High demand for mobile augmented-reality game Pokemon Go crashed the app’s servers in Australia yesterday, while attracting safety and trespassing warnings from police.
The game has been a huge hit with players since it was rolled out in Australia, New Zealand and the US late last week, with more than 5 million downloads on the Android Google Play app store. It has also topped Apple’s app charts.
Within days of its introduction, US Android users were spending more time finding Pokemon Go’s “pocket monsters” than they were using a number of social media apps, including Facebook Inc’s WhatsApp and Instagram, according to data provider SimilarWeb.
A Pokemon Go “walk” in Sydney on Sunday saw thousands of gamers descend on the city’s iconic harbor, chasing virtual cartoon character monsters around the Opera House and Botanical Gardens with their mobile phones.
“[Western Australia] police have received numerous reports of Pokemon around the state. Rest assured — we’re gonna catch ’em all,” the police force said on Facebook, using the game’s tagline.
However, police said that “‘I was collecting Pokemon’ is not a legal defense against a charge of trespass, so be sure that you have permission to enter an area or building.”
Officers in the northern city of Darwin also took to the social network to advise users that, while their police station featured as a “Pokestop” — locations where players can pick up supplies — gamers did not have to enter it to get the items.
In Sydney and Melbourne, where Pokemon Go has been trending high on Twitter, users complained about crashed servers, with one posting: “Twitter = moral support group for when #pokemongo server goes down.”
“Finally the world has found something to unite about. Our collective trauma of the #PokemonGo server being down,” another user wrote.
Guy Blomberg, who arranged the Sydney “walk,” said he hoped to organize larger get-togethers at the Oz Comic-Con and PAX Australia video game conventions, which he helps run, later this year.
“Even on the train this morning, there were other people playing, so I leaned over and went: ‘What have you caught today?’” he said. “It’s a great conversation starter.”
The game added US$7 billion in market value to Nintendo Co.
The app’s popularity has sent shares in Nintendo — which invested in the game’s developer, Niantic Inc, after it was spun off from tech giant Google — soaring by more than 40 percent over three trading sessions in Japan.
“It is a truly incredible offering,” Chris Weston, chief market strategist at IG Ltd, wrote in a note yesterday. “Still, as someone who missed the original Pokemon craze, I am finding the idea of millennials transfixed on their phones through the streets of Melbourne like a scene from The Walking Dead quite concerning.”
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
purpose: Tesla’s CEO sought to meet senior Chinese officials to discuss the rollout of its ‘full self-driving’ software in China and approval to transfer data they had collected Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk arrived in Beijing yesterday on an unannounced visit, where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss the rollout of "full self-driving" (FSD) software and permission to transfer data overseas, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Chinese state media reported that he met Premier Li Qiang (李強) in Beijing, during which Li told Musk that Tesla's development in China could be regarded as a successful example of US-China economic and trade cooperation. Musk confirmed his meeting with the premier yesterday with a post on social media platform X. "Honored to meet with Premier Li
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Dutch brewing company Heineken NV on Friday announced an investment of NT$13.5 billion (US$414.62 million) over the next five years in Taiwan. The first multinational brewing company to operate in Taiwan, Heineken made the statement at a ceremony held at its brewery in Pingtung County. It also outlined its efforts to make the brewery “net zero” by 2030. Heineken has been in the Taiwanese market for 20 years, Heineken Taiwan managing director Jeff Wu (吳建甫) said. With strong support from local consumers, the Dutch brewery decided to transition from sales to manufacturing in the country, Wu said. Heineken assumed majority ownership and management rights
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI