■ Internet
Search firms eye TV market
Yahoo Inc and Google Inc, the two largest Internet search companies, probably will expand their ad networks to television and mobile phones as the two media converge, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Analysts, including UBS Securities' Benjamin Schachter and AccuStream iMedia Research's Paul Palumbo, told the paper that testing and recent product introductions from the two companies suggest they are extending online advertising beyond its traditional boundaries. Google's video service that it introduced last week, which lets users download video files, might be accompanied by ads, the paper said. Yahoo already has TV-like ads that may be a prelude to ads on music videos downloaded from Yahoo's music site. More ads may be on the way as the companies offer advanced online services in conjunction with mobile phones, wireless Internet and TV, the Chronicle said.
■ Airlines
Cathay pilots accept offer
Cathay Pacific's pilots' union has agreed to stop funding lawsuits against the airline over 49 fired pilots, accepting a management offer to pay the pilots 10 months severance pay, the company said yesterday. The agreement also permits the pilots to reapply for jobs at the airline, Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd spokeswoman Carolyn Leung said. The union had rejected the offer in an earlier vote in February. Despite the union voting to end funding for the lawsuits, it wasn't immediately clear if that would put at end to the legal action. Most of the fired pilots opposed the deal and some are expected to continue to fund the lawsuits themselves, the South China Morning Post reported.
■ Electronics
Microsoft plans tablet PC
Microsoft plans to bring its own tablet PC to the market. Up to now, the software giant has merely delivered the software necessary to run tablet PCs. Other firms have supplied the hardware. Microsoft's tablet PC will be developed in conjunction with a computer manufacturer and is expected to be introduced at under US$1,200, Microsoft's Armin Cremerius-Guenther said. Microsoft's entry into the hardware side of the tablet PC arena is expected to energize the market for these machines. Many tablet PCs have been introduced at a price point that was too high, Cremerius-Guenther said. The selling point for those who did purchase the machines though was that they are flat and light, making them good for businesspeople who travel frequently.
■ China's economy
Investment to drive growth
China's economy is expected to grow 8.9 percent this year, driven by investment, the Shenzhen-based Securities Times reported, citing a quarterly research note by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a government-affiliated agency. Investment will account for 54 percent of the economy this year, the newspaper said. That's up from 51 percent last year, according to figures derived from National Statistics Bureau data. China's GDP grew at a five-year high of 9.5 percent last year and in the first quarter of this year. The research note suggested the government may have to raise interest rates or take other measures to ensure stability in the economy. Exports are expected to rise 29.4 percent this year, with a 28.6 percent surge in imports, said the paper, an official publication affiliated with the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that a delegation that visited China for an APEC meeting did not receive any kind of treatment that downgraded Taiwan’s sovereignty. Department of International Organizations Director-General Jonathan Sun (孫儉元) said that he and a group of ministry officials visited Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting last month. The trip went “smoothly and safely” for all Taiwanese delegates, as the Chinese side arranged the trip in accordance with long-standing practices, Sun said at the ministry’s weekly briefing. The Taiwanese group did not encounter any political suppression, he said. Sun made the remarks when
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
BROAD AGREEMENT: The two are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff to 15% and a commitment for TSMC to build five more fabs, a ‘New York Times’ report said Taiwan and the US have reached a broad consensus on a trade deal, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday, after a report said that Washington is set to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent. The New York Times on Monday reported that the two nations are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent and commit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to building at least five more facilities in the US. “The agreement, which has been under negotiation for months, is being legally scrubbed and could be announced this month,” the paper said,
Japan and the Philippines yesterday signed a defense pact that would allow the tax-free provision of ammunition, fuel, food and other necessities when their forces stage joint training to boost deterrence against China’s growing aggression in the region and to bolster their preparation for natural disasters. Japan has faced increasing political, trade and security tensions with China, which was angered by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remark that a Chinese attack on Taiwan would be a survival-threatening situation for Japan, triggering a military response. Japan and the Philippines have also had separate territorial conflicts with Beijing in the East and South China
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