South Korean electronics giant Samsung Electronics Co has apologized to Chinese consumers after a lengthy report by China’s state-run television broadcaster detailed design flaws in the company’s smartphones.
The company, the most popular smartphone brand in the Chinese market, said in a statement that it “welcomed” Monday’s half-hour-long report by China Central Television (CCTV) and acknowledged that firmware problems have caused some of its Galaxy S3 and Note 2 models to crash.
“We sincerely apologize to our customers for the inconvenience, which resulted from management problems,” Samsung said in a statement posted on its Chinese Web site late on Wednesday.
Samsung’s rapid expression of contrition comes after state media subjected its US rival Apple Inc to a barrage of accusations of “unparalleled arrogance” earlier this year that only stopped following an apology by CEO Tim Cook.
In response to the CCTV report, Samsung is offering free repairs for customers whose phones have crashed, and will reimburse those who have already paid to have them fixed.
Free replacement phones will be offered to those whose handsets remain broken after being repaired twice.
“We sincerely thank our customers for your longstanding support,” the company’s Chinese-language statement read.
Samsung is the latest upmarket foreign firm to come under sharp criticism from China’s state-run media.
On Sunday, the day before the Samsung investigation aired, CCTV broadcast another show accusing US coffee chain Starbucks of overcharging its Chinese customers, featuring multiple correspondents and analysts who questioned the company’s motives in China.
Starbucks responded to the program by arguing that different operating costs in cities across the globe make comparisons of its drink prices in different markets inaccurate.
MEIJI MILK
In other news, Japanese baby milk maker Meiji yesterday said it was suspending sales in China because of rising costs and increased competition.
Meiji, the producer of Hohoemi and Step milk powder, has suffered a slump in sales in the country, a spokesman said.
Beijing imposed a ban on milk imports from Japan in 2010, when foot-and-mouth disease broke out in southwestern Miyazaki, but the company continued selling milk powder made in Australia, he said.
“Due to the rising costs of raw materials and increasingly fierce competition, the company has found it difficult to make a stable profit in the market,” the spokesman said.
“The company will consider resuming its milk powder business there when the market environment improves.”
Japanese-brand baby formula became very popular in China in the wake of a 2008 scandal when local manufacturers were found to be bulking their product with an industrial chemical.
However, the 2011 tsunami-triggered nuclear accident at Fukushima dented Japan’s reputation for food safety.
STILL HOPEFUL: Delayed payment of NT$5.35 billion from an Indian server client sent its earnings plunging last year, but the firm expects a gradual pickup ahead Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), the world’s No. 5 PC vendor, yesterday reported an 87 percent slump in net profit for last year, dragged by a massive overdue payment from an Indian cloud service provider. The Indian customer has delayed payment totaling NT$5.35 billion (US$162.7 million), Asustek chief financial officer Nick Wu (吳長榮) told an online earnings conference. Asustek shipped servers to India between April and June last year. The customer told Asustek that it is launching multiple fundraising projects and expected to repay the debt in the short term, Wu said. The Indian customer accounted for less than 10 percent to Asustek’s
‘DECENT RESULTS’: The company said it is confident thanks to an improving world economy and uptakes in new wireless and AI technologies, despite US uncertainty Pegatron Corp (和碩) yesterday said it plans to build a new server manufacturing factory in the US this year to address US President Donald Trump’s new tariff policy. That would be the second server production base for Pegatron in addition to the existing facilities in Taoyuan, the iPhone assembler said. Servers are one of the new businesses Pegatron has explored in recent years to develop a more balanced product lineup. “We aim to provide our services from a location in the vicinity of our customers,” Pegatron president and chief executive officer Gary Cheng (鄭光治) told an online earnings conference yesterday. “We
LEAK SOURCE? There would be concern over the possibility of tech leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday stayed mum after a report said that the chipmaker has pitched chip designers Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc and Broadcom Inc about taking a stake in a joint venture to operate Intel Corp’s factories. Industry sources told the Central News Agency (CNA) that the possibility of TSMC proposing to operate Intel’s wafer fabs is low, as the Taiwanese chipmaker has always focused on its core business. There is also concern over possible technology leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, Concord Securities Co (康和證券) analyst Kerry Huang (黃志祺)
It was late morning and steam was rising from water tanks atop the colorful, but opaque-windowed, “soapland” sex parlors in a historic Tokyo red-light district. Walking through the narrow streets, camera in hand, was Beniko — a former sex worker who is trying to capture the spirit of the area once known as Yoshiwara through photography. “People often talk about this neighborhood having a ‘bad history,’” said Beniko, who goes by her nickname. “But the truth is that through the years people have lived here, made a life here, sometimes struggled to survive. I want to share that reality.” In its mid-17th to
RSS