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World Business Quick Take

■ Electronics
Apple TV launch delayed
Apple Inc has delayed until next month the launch of its gadget for streaming video and other content from computers to TVs, but the company would not explain why. The company had said in January that the US$299 Apple TV set-top box would be available this month. "Wrapping up Apple TV is taking a few weeks longer than we projected and we now expect to begin shipments mid-March,'' Apple spokeswoman Lynn Fox said on Monday. Apple TV is designed to move digital content from a user's computer to a TV set and is anticipated to be a highly competitive product in the Internet-based videos to the TV market.

■ Trade
Gold at nine-month high
Gold traded near a nine-month high in Asia as escalating tension over Iran's nuclear research program spurs demand from investors seeking a haven. Gold for immediate delivery traded up as much as US$0.95, or 0.15 percent, to US$687.50 an ounce and traded at US$685.85 at 1:48pm. Gold, which has gained 13 percent since Jan. 5, touched US$688.56 last Friday, its highest in nine months. "The threat of a renewed round of anti-Iran sanctions and the potential for a disruption in crude oil flow from the world's fourth largest producer is keeping safe-haven buyers on the alert," Jon Nadler, an investment-products analyst, said on Monday.

■ Internet
Google to open R&D center
Internet search company Google Inc plans to open a research and development center in Singapore, its first in Southeast Asia, a newspaper reported yesterday. Google's managing director of Southeast Asian sales and operations, Richard Kimber, was quoted in The Straits Times as saying Singapore was picked for its "very vibrant ICT [information, communications and technology] space." The Hoffman Agency Singapore, a public relations firm representing Google in Singapore, said Kimber's comments were meant to recognize the city-state's efforts to foster talent in the industry but would not comment on the center.

■ Automobiles
FAW mulls stake
Chinese automaker FAW Group Corp (第一汽車) refused comment yesterday on a report it is considering bidding for a stake in DaimlerChrysler AG's ailing Chrysler Group. The Oriental Morning Post said FAW had sent representatives to the US to negotiate a deal. It cited an unnamed person familiar with the situation. Staff at the FAW Group headquarters' publicity office refused comment on the report. DaimlerChrysler's public relations department in Beijing also would not comment.

■ Lighting industry
Phasing out wasteful bulbs
European light bulb makers are close to an agreement in principle to work together on phasing out energy-wasting incandescent bulbs for the consumer market, the chief executive of Royal Philips Electronics NV's lighting division said on Monday. Philips is the largest lighting maker globally, followed by Siemens AG, known for the Osram-Sylvania brands. General Electric Co is the biggest in the US. "The tipping point is very close, to be frank, for the [European] lighting industry" to agree on a phase-out of incandescent bulbs in the home, said Theo van Deursen, CEO at Philips Lighting.

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