IRG's  Instablog

•         Aurora Feint has agreed to sell a 20 percent stake to Japanese online and mobile commerce and entertainment provider DeNa. DeNA gaming industry partner Hudson, has agreed to use OpenFeint in their game lineup starting with Bomberman for the Christmas season.

•         With stronger yen and sluggish sales of copiers and laser printers, Canon's quarterly operating profit might be halved from the previous year despite brisk sales of its recently launched EOS Kiss X3 camera and cost cuts. But reports said that Canon is unlikely to change its annual forecast despite having to grapple with a stronger yen than it first estimated. The company will gain 60 billion yen (US$657 million) in July-September. Canon has forecast a 60 percent fall in annual operating profit to 190 billion yen (US$2.1 billion).

•         Nintendo Co. might reduce its earnings forecast. Annual profit will lessen for the first time in six years due to the fall of Wii console sales and stronger yen. Net income at Nintendo might lessen 11 percent to 249.3 billion yen (US$2.7 billion) this fiscal year, the first drop since the 12 months ended March 2004. The company lowered the price of Wii’s in September. Nintendo had 300 billion yen (US$3.3 billion) net income this year. Global sales of the Wii fell for the first time. Sony Corp. sold the fewest number of PlayStation 3 machines in two years.

•         Elpida Memory Inc., which secured a US$2 billion lifeline in September including public money, is planning to join industry leader Samsung Electronics Co. in a new round of technology spending to widen its lead over smaller Taiwanese makers of dynamic random access memory (DRAM). Spot prices of DRAM are now more than double what they were a year ago. Analysts credit demand rises for cutting-edge chips for high-performance computers as well as procurement by Chinese brokers following the National Day holiday in early October. DRAM prices will peak in the first half of October.

•         Elpida Memory Inc.’s venture with Taiwan's Powerchip Semiconductor Corp turned profitable in July-September on rising prices of DRAM. Taiwan firm Rexchip Electronics Corp, 52 percent owned by Elpida, has operating and net profits in five quarters as dynamic random-access memory prices declined 80 percent in 2008 in a battered chip sector. If the current recovery in chip prices continues, its profit will become more substantial. Elpida’s Tera Probe turned profitable in the quarter just ended, due to increase in demand for testing of mobile DRAM used in smartphones. Other investors in Tera Probe include Taiwan's Powertech Technology Inc, U.S. module maker Kingston Technology Co and Japanese tester maker Advantest Corp.

•         Oki Data Corp. is initiating full-scale sales of printers in the Chinese market as part of an effort to make up for slumping sales elsewhere overseas. The Oki Electric Industry Co. subsidiary had two overseas sales organizations for printers, one for Europe and the U.S., and one for other foreign countries. It will create a third sales team at its headquarters to oversee sales in China. The new team, which is also slated to cover sales activities in Taiwan, will formulate sales plans and conduct market research. An executive responsible for sales in Japan will be appointed chairman of Oki Trading (Beijing) Co., Oki Data's local unit in Beijing, and management-level personnel will also be sent from Japan to branches in Shanghai and Guangzhou. Oki Trading has begun using endorsements from table tennis player Ai Fukuhara, who is popular there.