‘Sony to shift European operations from Britain to the Netherlands’

DutchNews, January 21, 2019

Photo: DutchNews.nl

Sony is planning to merge its European business into its Dutch arm to soften the impact of a no-deal Brexit, Britain’s Telegraph newspaper said on Monday. 

The unit will be responsible for the Tokyo giant’s electronics business in Europe and the deal will be completed on March 29 2019, the paper says. It bases its claims on merger documents. 

According to the Dutch chamber of trade documents, Sony Europe BV was established in May last year and the merger documents with Sony Europe Limited were deposited with the chamber in November. The company’s statutory base is Hoofddorp, near Schiphol airport. 

Earlier, Japan’s Panasonic said it is moving its headquarters from London to the Netherlands. Big Japanese bank Mitsubishi UFG has also decided to make Amsterdam its new European base for investment banking.

HTC mum on alleged partnership with Israeli VR startup Replay

Want China Times, CNA 2015-07-14

Cher Wang speaks at an event at HTC's headquarters in Taoyuan, June 6.
(Photo courtesy of HTC)

HTC declined to comment Monday on a report that the Taiwanese smartphone maker is hoping to work with an Israel-based startup to provide virtual reality technology.

Local magazine Business Next reported on Saturday that HTC chairwoman and CEO Cher Wang had planned to visit Replay Technologies in early June, but was forced to cancel the plan because she needed to address HTC's tumbling share price.

The report said Wang canceled the plan in an e-mail to the Israeli company, citing Replay co-founder and CEO Oren Haimovitch-Yogev.

Wang's secret visit was aimed at teaming up with Replay for new technologies used in the HTC Vive — a virtual reality headset developed jointly with US video game supplier Valve, which is expected to hit the consumer market in the second half of this year, the report said.

In response to the report, HTC told CNA on Monday that it does not comment on rumors or speculation.

Replay has developed a new video format called "freeD," or free dimensional video, which works by capturing reality as a true three-dimensional scene, comprised of three-dimensional pixels that faithfully represent reality, rather than as a flat 2D image.

This information is stored in a freeD database and can be accessed to create any desired viewing angle from the multi-dimensional information, the three-year-old startup said.

The freeD technology has been used in instant replays at major sports events, including the 2012 Olympic Games, NBA All-Star Games, MLB games and the Super Bowl.

Replay has formed partnerships with Samsung Electronics, Sony and Microsoft.

WikiLeaks dumps data from Sony hacking scandal

Yahoo – AFP, April 17, 2015

WikiLeaks published thousands of documents from last year's Sony hacking
scandal, calling them an insight into the inner workings of a "secretive" firm

New York (AFP) - WikiLeaks published thousands of documents on Thursday from last year's Sony hacking scandal, calling them an insight into the inner workings of a "secretive" firm.

The website said the searchable data dump includes 30,287 documents from the US-based Sony Pictures Entertainment and 173,132 emails to and from more than 2,200 company email addresses.

The same data was released online after hackers attacked Sony Pictures last November and threatened the company over the release of the comedy film "The Interview," which depicts a fictional CIA plot to kill North Korea's leader.

The threats saw Sony cancel the public debut of the movie and led to the resignation of chairperson Amy Pascal. The leaks showed that Pascal had swapped racially insensitive jokes about President Barack Obama over email.

Washington blamed North Korea for the hack.

"Now published in a fully searchable format The Sony Archives offer a rare insight into the inner workings of a large, secretive multinational corporation," WikiLeaks said in a statement.

It said the original release was not searchable and was removed before the public and journalists could scrutinize them.

Sony data was released online after hackers threatened the company over the release
of "The Interview," which depicts a fictional CIA plot to kill North Korea's leader

WikiLeaks described Sony as an influential corporation with ties to the White House, able to impact laws and policies, and with connections to the US military-industrial complex.

"It is newsworthy and at the center of a geo-political conflict," said WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who lives at Ecuador's embassy in London to avoid prosecution for alleged rape in Sweden.

"It belongs in the public domain. WikiLeaks will ensure it stays there," the Australian former hacker said.

Sony condemned the re-release of the data, saying the private information does not belong in the public domain and WikiLeaks is helping the hackers' efforts to harm employees.

"The cyber-attack on Sony Pictures was a malicious criminal act, and we strongly condemn the indexing of stolen employee and other private and privileged information on WikiLeaks," Sony said in a statement.

The data indicates company CEO, Michael Lynton, dined with Obama and Sony employees raised money for the Democratic Party and incumbent Democrat New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, WikiLeaks said.

Sony Pictures Entertainment is a multi-billion-dollar US subsidiary of the Tokyo-based Sony Corporation. It handles film and TV production, acquisition and distribution.

Related Article:

Ben Affleck suppressed slave-owning ancestry, hacked Sony emails claim

Sony boss Amy Pascal steps down after 'Interview' computer hack

Sony Pictures executive Amy Pascal has stepped down from her post as the company's co-chair. Her departure comes in the wake of a hacking scandal blamed on North Korea, which revealed some embarrassing emails.

Deutsche Welle, 5Feb 2015

Hollywood studio Sony Pictures Entertainment announced on Thursday that Pascal, whose emails were leaked during the hacking saga, would step down to take on a new challenge.

The departure was given a positive spin in a company statement, which said Pascal would be helping to launch a "major new production venture" at the studio.

Pascal apologized in December after the damaging emergence of private emails, including an exchange where racially insensitive jokes were made about US President Barack Obama's presumed movie preferences.

She later apologized for "insensitive and inappropriate" comments, saying they were "not an accurate reflection of who I am."

"I have spent almost my entire professional life at Sony Pictures and I am energized to be starting this new chapter based at the company I call home," she said in a company statement.

'Resilience' through tough times

There was praise for Pascal from her co-chair Michael Lynton, who alluded to the difficulties his colleague had faced in recent months. Lynton said the studio had "faced some unprecedented challenges, and I am grateful for Amy's resilience and grace during this period."

Washington has blamed North Korea for the hack on Sony, claiming it has proof - something that Pyongyang denies. North Korea has strongly condemned the Sony film "The Interview," which features a fictional plot to assassinate leader Kim Jong Un.

"The Interview" was originally scheduled for a Christmas Day release, but was pulled from movie theaters amid threats when Sony became the target of the biggest cyberattack in US corporate history. The film was later given a limited release in cinemas, and proved a sensation when it came to online sales.

rc/kms (AFP, dpa, AP, Reuters)

Sony launches giant waterproof Xperia Z Ultra phone

BBC News, Leo Kelion, Technology reporter, 25 June 2013

Related Stories 

• Huawei unveils 'slimmest' smartphone
• Samsung unveils biggest smartphone
• Sony unveils 'thinnest' tablet

The Xperia Z Ultra is marketed as
being waterproof

Sony has announced a waterproof Android smartphone with a 6.4in screen (16.3cm).

The firm is pitching the Xperia Z Ultra as being the slimmest large-screened handset on the market.

It can also accept sketches or notes written using a standard pencil or metal-tipped pen in addition to an optional stylus.

The firm says it intends for the device to challenge Samsung's dominance of the jumbo-sized handset sector.

According to a study by consultants Transparency Market Research, Samsung accounted for 70% of the overall "superphone and phablet" market in 2012 thanks to the popularity of models including the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2.

Earlier this year, it added the Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Mega - a 6.3in-screened handset - to its line-up.

Sony already offers a 5in handset of its own, the original Xperia Z, which it unveiled in January.

The Ultra follow-up was unveiled at the Mobile Asia Expo in Shanghai. The new device will go on sale in China, Indonesia and Singapore in July and then in Europe in September.

"Southeast Asia is the key market for the product because the trend towards large-screened smartphone devices is stronger there," Calum MacDougall, director of Xperia marketing, told the BBC.

"But we also see the trend in Europe as well.

"In the large-screen segment at the moment most consumers are looking at the Galaxy Note. Now we can offer something that is really distinct: a stronger screen, greater portability, waterproofing and something different around the stylus and the pen."

Sony is not alone in seeking to erode Samsung's lead.

Over recent months Huawei has announced the the 6.1in Ascend Mate; ZTE the 5.7in Grand Memo; Acer the 5.7in Liquid S1; Asus the 6in FonePad Note; and Lenovo the 5.5in Ideaphone K900.

Mr MacDougall said Sony intended to compete against these by promoting the Xperia Z Ultra's "premium" features rather than trying to match or undercut the Chinese and Taiwanese firms' prices.

The Japanese firm reported its first annual profit in five years in May, but some analysts said its figures were skewed by asset sales and did not reflect a turnaround for its electronics divisions.

Headphone flap-free

The Xperia Z Ultra is 6.5mm (0.26in) thick - only slightly deeper than the thinnest device on the market, Huawei's Ascend P6.

Sony's new model is a fraction bigger
than Samsung's Galaxy Mega

Unlike the original Xperia Z the new phone does not need a flap over its headphone socket to protect it from water damage, addressing complaints the feature was fiddly to use.

It can also be submerged to a deeper limit - 1.5m (4.9ft) in freshwater for up to half an hour.

The device also features:

• A 1080p resolution screen with in-built software to upgrade lower definition videos and photos
• 16 gigabytes of internal storage with support for 64GB microSD cards
• An 8 megapixel rear camera
• A battery offering up to 11 hours talk time or 120 hours of audio playback - a figure which Sony claims is a record

Those concerned about using such a big device for quick tasks are also offered an optional bluetooth add-on which can be paired to the handset using NFC (near field communication) to make calls, view text messages or stream music.

The accessory is similar to the HTC's Mini accessory announced in January for its 5in Butterfly handset.

Transparency Market Research said that over 150 million Android super-sized phones were sold in 2012 and predicted the market would grow to 400 million by 2018.

Another consultancy firm, Frost & Sullivan, agrees that demand for such devices appears to be robust despite the fact many users would struggle to use them unless they had both hands free.

"For many people in developing parts the phablet is their first communications and computing device and allows them to have a single machine rather than multiple ones," the firm's managing director Manoj Menon told the BBC.

"But going forward companies are going to find it increasingly hard to differentiate between their products on size - it will have to be on software and other features. So, Sony seems to have the right strategy at this time."