Microsoft Corp, the world's biggest software maker, said it will offer a two-month free trial for its Xbox Live online service in Japan and new game titles as it attempts to woo subscribers and expand a "small" customer base in the country.
"The success of Xbox Live in Japan is the key to our future going forward," Peter Moore, a vice president of Microsoft's home and entertainment division said at a press briefing in Tokyo.
Moore quit his job as head of Sega Corp's US business in January to help Microsoft bolster Xbox sales in Japan and Europe.
Microsoft last month cut the price of its Xbox video-game console to US$179 in Asia excluding Japan in a bid to gain on rival Sony Corp's PlayStation 2.
In Japan, where it launched an interactive game service in January, the US company has so far failed to win game players from its larger rival.
Microsoft provides no Xbox Live subscriber numbers for Japan.
Globally, there are 500,000 subscribers to the service.
The company also said yesterday it will offer monthly subscriptions in Japan to Xbox Live. Subscribers can choose to pay ?680 (US$6) a month when their yearly subscriptions expire or renew for 12 months for ?4,980, the company said in a press release. The service began in January with yearly subscriptions only.
"Nobody will be able to say `I can't afford Xbox Live,'" Moore said.
Sony's PlayStation 2 has outsold Microsoft's Xbox by almost six to one.
INVESTOR RESILIENCE? An analyst said that despite near-term pressures, foreign investors tend to view NT dollar strength as a positive signal for valuation multiples Morgan Stanley has flagged a potential 10 percent revenue decline for Taiwan’s tech hardware sector this year, as a sharp appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar begins to dent the earnings power of major exporters. In what appears to be the first such warning from a major foreign brokerage, the US investment bank said the currency’s strength — fueled by foreign capital inflows and expectations of US interest rate cuts — is compressing profit margins for manufacturers with heavy exposure to US dollar-denominated revenues. The local currency has surged about 10 percent against the greenback over the past quarter and yesterday breached
MARKET FACTORS: Navitas Semiconductor Inc said that Powerchip is to take over from TSMC as its supplier of high-voltage gallium nitride chips Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday in a statement said that it would phase out its compound semiconductor gallium nitride (GaN) business over the next two years, citing market dynamics. The decision would not affect its financial targets announced previously, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker said. “We are working closely with our customers to ensure a smooth transition and remain committed to meeting their needs during this period,” it said. “Our focus continues to be on delivering sustained value to our partners and the market.” TSMC’s latest move came unexpectedly, as the chipmaker had said in its annual report that it has
SECURITY WARNING: The company possesses key 3-nanometer technology, and Taiwan should prevent it from being transferred to China, a lawmaker said The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday said it would conduct a “strict review” of any proposed acquisition of Taiwanese tech company Source Photonics Co (索爾思光電), following media reports that a Chinese firm was planning to buy the company in the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區). Local media reported that Suzhou Dongshan Precision Manufacturing Co (東山精密), China’s largest printed circuit board manufacturer, had announced plans to acquire Source Photonics for 5.9 billion yuan (US$823.1 million). The ministry said it has not received an application from Source Photonics and has formally notified the company that any buyout would constitute a change in its ownership structure. The
ELECTRONICS: Strong growth in cloud services and smart consumer electronics offset computing declines, helping the company to maintain sales momentum, Hon Hai said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday announced that its sales for last month rose 10 percent year-on-year, driven by strong growth in cloud and networking products amid the ongoing artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company, also known internationally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), reported consolidated sales of NT$540.24 billion (US$18.67 billion) for the month, the highest ever for the period, and a 10.09 percent increase from a year earlier, although it was down 12.26 percent from the previous month. Hon Hai, which is Apple Inc’s primary iPhone assembler and makes servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s AI accelerators, said its cloud
RSS