New Zealand augments online government services http://t.co/Q0Qwl7Vk -- Telecom Asia (@TelecomAsia)
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Child labour
Samsung To Review All Chinese Suppliers After Child Labour Accusations | Economy Watch http://t.co/O0cEacQb -- EconomyWatch (@EconomyWatch)
Saturday, September 1, 2012
A court in Tokyo has ruled that Samsung Electronics did not infringe on patents held by Apple,
A court in Tokyo has ruled that Samsung Electronics did not infringe on patents held by Apple, a victory for the South Korean company.
The patent was related to transferring media content between devices.
It comes after Samsung lost a key patent case in the US last week and was ordered to pay more than $1bn (£664m) in damages.
This is one of many cases brought to courts around the world by the two smartphone market leaders.
"We welcome the court's decision, which confirmed our long-held position that our products do not infringe Apple's intellectual property," said Samsung in a statement to the BBC.
Tokyo District Judge Tamotsu Shoji dismissed the case filed by Apple in August, finding that Samsung was not in violation of Apple patents related to synchronising music and video data between devices and servers.Sales ban
On 24 August, a US court ruled Samsung had infringed Apple patents for mobile devices, including the iPhone and iPad.
The company has vowed to continue to fight against Apple saying it will appeal against the US ruling.
Apple is now seeking a ban on sales of eight Samsung phones in the US market.
On 6 December, US District Judge Lucy Koh, who presided over the initial trial, will hear Apple's plea for an injunction against the Samsung phones, although it does not include the most recent Samsung phone to hit the market, the Galaxy S3.
Product designer Geoff McCormick strips down an iPhone to explain patents
Could Burma be the next emerging market miracle?
Not just green shoots, Burma's economy is set to bloom
In Rangoon's hotel lobbies anticipation is high. Brash Australian miners rub shoulders with hard-nosed American private equity investors. Indonesian infrastructure specialists and Japanese salesmen scout out the terrain.
Everyone here is eager to be first out of the starting blocks as the economy of Burma, a previously isolated country, opens up for business.
The opportunities abound, in raw materials such as gems, timber, rubber and gas, but also in catering for a population of 55 million in need of everything from healthcare to smartphones.
"I think this is the last virgin market left in the world, the last untapped market," says Vinod Chugani, an American-educated Singaporean.
"Twelve years ago, when I was in China, I felt the same rush."
In Rangoon's hotel lobbies anticipation is high. Brash Australian miners rub shoulders with hard-nosed American private equity investors. Indonesian infrastructure specialists and Japanese salesmen scout out the terrain.
Everyone here is eager to be first out of the starting blocks as the economy of Burma, a previously isolated country, opens up for business.
The opportunities abound, in raw materials such as gems, timber, rubber and gas, but also in catering for a population of 55 million in need of everything from healthcare to smartphones.
"I think this is the last virgin market left in the world, the last untapped market," says Vinod Chugani, an American-educated Singaporean.
"Twelve years ago, when I was in China, I felt the same rush."
Hands up who's ready to do business in Burma
Vinod Chugani is here to sell Panasonic's range of multi-line phones, rice cookers and projectors.
"There is a massive race going on. It's intense," he says.
"This is one of last frontiers, along with North Korea and to some extent Iran," says Romain Caillaud, who heads the Rangoon office of Vriens and Partners, advising multinationals entering Burma.
Burma also sits at a key geographic junction.
"Just look at the map and you'll see the location is strategic, at the crossroad between India, China, Thailand, in the middle of one of the fastest growing regions in the world," he says.Piles of cash
After 50 years the generals who governed Burma have stepped back and handed power to a nominally civilian government.
They have also begun the first tentative steps in reforming the economy.
And they have been rewarded with the suspension of sanctions by the West.
But 50 years of isolation from the global economy has taken its toll, above all on the financial system.
Vinod Chugani is here to sell Panasonic's range of multi-line phones, rice cookers and projectors.
"There is a massive race going on. It's intense," he says.
"This is one of last frontiers, along with North Korea and to some extent Iran," says Romain Caillaud, who heads the Rangoon office of Vriens and Partners, advising multinationals entering Burma.
Burma also sits at a key geographic junction.
"Just look at the map and you'll see the location is strategic, at the crossroad between India, China, Thailand, in the middle of one of the fastest growing regions in the world," he says.Piles of cash
After 50 years the generals who governed Burma have stepped back and handed power to a nominally civilian government.
They have also begun the first tentative steps in reforming the economy.
And they have been rewarded with the suspension of sanctions by the West.
But 50 years of isolation from the global economy has taken its toll, above all on the financial system.
Banking cash in Rangoon is a big job
At the main Rangoon branch of Yoma bank, customers wander in with plastic bags full of bank notes.
Their voices are barely audible above the whirring and clicking of mechanical counting machines, lined up like washing machines in a launderette.
A dozen staff work their way through the stacks piled high on the tables.
American financial sanctions and a home-grown banking crisis have undermined Burma's banking system, so that now most people simply keep their money in cash.
If you want to buy a car you go to the showroom with a box full of notes. If you want to buy a house you drive over a car full of money.
There are a handful of cash machines now in Rangoon, but none that work for foreigners. Credit cards can be used, for a stiff fee, only at a few top-range hotels.
All this may soon change, with the lifting of American financial sanctions.
But the rudimentary banking system is not the only obstacle to doing business.
At the main Rangoon branch of Yoma bank, customers wander in with plastic bags full of bank notes.
Their voices are barely audible above the whirring and clicking of mechanical counting machines, lined up like washing machines in a launderette.
A dozen staff work their way through the stacks piled high on the tables.
American financial sanctions and a home-grown banking crisis have undermined Burma's banking system, so that now most people simply keep their money in cash.
If you want to buy a car you go to the showroom with a box full of notes. If you want to buy a house you drive over a car full of money.
There are a handful of cash machines now in Rangoon, but none that work for foreigners. Credit cards can be used, for a stiff fee, only at a few top-range hotels.
All this may soon change, with the lifting of American financial sanctions.
But the rudimentary banking system is not the only obstacle to doing business.
A Youthful Populace Helps Make the Philippines an Economic Bright Spot in Asia
MANILA — In the upscale business district of Manila, a midweek crowd spills out into the street. The New York-themed Borough restaurant is pulsating to the beat of a Bon Jovi song, while young, hip Filipinos take shots of tequila from a passing tray and sing in unison.
Enlarge This Image
Jes Aznar for The New York Times
A company support center in Makati City, Philippines. Last year, the Philippines surpassed India as the world’s leading provider of voice-based outsourcing services.
“Whoa-oh, we’re halfway there!” the crowd sings. “Whoa-oh, livin’ on a prayer!”
The revelers have reason to celebrate. Times are pretty good in thePhilippines if you are young, skilled and live in the city. Young urban workers are helping to give the country its brightest prospects in decades, economists say.
With $70 billion in reserves and lower interest payments on its debt after recent credit rating upgrades, the Philippinespledged $1 billion to the International Monetary Fund to help shore up the struggling economies of Europe.
“This is the same rescue fund that saved the Philippines when our country was in deep financial trouble in the early ’80s,” said Representative Mel Senen Sarmiento, a congressman from Western Samar.
The Philippines has certainly had a steady flow of positive economic news recently. On July 4, Standard & Poor’s raised the country’s debt rating to just below investment grade, the highest rating for the country since 2003 and equivalent to that of Indonesia.
The Philippines is the 44th-largest economy in the world today, according to HSBC estimates. But if current trends hold, it can leap to the No. 16 spot by 2050. The Philippine stock market, one of the best performers in the region, closed at a record high after the recent S.& P. rating upgrade, and the country’s currency, the peso, reached a four-year high against the dollarat about the same time.
The gross domestic product of the Philippines grew 6.4 percent in the first quarter, according to the country’s central bank, outperforming all other growth rates in the region except China’s. Economists expect similarly strong growth in the second quarter.
“We have made a very bold forecast for the Philippines, but I think justifiably so,” said Frederic Neumann, a senior economist at HSBC in Hong Kong.
A high population growth rate, long considered a hindrance to prosperity, is now often seen as a driving force for economic growth. About 61 percent of the population in the Philippines is of working age, between 15 and 64. That figure is expected to continue increasing, which is not the case for many of its Asian neighbors, whose populations are aging.
“There are a number of countries in Asia that will see their working-age populations decline in the coming years,” Mr. Neumann said. “The Philippines stands out as the youngest population. As other countries see their labor costs go up, the Philippines will remain competitive due to the sheer abundance of workers joining the labor force.”
Many of those workers are feeding the country’s robust outsourcing industry. The Philippines, where English is widely spoken, surpassed India last year as the world’s leading provider of voice-based outsourcing services like customer service call centers.
According to the country’s Board of Investments, offshore call centers employed 683,000 Filipinos in 2011 and generated about $11 billion in revenue, a 24 percent increase from the previous year. The government is seeking to expand the industry and has said it hopes it will generate $25 billion in revenue by 2016.
The Philippines’ growing prosperity has also been driven by the 9.5 million Filipinos — almost 10 percent of the population — who work outside the country and who sent home about $20 billion in 2011. That is up from $7.5 billion in 2003.
Trinh D. Nguyen, an economist with HSBC in Hong Kong, said the Philippines had benefited from an increase in government efficiency and revenue collection, as well as aggressive actions to address corruption, like the impeachment of the chief justice of the Supreme Court and the arrest of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on suspicion of accepting kickbacks and of misusing government lottery money.
“It is not only short-term growth that draws investors to the Philippines,” Ms. Nguyen said. “The fundamentals are there.”
But there are also real weaknesses in the country. Recent flooding, which by some estimates submerged 50 percent of Manila, illustrates a shortage of modern infrastructure that makes the Philippines highly vulnerable to disasters.
“The Philippines is hit with several deadly and devastating natural disasters every year,” Ms. Nguyen said.
But government officials have said that the recent flooding might actually help economic growth, because reconstruction will require an increase in public spending and the country will have to put into place programs to make it more resistant to the effects of natural disasters.
Another hurdle is the fact that the Philippines has traditionally underexploited its natural resources. The government estimates that there are 21.5 billion tons of metal deposits in the country, including large deposits of nickel, iron, copper and gold. But they have never been a significant driver of economic growth because extraction has been mismanaged, Mr. Neumann said.
In the shorter term, there are concerns that the country’s newfound prosperity has not sufficiently eradicated poverty.
Other countries in the region, most notably China and Japan, but also Thailand and Vietnam, have successfully developed export-driven manufacturing, bringing millions of people out of poverty and increasing the size of their middle classes. Manufacturing typically draws workers away from agriculture, which pays less. But many of the large foreign companies that financed such transitions to manufacturing in Asia have avoided the Philippines because of periods of political instability.
The service sector — including the young call center workers who were recently reveling in Manila — are helping drive an economic boom in the cities.
But that type of outsourcing still provides only about 1 percent of jobs in the country, according to data from the Asian Development Bank. And the strong sector does not create jobs accessible to farmers or to millions of other Filipinos in rural areas who seek a way out of poverty.
“While the Philippines’ business process outsourcing industry has grown impressively, it still employs a very small portion of the country’s work force,” noted Rajat M. Nag, a managing director of the Asian Development Bank. “It needs to aggressively develop its manufacturing sector to create more jobs.”
On Emerald Avenue in the Ortigas business district of Manila, where hundreds of call center workers pour out of skyscrapers to gossip and smoke, Mika Santos, 18, does not have much to say about the national economy. But she is very happy with her own situation.
After completing a two-year information technology course and passing an exam in English proficiency, she started handling customer service calls for a United States mobile phone company. She earns a comparatively high salary for an entry-level job, and her employer offers incentive bonuses, free meals and shuttle service.
Had she been born a generation earlier, she would most likely have worked as a low-income farmer or gone overseas to find work. “My parents didn’t have any opportunity like this,” she said.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: August 27, 2012
An earlier version of this article misstated the Philippines’ rank among world economies as 112, rather than 44.
“The worst is probably over for India – we may be at, or close to the bottom,”
Gross domestic product (GDP) growth in India picked up pace in the April-June quarter helped by a rise in construction output, prompting economists to say the worst might just be over for Asia’s third largest economy struggling to return to the days of 8-9 percent growth rates.
Felix Hug | Photolibrary RM | Getty Images
The economy expanded 5.5 percent in the second quarter, beating consensus estimates and marking an improvement from the previous three months when growth came in at 5.3 percent - the slowest pace in nine years.
Economists expect India to better that in the coming months as commodity prices decline and a weak, but stable rupee makes its exports more competitive.
“The worst is probably over for India – we may be at, or close to the bottom,” Robert Prior-Wandesforde, Director of Asian Economics at Credit Suisse in Singapore told CNBC.
“The economy is losing some of the negatives that were hampering it before – oil prices are at a more manageable level, the lagged effects of the interest rate rises in 2010-2011 are fading,” he said, adding that he expects growth to move towards the trend rate of 7 percent in coming quarters.
The Reserve Bank of India forecasts growth will come in at 6.5 percent for the current fiscal year, while the government’s target is 6.7 percent.
Weaker oil prices – which have declined more than 10 percent over the last six months - help to contain India’s current account deficit as the country imports 70 percent of its crude requirements. Higher imports of oil and gold led the country’s current account deficit to widen to a record high of 4.5 percent of GDP in the January-March period.
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