World Business Quick Take

■ Computers
Chip decision praised
Apple Computer Inc's decision to use Intel Corp chips in its computers will boost Apple's share of the home entertainment market by giving its customers access to Windows-based software and games, the New York Times said. The switch to Intel may also increase Apple's share of business PC and laptop buyers, the Times said. Macintosh computer owners have been blocked from using much of software created for business and entertainment use because Macs don't operate Windows programs, the Times said. Apple announced this week that it would stop buying chips from International Business Machines Corp. and turn to Intel, the Times said. Steven Jobs, Apple's chief executive, said the company ended the 14-year relationship because IBM didn't meet needs for a more powerful chip, while IBM said the relationship ended over costs, the Times said.

■ Marketing
Hong Kong takes on spam
Hong Kong plans to enact an anti-spam law next year to crack down on companies that send unsolicited e-mails or make automated telemarketing calls to consumers, an official has said. The government has consulted with industry groups to craft a law that would combat junk faxes, e-mails, text messages and telemarketing calls. Au Man-ho, director-general of the Telecommunications Authority, said in a statement yesterday that direct marketing companies using automated calling on an unsolicited basis "can be considered a spam problem." However, Au said the law -- to take effect at an unspecified date next year -- would not cover "manually made cold calls" to avoid interfering with normal business activities.

■ Banking
Unicredito to offer swap
Italian bank Unicredito plans to offer more than 15 billion euros (US$18 billion) in a stock swap for Germany's HypoVereinsbank (HVB), which would make it the biggest cross-border banking merger in Europe, sources close to the deal said yesterday. Unicredito has offered to swap five of its shares for each HVB share in an agreement reached between representatives of the two banks, sources said. Based on trading late Friday, HVB would be valued at around 20.50 euros per share, totalling about 15.1 billion euros.

■ Automobiles
`Flex-fuel' car developed
Japan's top automaker Toyota Motor has begun developing a "flex-fuel" vehicle powered by gasoline and lower-priced alcohol fuel, and aimed at the Brazilian and other Latin American markets, a newspaper reported yesterday. Toyota aims to launch the new vehicle in the second half of next year or later, with the demand for alcohol fuel made from sugarcane or other plants rising as alternative to gasoline in Latin America, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said. A flex-fuel car runs with both gasoline and alcohol pumped into a single tank, allowing the driver to adjust the mixture between the two depending on their prices, the economic daily noted. In Brazil the prices of ethanol, a type of alcohol fuel, are only half those of gasoline and drivers are allowed to adjust the ratio between the two fuels, it said. Toyota, the pioneer of a hybrid car powered alternately by gasoline and electricity, did not develop flex-fuel cars before because alcohol fuel is not allowed to exceed three percent of the total in Japan, it said.