Print

Mail

wiki links

World Business Quick Take

■ Entertainment
MySpace gets inside help
News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch says his Chinese-born wife, Wendi Deng (鄧文迪), is in China with the company's executives to help launch a Chinese version of its popular MySpace social networking Web site, the London-based Financial Times reported yesterday. Murdoch, speaking in New York, said the company is trying to find a way to enter the Chinese market without running into political obstacles and the "heavy weather" that Google and Yahoo have encountered, the paper said. Murdoch said MySpace in China was likely to have local partners, who would own about 50 percent, the paper said.

■ Automobiles
Toyota wants to be No.1
Toyota is targeting global sales of 9.8 million cars and trucks in 2008, including vehicles made by its subsidiaries, president Katsuaki Watanabe said yesterday, emphasizing the automaker's determination to overtake General Motors as the world's No. 1. "We are aiming for steady growth through strengthening all our operations," he said at a Tokyo hotel, adding that the company hopes to strengthen quality control, expand overseas production and cut costs. Toyota sold 8.13 million vehicles around the world last year, and is set to sell about 8.85 million vehicles this year, including sales by its subsidiaries, truck maker Hino Motors and small-car maker Daihatsu Motor Co, it said in a statement.

■ Automobiles
`Son of Rover' target set
Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (SAIC, 上海汽車), China's largest carmaker, said yesterday that it will launch its first branded car based on defunct British carmaker Rover technology by the end of the year. The announcement follows news that Ford Motor Co bought the Rover name from BMW AG for ?6 million (US$11.3 million) in a move aimed at protecting the image of its British subsidiary Land Rover. SAIC, which has joint ventures with General Motors and Volkswagen and currently produces sedans mainly under the brands of its foreign partners, said it will announce the model name next month.

■ Communications
`Phonebooks' for blind
LG Electronics Co has unveiled the world's first talking phone capable of reading books to blind users, officials said yesterday. The LF-1300 model hit the South Korean market this week, priced at around 400,000 won (US$417). The blind, visually impaired and dyslexic can buy the talking phone after presenting a government certificate. The phones are being offered at a special low price. Users can download about 300 audio books free of charge through LG's digital library Web site on a computer specially designed for the blind, LG said. Or they can download the digital books directly onto cellphones through the wireless network by touching a hot key on the handset, it added.

■ Computers
HP gets US Army contract
Hewlett-Packard Co (HP) said on Tuesday that it was among several vendors to be awarded a multi-year Army contract to provide desktop and notebook PCs, printers, scanners and displays. The overall deal is valued at US$5 billion over 10 years, HP said. Other vendors include Dell Inc and CDW Corp. The contract allows the Army, the Department of Defense's Foreign Military Sales program and federal agencies and authorized contractors to order directly from HP.


This story has been viewed 1226 times.