages, and that its introduction doesn’t mean their standard customer service is lacking. “We’ve always provided fantastic customer service, but what we added was another layer on top of that,” said Genaro Perez, senior vice president of marketing for P.F. Other companies offer priority customer service to customers who have ascended to the upper tiers of loyalty programs that do not cost extra to join. The strategy may help profits, but could create the perception that “free” customer service is low-quality and amplify inequality by deprioritizing lower-income customers, she said.

☆ Camera chip startup Prophesee and Qualcomm sign multi-year deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Jane Lanhee Lee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

OAKLAND, Calif., Feb 27 (Reuters) - Paris-based startup Prophesee, a maker of camera chips inspired by the way the human eye works, said on Monday it has signed a multi-year deal with Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O) to be used with the smartphone technology giant's product. The technology works with pixels on the sensor that only send information to the processor when there is change, while pixels that perceive no change stay muted. "So we are really combining both key players in the space," said Verre, referring to both Qualcomm and Sony, without disclosing financial terms of the deal. Verre said the Prophesee chip will be used in addition to conventional camera chips in a blueprint for smartphones that will be released this week at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The additional Prophesee chip will help correct some of the blurry imagery in existing smartphone camera systems, said Verre.

☆ India's Zee Entertainment extends fall after insolvency admission
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BENGALURU, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Shares of Indian media company Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEE.NS) extended their decline on Friday after insolvency proceedings were initiated against the company due to a loan default. Zee Entertainment shares fell as much as 5.4% in early trade after closing down nearly 4% in the previous session. Punit Goenka, chief executive of Zee on Thursday challenged insolvency proceedings against the company by India's bankruptcy court, and still expected a timely completion of a merger with the local unit of Japan's Sony Group Corp (6758.T). Meanwhile, the National Stock Exchange on Thursday banned the derivatives trading on Zee's stock effective from April 28. Goenka's petition is coming up for hearing on Friday morning at the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal.

☆ TSMC plans second Japan factory to make higher-end chips -media
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TOKYO, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (2330.TW) plans to construct a second chip plant in Japan to manufacture 5 and 10 nanometre chips from the second half of the decade, the Nikkan Kogyo newspaper reported on Friday. That decision could help Japan revive advanced semiconductor manufacturing, which it sees as key requirement for future economic growth driven by new digital technologies. TSMC's second plant in Japan will cost more than 1 trillion yen ($7.4 billion) to build, Nikkan Kogyo said. Wei at its last quarterly earnings call in January that the company was considering building a second plant in Japan, and said it had nothing further to add. Japan's government has offered TSMC a 476 billion yen subsidy, or about half the expected cost of the factory.

WHAT IS THE ACTIVISION DEAL? A group of 10 gamers in the United States has filed a private consumer antitrust lawsuit over the deal. Both companies have signed 10-year licensing deals that will bring Call of Duty to their gaming platform if the Activision deal is approved. Spain's Nware also signed a 10-year deal to bring Xbox and Activision Blizzard games to the Spanish cloud-gaming platform. Microsoft's Smith said the company would fight the FTC's request to block the deal.

Persons: Tencent, Martin Coleman, Brad Smith, Smith, Spain's Nware, Meta, Microsoft's Smith, Foo Yun Chee, Aurora Ellis, Maju Samuel Organizations: U.S . Federal Trade Commission, Microsoft, Activision, ACTIVISION, HK, Sony, U.S . FTC, Britain's, Markets, FTC, Nintendo, Sony Group, CMA, Commission, WHO, United States, May, Games Development, UNI Global Union, Nvidia, MICROSOFT, Britain, NINTENDO, NVIDIA, Xbox, Activision Blizzard, Antitrust, Facebook, Thomson Locations: metaverse, U.S, United, Brazil, Chile, Serbia, Saudi Arabia

Microsoft President Brad Smith told a news conference on Tuesday he was now more optimistic of getting the Activision acquisition done after the Nvidia deal and a similar arrangement with Nintendo Co Ltd (7974.T). Instead, Nvidia's 25 million customers will need to pay Nvidia for access to its cloud gaming platform and pay Microsoft for its games. Shares of Microsoft fell 2%, Nvidia dropped 3.4% and Activision fell 0.7% in a broadly lower market on Tuesday afternoon. Nvidia said it now supports the Xbox maker's bid to purchase Activision, but the deal could still be a hard sell with regulators. Smith said he hoped that rival Sony Group Corp (6758.T) will consider doing the same type of deal with Nvidia.

☆ Sony chip unit sees limited impact from recent export curbs to China
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TOKYO, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Sony Group Corp's (6758.T) semiconductor division will likely see a limited impact from chip export curbs to China by the United States, Japan and the Netherlands, Sony Semiconductor Solutions Chief Executive Terushi Shimizu said on Thursday. Sony is the world's largest maker of image sensors widely used in smartphones and autos. Shimizu said shipments of its security camera-related products could be affected by export curbs introduced by the United States in October, saying negative impact to its sales will likely exceed one billion yen ($7.47 million), but below 10 billion yen. In comparison, the chip division expects its total sales to come to 1.42 trillion yen for the year ending March 31, 2023. ($1 = 133.8700 yen)Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka Editing by Raissa KasolowskyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Rapidus considering building chip factory in Hokkaido, northern Japan-TV Tokyo
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TOKYO, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Japan's state-backed chip venture Rapidus is considering building a chip factory in Hokkaido, northern Japan, TV Tokyo reported on Wednesday. Rapidus will likely make a formal decision on new factory site by as early as end-February, according to the report. A spokesperson of the chip venture confirmed that Hokkaido governor will visit its headquarters in Tokyo on Thursday to discuss plant building. Japan has said it will invest an initial 70 billion yen ($525 million) in Rapidus, a venture led by tech firms including Sony Group Corp (6758.T) and NEC CorpRapidus told Reuters earlier this month that it would need about 7 trillion yen ($54 billion) of mostly taxpayer money to begin mass producing advanced logic chips in around 2027. ($1 = 133.2700 yen)Reporting by Kantaro Komiya and Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Toby ChopraOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Nintendo trims annual profit outlook on firmer yen
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TOKYO, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Japanese videogame maker Nintendo Co Ltd (7974.T) lowered by 4%on Tuesday its forecast for full-year operating profit, because of a firmer yen. It now expects total operating profit of 480 billion yen ($3.6 billion) for the year to March 31, down from a previous forecast of 500 billion. The latest outlook is lower than an average estimate of a profit of 582 billion yen from 21 analysts, according to Refinitiv data. It cut its Switch console sales target to 18 million units from 19 million. Nintendo, which competes with PlayStation creator Sony Group Corp (6758.T) and Xbox maker Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), sold 14.91 million Switch units in the nine months to Dec 31, compared with 18.95 million units in the same period a year earlier.

☆ Sony Group CFO Totoki to succeed Yoshida as president
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 2 (Reuters) - Sony Group Corp (6758.T) said on Thursday chief financial officer Hiroki Totoki would become president and chief operating officer on April 1 while retaining his current role. Incumbent president Kenichiro Yoshida will remain as chairman and chief executive officer. The entertainment and electronics conglomerate will hold a news conference on its new leadership at 4:00 p.m. (0700 GMT). Besides his role as chief financial officer in 2018, Totoki has been chief of the company's mobile phone division and head of the banking division. Reporting by Gokul Pisharody in Bengaluru and Kiyoshi Takenaka in Tokyo; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Bradley PerrettOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

TOKYO, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Japan's state-backed chip venture Rapidus will need about 7 trillion yen ($54 billion) of mostly taxpayer money to begin mass producing advanced logic chips in around 2027, its chairman, Tetsuro Higashi, told Reuters on Thursday. "In the past, the United States hindered Japan's chip industry growth. Japan and the United States worry that friction with China will result in semiconductor shortages that could threaten economic growth. Japan's most advanced semiconductor factory is a 40 nanometre plant owned by Renesas Electronics (6723.T). For them, the decision to invest will be taken when they are able assess our technology and production plans."

☆ Sony lifts outlook, but still falls short of expectations
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Logos of Sony Corp are seen at an electronics store in Narita International airport in Narita, Japan, November 1, 2016. The electronics and entertainment giant also said itschief financial officer, Hiroki Totoki, would become president and chief operating officer from April 1, while retaining his current role. The company said it now expects operating profit for the year to March 31 to total 1.18 trillion yen ($9.17 billion), up from its previous forecast of 1.16 trillion yen. That remains short of analysts' average estimate of a 1.19 trillion yen profit, according to Refinitiv data, and just shy of a record profit of 1.2 trillion yen posted a year earlier. ($1 = 128.6800 yen)Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka Editing by Shri Navaratnam and David DolanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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