Intel Ultrabook™ Project: Tokyo

Three whirlwind days in Tokyo with will.i.am and the Intel Ultrabook™ Project. Check out other videos and learn more about the Ultrabook™ Project on Facebook – www.facebook.com

Nintendo shares dive on 3DS price cut, earnings (AFP)

Diving from Nintendo 3DS price reductions, revenue

TOKYO (AFP) – Shares of Nintendo of Japan fell 12.2 percent Friday after reporting a loss in the first quarter, the projected decline and reduced the price of its handheld 3DS by 40 percent, less than six months after its launch.

The giant of the game fell to a closing of 12.290 yen on the Osaka Securities Exchange.

At one point plummeted more than 20 percent to a six-year, the day after the company reported a net loss of 25.5 billion yen (327.9 million dollars) for the quarter April-June .

Nintendo lowered its forecast for the year to March 2012 with a net profit of 20 million yen, 82 percent below the previous estimate.

It is the price of its handheld console, 3DS, published in February, from ¥ 25,000 to 15,000 yen on August 11 slash in Japan, followed by corresponding cuts in foreign markets in September.

The move by the company as a signal that the device does not take off, leaving investors in Nintendo's business model was, said dealers.

The 3DS is the Japanese company the most important game console this year was touted at its launch as the world's first gaming console with a 3-D display that works without special glasses.

But Nintendo to competition from smart phones and tablets as Apple's iPod and iPhone, can be quickly downloaded on the cheap or even free games and play has been struggling.

Only 710,000 units of 3DS sold since the IPO in advance.

In a note to clients, Nomura Securities said Nintendo needed to "radically change tactics" to again increase the size of its population of games.

In June the company unveiled its Wii D following the success of the Wii, which has motion detection games for the general public.

But analysts fear that the new product may not be able to keep audiences first caught the Wii as more players to migrate to smart phones and social networking sites like Facebook.

Rovio Inc. 'Angry Birds' and games such as Facebook Zynga Inc. s "Farmville" are concrete examples of how the market has changed since Nintendo launched the DS in 2004, analysts said.

Nomura said he praised the move "bold" to drastically reduce the prices of 3DS, "as a way to recover lost momentum and prevent the rot spreads to the U Wii (which is expected to receive Swedish premiere in 2012)."

But analyst Yuta Sakurai added that the move "will hit profits harder than we anticipated."

JP Morgan was more than halved its target price from 9150 yen to 20,000 yen Nintendo, citing a decline in the price 3DS how to put "pressure on earnings in the future and makes clear how seriously the possibility of Nintendo."

Nintendo shares dive as profit outlook crumbles (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) – Nintendo Co Ltd's shares plunged as much as 20 percent after the company swung to a quarterly loss and slashed its annual profit target, hit by anemic sales of its five-month-old 3D capable games device.

The stock plunge wiped as much as $5 billion off the Japanese videogame maker's market value and triggered a rash of broker downgrades after the firm said profits would fall to their lowest in 27 years.

Nintendo cut the price of its 3DS to a loss-making level in a desperate attempt to push up sales, less than half a year after launching the gadget that it hoped would replicate the success of the previous generation DS.

"They are standing on the edge," said Yuuki Sakurai, CEO and president of Fukoku Capital Management in Tokyo. "When I ride on the trains I see people using their smartphones to play games and people don't want to overlap their spending on other devices," he said.

The Kyoto-based company must consider providing games to these new platforms rather than focusing on new hardware, Sakurai added.

Nintendo also reduced sales forecasts for its Wii home games console and the previous generation DS handheld device.

The Wii faces harsh competition from Microsoft's Xbox, while many casual gamers are flocking to devices such as Apple's blockbuster iPhone and iPad, rather than dedicated games gadgets.

Nintendo's shares fell as much 20 percent to 11,100 yen, its lowest intraday level since May 2004 before recovering to trade down about 12 percent by 0530 GMT. The shares have plunged nearly 50 percent so far this year.

"We needed to do something extremely daring to change the situation, so we decided on the price-cut," said President Satoru Iwata, a former game designer, who launched the Wii and expanded the gaming population, toppling Sony from the industry's top spot.

Speaking to reporters in Osaka on Thursday, Iwata acknowledging that sales of the much-anticipated 3DS had lost momentum shortly after the launch.

"However, by cutting the price before you get economies of scale, of course you make losses on the hardware," he said.

Nintendo sold only 710,000 units of the 3DS in April-June, compared with 3.6 million in the month following its launch, and a tiny fraction of the 16 million unit target for the year to March 2012. The Wii sold only 1.56 million units, half the figure in the same period last year.

The company cut its annual operating profit forecast after market hours on Thursday to 35 billion yen from an initial forecast of 175 billion yen. The new estimate is far short of the previous consensus of 154.9 billion yen based on 24 analysts' forecasts ahead of the results.

UNCERTAIN OUTLOOK

JP Morgan cut its rating on the firm behind the Super Mario franchise to "underweight" from "overweight", saying the current situation was worse than feared and the outlook uncertain.

"The timing of the 3DS hardware price cut is surprising, given the major in-house software releases… We believe the 3DS will be a heavy weight on earnings over the medium term. The lack of a share buyback announcement is also disappointing," analyst Hiroshi Kamide said in a report.

Weak consumer spending in North America and Europe has hit Japanese electronics firms across the board.

U.S. consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the country's economic activity, is expected to have decelerated sharply in the second quarter of 2011 to the weakest level since the end of the 2007-09 recession two years ago.

Shares of Sony Corp also fell on Friday, a day after the Japanese consumer electronics firm slashed its outlook for TV sales and cut its full-year net profit forecast to 60 billion yen from 80 billion yen.

Brokerage CLSA cut its rating on Sony to "underperform" from "outperform" and lowered its target share price to 2,150 yen from 2,430 yen, saying the downgrade reflected "the stronger headwinds from LCD panel and TV overcapacity as well as the strengthening yen".

Sony, the maker of Bravia TVs, slashed its annual forecast for LCD TVs to 22 million from 27 million and warned that annual losses in the division might widen from the previous year. ($1 = 77.800 Japanese Yen)

(Reporting by James Topham, Ayai Tomisawa, Mariko Katsumura and Tim Kelly; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Anshuman Daga)

Japan mobile gaming firm Gree targets 1 billion users (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan Gree mobile social gaming company will focus on 500 from 1 million to 1 billion users worldwide, competing with Facebook, the founder and chief executive, said Wednesday.

Grade this year paid $ 104 million in the rapidly growing mobile-based social gaming platform OpenFeint, which has 90 million users worldwide to buy and is adding more than 2.8 seconds.

"Our goal is to $ 500 million to a billion users, but does not have a deadline, or countries in particular," said Yoshikazu Tanaka. Facebook is said to have 700 million, and we strive for that level, "he said.

Gree Dena racing in the mobile social gaming market, which grew rapidly with the expansion of the advanced handsets with Japan, and the two are competing for their very profitable business model based on microtransactions in the game exports.

But some analysts say, they can be a difficult transition into the smartphone era face to reduce the social integration of Apple and gaming applications on the iPhone and distribution of free applications to mobile phones based on Google's Android operating system.

Google announced this week a special challenge for the social network Facebook.

Some in the industry expressed surprise at the high price OpenFeint Gree, a net loss of $ 6.6 million from the sale of $ 282,000 paid in fiscal 2010 reported, according to a statement Gree.

Tanaka said he was confident that he could be the company to profitability, although he did not specify the timing, says it will depend on how much Gree chose to invest.

Gree homemade 19600000000 yen ($ 242 million) in operating profit in the fiscal year to June last year on revenue of 35 years.2000000000 yen, operating profit and plans to 27-30000000000 yen in the year ended on Thursday hike.

Tanaka also said it expects higher growth in the Japanese market, where more than 25 million users Gree March boasted 2011th

"The population is approximately 120-130000000, so I think there is still room for growth," he said.

Concern about the economy in the United States, where consumers are grim, with unemployment stuck over 9 percent [ID: nLDE7520PE] should not affect the company's expansion, he said.

"I do not think that there is a connection. We grew very rapidly in Japan in recent years, even when the economy was not good," he said. "It's an inexpensive way to enjoy games, because you should not buy a console," he added.

Dena said last October that it would pay up to $ 403 buy-out U.S. rival ngmoco, how about building their own global network quotes.

(Reporting by Isabel Reynolds, cut Chris Gallagher)

Japan mobile gaming firm Gree targets 1 billion users (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan Gree mobile social gaming company will focus on 500 from 1 million to 1 billion users worldwide, competing with Facebook, the founder and chief executive, said Wednesday.

Grade this year paid $ 104 million in the rapidly growing mobile-based social gaming platform OpenFeint, which has 90 million users worldwide to buy and is adding more than 2.8 seconds.

"Our goal is to $ 500 million to a billion users, but does not have a deadline, or countries in particular," said Yoshikazu Tanaka. Facebook is said to have 700 million, and we strive for that level, "he said.

Gree Dena racing in the mobile social gaming market, which grew rapidly with the expansion of the advanced handsets with Japan, and the two are competing for their very profitable business model based on microtransactions in the game exports.

But some analysts say, they can be a difficult transition into the smartphone era face to reduce the social integration of Apple and gaming applications on the iPhone and distribution of free applications to mobile phones based on Google's Android operating system.

Google announced this week a special challenge for the social network Facebook.

Some in the industry expressed surprise at the high price OpenFeint Gree, a net loss of $ 6.6 million from the sale of $ 282,000 paid in fiscal 2010 reported, according to a statement Gree.

Tanaka said he was confident that he could be the company to profitability, although he did not specify the timing, says it will depend on how much Gree chose to invest.

Gree homemade 19600000000 yen ($ 242 million) in operating profit in the fiscal year to June last year on revenue of 35 years.2000000000 yen, operating profit and plans to 27-30000000000 yen in the year ended on Thursday hike.

Tanaka also said it expects higher growth in the Japanese market, where more than 25 million users Gree March boasted 2011th

"The population is approximately 120-130000000, so I think there is still room for growth," he said.

Concern about the economy in the United States, where consumers are grim, with unemployment stuck over 9 percent [ID: nLDE7520PE] should not affect the company's expansion, he said.

"I do not think that there is a connection. We grew very rapidly in Japan in recent years, even when the economy was not good," he said. "It's an inexpensive way to enjoy games, because you should not buy a console," he added.

Dena said last October that it would pay up to $ 403 buy-out U.S. rival ngmoco, how about building their own global network quotes.

(Reporting by Isabel Reynolds, cut Chris Gallagher)

Sony restoring game network in Asia; to testify in U.S. (Reuters)

Man looks at Sony Corp's products at an electronics store in Tokyo

TOKYO/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Sony Corp said it will start restoring its PlayStation videogame network in Japan and elsewhere in Asia on Saturday, more than a month after a massive security breach leaked personal details on tens of millions of accounts.

The Japanese electronics and entertainment giant also said on Friday it plans to testify before U.S. lawmakers at a hearing on data security in Washington on June 2 to address what is thought to be the biggest Internet security breach in history.

The company has been under fire since hackers accessed personal information on 77 million PlayStation Network and Qriocity accounts — 90 percent of which are in North America and Europe — and may have stolen credit card information.

Video game fans and security experts alike have criticized Sony for its handling of the incident, which sparked lawsuits and cast a shadow over its plans to combine the strengths of its content and hardware products via online services.

The company apologized to customers for the outage and said a range of new security measures had been introduced. These included a better early warning system that could alert the company about breaches.

In a new letter sent to U.S. lawmakers late on Thursday evening, Sony said it added more firewalls and introduced policy changes and thorough testing of its systems. But Sony warned the new measures might not be enough to fully secure its networks.

"No security system is absolutely foolproof, and changing conditions in the future can make a currently secure environment less secure," Sony said in the letter signed by Kazuo Hirai, the head of Sony Computer Entertainment, the company's games unit.

Japan's trade ministry ordered the games unit on Friday to adopt measures to improve the management and security of personal information, following the data breach.

"Considering the content and volume of information leaked, it is an extremely grave incident, and it is truly regrettable that it occurred and took a considerable time to notify users and the ministry," the ministry said in a statement.

Sony has said it will offer a new identity protection service to customers in Asia.

COUNTING COSTS

On Thursday, Sony said it was keeping to its target of restoring all PlayStation Network services by the end of May, with any delay beyond that not likely to be more than a few days.

It has said it expects the hacking to drag down operating profit by 14 billion yen ($172 million) in the current financial year, including costs for boosting security measures.

Sony shares fell 3.2 percent ahead of the announcement on the restart, with analysts concerned Sony's forecast for a $975 million net profit this business year may not meet expectations. Its ADR shares in the United States were down a little over 1 percent in early afternoon trading.

Some users have said the prolonged outage prompted them to switch to rival Microsoft Corp's Xbox Live games service.

The attack on Sony is the highest-profile of a series that have affected large corporations recently, fueling doubts about the security of cloud computing services.

Sony discovered unusual activity on its PlayStation Network, which enables games console owners to download games, chat with friends and pit their skills against rivals, on April 19.

It shut down the network and its Qriocity online music and movie service, frustrating many users, but waited almost a week before alerting users to the extent of the security leak.

The company later found out a separate online games service had also been penetrated, allowing access to another 25 million user accounts.

($1 = 81.345 Japanese Yen)

(Reporting by Isabel Reynolds and Liana B. Baker; writing by Anshuman Daga; editing by Lincoln Feast and Andre Grenon)

Sony says Greece music site security breached (AP)

TOKYO – Sony said it discovered a security flaw 8500 user accounts in a music-entertainment site in Greece, coming on the heels of a hacker attack that forced its flagship online gaming site.

Sony Corp. spokesman Shigenori Yoshida said on Tuesday that personal information such as names, phone numbers and email addresses can be stolen. Yoshida said no credit card numbers were affected.

Sony closed the website for Greece on Sunday and investigate the attack. Yoshida had no further details.

Sony's "PlayStation Network" system was hacked last month, more than 100 million accounts worldwide online and forces it to shut down the popular online gaming service.

The Japanese manufacturer of the PlayStation 3 video game machines and Bravia flat-screen TV has said it aims to fully restore service by the end of May

The security breach is a huge blow to Sony's reputation as the struggle over years of losses at its TV operations and new challenges to overcome shortages in parts of Japan March 11 following the earthquake.

The company said Monday it did 14 billion yen (170 million) to the insurance that identity theft for customers, improve network security, free access to content, customer service and included a cover of 'research on software piracy.

Sony predicts a loss of $ 3,200,000,000 for the fiscal year that ended in March 2011.

Sony Ericsson’s Canada site hacked: company (AFP)

Sony Ericsson Canada's website hacked: company

TOKYO (Reuters) – Hackers attacked the website of Sony Ericsson eShop Canada, with 2,000 users, the final assault against the online giant Japanese electronics and entertainment, a Sony spokesman Wednesday.

The security breach follows a new massive theft of personal data by Sony Online Entertainment Sony PlayStation Network and services, including names, passwords and addresses of over 100 million accounts.

And on Tuesday, Sony said its website had been breached in three countries by 8500 Greek User account compromises, while the sites in Thailand and Indonesia were also affected.

The latest attack – aimed at the mobile phone company joint venture between Sony and Ericsson of Sweden – were found early hours Tuesday premises and the site in question has been closed, a Sony spokesman told AFP.

"Website Sony Ericsson in Canada, which advertises its products, has been hacked, affecting 2,000 people," he told AFP.

"Your personal information was posted on a website called." The News Hacker 'The information includes names, email addresses and encrypted passwords. However, does not include credit card information. "

A link to the Sony Ericsson eShop also a message that says "D'oh! The page you are looking for has gone ride. I'm sorry."

The number of violations has damaged the image of the Sony and undermined their efforts based around a product to an online "cloud-based" network of games, movies and music on consumer confidence in the safety link.

Japanese animation and the technology giant said the data from the Greek accounts, including e-mail addresses, phone numbers, names and passwords, but the data from the credit card had not been stolen in recent attacks.

Sony said on Saturday, also found a page on their website Music Entertainment Indonesia was "changed" but do not think that this meant the loss of information.

On Monday, said Sony expects a net loss of $ $ 3200000000 for the fiscal year ended in March to record while he tried from the effects of 11 March earthquake and tsunami that destroyed and damaged production to recover.

It said the breach will result in at least 170 million U.S. dollars here in the "known costs" of operating profit this financial year in terms of insurance and compensation, but that the expected additional costs.

Sony has said it plans to completely restore the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services at the end of the month.

Sony to report $3.2 billion annual loss (AP)

Masaru Kato

TOKYO – Sony Corp. expects a loss of 3.2 billion, reversing its previous projection of a return to profit as the electronics giant struggles with production interruptions and the tsunami in Japan hacker attack on its online gaming service.

The Japanese manufacturer of the PlayStation 3 video game machines and BRAVIA flat-panel, said Monday that the projection of a loss of 260 billion yen (3.2 billion), net income for the year ended March 2011 largely due to the writing of 360 billion yen (4.4 billion dollars) on a tax credit reserved for the previous quarter.

Sony has announced the loss of his first official results were announced Thursday under the guidelines of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The company had previously expected a profit 70000000000 yen (860 million).

Like many other Japanese manufacturers, Sony has been hampered by production interruptions offset the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that killed more than 25,000 people, destroyed many factories and sent to the country's economic recovery in the opposite direction.

The company has maintained its expected operating profit unchanged at 200 billion yen (2.46 billion U.S. dollars). It expects to report sales of 7180000000000 yen (88.2 billion dollars), a bit 'down from a previous forecast of 7.2 trillion yen (88.5 billion U.S. dollars).

Masaru Kato, Chief Financial Officer of Sony said the party as a result of the disaster shortage has eased, but a full recovery has not yet been realized.

"During the first quarter, we saw a big enough impact to our manufacturing industry," he said. After the earthquake, the "negative factors have become more and better balance the previous games division of previous losses, dashing hopes for a profit.

Tokyo-based Sony also faces a new challenge, the call for a massive security hole that more than 100 million online accounts.

Following the temporary closure of the online service last month, Sony began restoring PalyStation network services in the U.S. and Europe on May 15 specifically for online gaming, chat and music streaming services.

Sony 14000000000 yen (170 million U.S. dollars) spent on a price that identity theft insurance to customers, improve network security, free access to content, customer service and an investigation of hacking, including lid.

Sony has seen declining sales of flat-screen TVs and other gadgets, and was probably in the red in the TV business to remain in the seventh year law.

Sony also has a better game for music players and other portable devices to Apple's iPod, the iPhone and put iPad.

The company booked a loss 40800000000 yen (439 million U.S. dollars) for the fiscal year ended March 2010 after a loss of 98.9 billion yen the year before Sony before_ annual red ink in 14 years.

___

Associated Press writer Tomoko A. Hosaka contributed to this report.

Toyota to set up social networking service (AP)

TOKYO – Toyota is setting up a social networking service with the help of a U.S. Internet company and Microsoft so drivers can interact with their cars in ways similar to Twitter and Facebook.

Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp. and Salesforce.com, based in San Francisco, announced their alliance Monday to launch “Toyota Friend,” a private social network for Toyota owners that works similar to tweets on Twitter.

In a demonstration at a Tokyo showroom, an owner of a plug-in Prius hybrid found out through a cellphone message from his Prius called “Pre-boy” that he should remember to recharge his car overnight.

When the owner plugged in his car to recharge it, the car replied, “The charge will be completed by 2:15 a.m. Is that OK? See you tomorrow.”

The exchanges can be kept private, or be shared with other “Toyota Friend” users, as well as made public on Facebook, Twitter and other services, the company said.

The companies did not give details of how the technology, such as the content of the talking car’s dialogues, will be managed. A launch where such details will be offered is set for Tuesday.

Toyota is investing 442 million yen ($5.5 million), Microsoft Corp. is investing 335 million yen ($4.1 million) and Salesforce.com 223 million yen ($2.8 million) in the project.

Many cars are already equipped with navigation and other network-linking capabilities, and can function as a mobile device just like an iPhone or a Blackberry.

Toyota’s service, built on open-source cloud platforms that are the specialty of Salesforce.com, as well as on Microsoft’s platform, will start in Japan in 2012, and will be offered later worldwide, according to Toyota.

Toyota President Akio Toyoda, a racing fan, said he always “talks” with his car when he is zipping around on the circuit.

With the popularity of social networking, cars and their makers should become part of that online interaction, he said.

“I hope cars can become friends with their users, and customers will see Toyota as a friend,” he said.

Salesforce.com chief executive Marc Benioff said social networks can add value to products and companies. It can also help Toyota gain massive information not only about their buyers but about how the car is working or not working, he said.

“I want a relationship with my car in the same way we have a relationship with our friends on social networks,” he said.

Toyoda, who has always been interested in telematics, or the use of Internet technology in autos, has been aggressive in forging alliances with new kinds of companies, including one with U.S. luxury electric carmaker Tesla Motors that he announced last year.

Partnerships with dot.com types have been a bright spot in Toyoda’s bumpy career as president. He has faced growing doubts about reliability and transparency because of the massive global recalls that began two years ago, shortly after he took office, and which now affect more than 14 million vehicles.

Toyota is also battling parts shortages after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan destroyed key suppliers, hampering production.