■ Camcorders
Digital shipments rising
Sony Corp, Canon Inc and other makers of digital camcorders will see world-wide shipments exceed 15 million units in 2008, from 92.9 million last year, mar-ket researcher IDC said. Global shipments of digital camcorders will reach 15.1 million in 2008, up 63 per-cent from last year, said Christopher Chute, senior analyst at Massachusetts-based IDC. Digital cam-corder sales are growing
as consumers shift from analog models for the increased resolution from digital models. Higher spending by consumers in the US and Europe is also driving sales of digital camcorders. Global ship-ments of consumer cam-corders including digital and analog reached 13 million units last year. Last year 71 per-cent of global camcorder shipments were digital and 29 percent analog. Sony last year was the leading supplier of digital camcorders, with a 44 percent share of the global market. Canon was No.2, with a 19 percent share, according to IDC.
■ Aviation
New budget carrier takes off
Nok Air, Thailand's newest budget airline, took to the skies for the first time yesterday, a spokesman said. The inaugural flight of Nok Air, partly owned by Thai Airways International, flew from Bangkok to the northern city of Udon Thani, a company spokes-man said. It also began services to Chiang Mai and Hat Yai. It will offer 20 flights daily until October, when it will begin flying to Phuket, the spokesman said. Nok Air is leasing two Boeing 737-400 planes and cockpit crews from Thai Airways, which owns a 39 percent share of the airline, the official said. Nok Air is the third no-frills carrier to set up in Thailand. Orient Thai Airlines last year set up 1-2-GO, and Thai Air Asia, a joint venture with Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia, began flights within the kingdom in February.
■ Banking
Sojitz gets bailed out
Japanese lenders Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group and UFJ Holdings and others will bail out ailing borrower Sojitz Holdings ahead of the banks' planned merger next year, reports said yesterday. The banks, along with Swiss bank UBS, will inject about ?250 billion to ?300 billion (US$2.3 billion to US$2.7 billion) in capital into the major trading firm in exchange for preferred shares, the Nihon Keizai and Yomiuri dailies reported. Sojitz, formed in April last year from the merger of Nissho Iwai and Nichimen, is one of UFJ's largest borrowers and rebuilding its finances is one of UFJ's major priorities before merging with MTFG, reports said. Sojitz will aim to cut its debts by ?500 billion to ?1 trillion by March 2007 in the new plan. The firm forecast a ?50 billion net profit in the year to next March, but an expected ?250 billion write-down may push it into the red, the Nihon Keizai said.
■ Telecoms
AT&T shifts focus
AT&T said on Thursday that it would shift focus to business telephone services and to emerging technol-ogies such as the voice over Internet protocol (VOIP), which lets people call each other over the Internet. "As a result of recent changes in regulatory policy governing local telephone service, AT&T will no longer be competing for residential local and standalone long-distance customers," it said in a statement. AT&T said it would still service existing residential customers but stop investing in gaining new clients.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft