Google Inc has launched a music streaming service in Japan, becoming the latest tech giant to push into the world’s No. 2 music market, despite mixed results among earlier arrivals.
The US company said that its Japanese edition of Google Play Music features more than 35 million tunes available at a cost of ¥980 (US$8) a month.
The launch, announced on Thursday, came after similar services debuted in Japan this year by Apple Inc, popular messaging app Line, and a joint venture by IT firm CyberAgent and Japanese music giant Avex Group.
Japan is the world’s second largest music market, estimated to be worth US$2.6 billion last year, after the US$4.8 billion US market, according to the Recording Industry Association of Japan.
However, packaged media such as CDs account for about 80 percent of Japanese music sales, contrasting sharply with the US market markets where digital downloads are soaring.
Many Japanese production companies have focused on established retail channels for CDs, while issues over licensing have also hampered growth in the streaming business.
TERMINATED SERVICES
Sony Corp and Japanese games giant DeNA Co have terminated their music streaming services in recent years.
Some industry experts have also put the blame on free online services such as YouTube for discouraging consumers from paying for digital music.
Global streaming titan Spotify Ltd has yet to make its foray into the Japanese market, partly due to protracted talks with record labels.
BOOK LOVERS
Ebooks are also making slow progress among Japan’s book-loving population, while online video streaming firm Netflix Inc, which boasts 65 million users in about 50 countries, came to Japan only this month.
Separately, Amazon.com Inc on Thursday announced a deal to buy a startup that tailors traditional television broadcast for the vast array of Internet-linked devices used for streaming video.
Amazon did not disclose how much it is paying for Portland-based Elemental Technologies Inc, but a report at tech news Web site The Information put the price at US$500 million.
The nine-year-old startup specializes in software that takes live or on-demand traditional television, cable or satellite broadcasts and reformats the video to play on smartphones, tablets, computers or other devices.
COVERAGE
Elemental boasts more than 700 media customers including CNN, the BBC and HBO. The startup also supports 4K ultra-high-definition services, including some delivered by the BBC during last year’s World Cup coverage, according to Amazon.
Elemental is to continue to operate as its own brand, according to Amazon. The acquisition is expected to close in the final quarter of this year.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last