2013

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY REPORT

March

Prepared by Ferhat nlkal 3/31/2013

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BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY REPORT

MARCH 2013
Headlines Consumer Electronics (CE) Samsung has announced that it will be investing the equivalent of $111.5 million into display manufacturer Sharp. Samsung and LG Electronics (LPL) are expected to ship 45M and 30.5M LCD TVs. Samsungs global flat panel TV revenue share reached a new record high of 27.7% in 2012. Samsung claims that LG ran a series of advertisements. LG Electronics is launching the LG Laser TV. LGE ranked second in 2012, with the companys shipments accounting for 15% of global flat panel TV revenues. Sony Corp said that it would sell all the shares it owns in Japanese online game provider DeNA Co Ltd to Nomura Securities. Sharp Corp said it will miss a March 29 deadline to receive the second half of a $120 million investment from Qualcomm. Sharp originally wanted to sell its LCD TV plant in Mexico to Foxconn. Panasonic is reportedly planning to cut shipments of its PDP TV products. Haier wants to manufacture all its products in India by 2016. Foxconn fell into the red in 2012 with a net loss of $316.4m.

Total global TV shipments fell over 6% Y/Y in 2012, from 249 million to 233 million. The penetration rate of LED-backlit LCD TVs in 2013 is expected to reach 90%. Ultra HD TV penetration rates will stay below 5% until 2015. Total worldwide STB unit shipments will end the year at 250 million. The total digital living room market is expected to cross $200 billion by 2018. Korea-based TV vendors are planning to lower prices for their TV units sold in China.

ICT Samsung Electronics is ratcheting up its rivalry with Apple with its new Galaxy S 4 smartphone. Samsung will launch the third edition of its Galaxy Note tablet/smartphone hybrid device in September. Samsung is working on a digital device that could be worn like a wristwatch. Samsung is gearing up for a 5.9-inch device. Samsung is expected to adopt Qi wireless charging technology run by the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC). Apple is currently adjusting shipment estimates for its iPad and iPad mini products in 2013 to 33 million and 55 million. Apple plans to launch its iPhone 5S this coming August. Apple is likely to adopt the wireless charging technology developed. Apple is working on a smart wristwatch running on iOS. Apple is reportedly continuing to develop a TV. Apple (AAPL) has continued to move away from its dependence on Samsungs manufactured components. LG announced that Smart Video eye recognition will be coming to the LG Optimus G Pro. Sony will launch new handsets in India with Mozilla's Firefox operating system. Google's Motorola Mobility unit is to shed another 1,200 jobs or 10 percent.

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Googles high-tech glasses will be manufactured in California. Google and LG Electronics reportedly are the latest tech vendors looking to develop an Internet-connected smartwatch. Amazon.com Inc said it cut the price of its largest Kindle Fire tablet. Amazon Kindle e-book reader panel shipments reached about 750,000 units in January 2013. Nokia Siemens Networks and IBM have announced a collaboration to deliver a mobile edge computing platform. Researchers at Hewlett-Packard Co. have developed a way to put glassesfree 3-D video on mobile devices. Ericsson is in talks to buy Microsofts software unit. Acer will cooperate with Wistron to adopt recycled materials. HTC unveiled a new flagship smartphone. Foxconn said it was still negotiating a deal for greater cooperation with Sharp. Foxconn has emphasized that the Sharp and Foxconn are still in negotiation. Foxconn will hire 5,000 technicians locally this year. The Institute of Professional Development of Open University Malaysia (IPD-OUM) will be using Wistron Smart Education Solution. Belkin completed its acquisition of Linksys. Roku is plugging headphones and several other new features. Smartphone sales are expected to extend their strong growth trend in 2013 with some 918 million units worldwide. China's handset industry has been hoping to reduce its reliance on Google's Android platform by switching to other platforms . IDC also raised its 2013 tablet shipment forecast to 190.9 million units. In the smartphone market, which reached 545 million units shipped last

year, Apple has already fallen behind Samsung. Worldwide shipments of connected devices (tablets and smartphones) topped 1 billion in 2012. Android's share of the market is forecast to reach a peak of 48.8% in 2013 compared to 41.5% in IDC's previous forecast. As touchscreen notebooks are expected to account for a double-digit share of the global notebook market in 2013. IDC believes e-book reader shipments peaked in 2011 at 26.4 million units. After declining to 18.2 million units in 2012. Shipments of e-book readers will decline 27 percent to 10.9 million units in 2013. The wearable computing device market could grow to 485 million device shipments by 2018. Shipments of connected automotive infotainment systems will grow from 9 million in 2013 to more than 62 million in 2018.

Panel Industry

Samsung is trying to sell Dutch

subsidiary Liquavista BV to Amazon. Samsung Display Co. has decided to drop a patent suit against LG. AUO has announced that its consolidated February 2013 revenues reached US$935.4 million. AUO has obtained orders for Ultra HD TV panels from Samsung Electronics and Philips. Panel makers in Taiwan such as Innolux Corporation and AU Optronics (AUO) are looking for extra staff. AUO introduced an in-house-developed solution for completely recycling wastewater. Innolux has set its 2013 capex at US$671 million to strengthen new LCD technologies and develop new products. Innolux has obtained 30-35% of orders for panels used in Nokia handsets .

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Innolux Corporation has been selected as a supplier of TFT-LCD panels for use in Amazon smartphones. Innolux Corporation is reportedly planning to produce 19.5- as well as 28-inch monitor panels. CPT has announced that it has purchased Giantplus Technology. CPT has announced the sale of a 100% stake in its LCD module subsidiary. CPT and in-cell touch solution developer IDTI may cut off cooperation to develop in-cell touch panel technology. Daxin is planning to invest US$147.7 million to construct a new plant that should be up for production by the end of 2014. Global shipments of ultra highdefinition (4K) LCD panels are forecast to grow 40-fold to reach 2.6 million units in 2013. Panel makers in Asia are expected to increase their utilization rates for LCD TV panels in the second half of March 2013. The penetration rate of Ultra HD TV panels may reach as high as 20% in 2013. Korea-based panel makers' tablet panel shipments exceeded 10 million in February 2013. The global shipments of large-sized LCD panels in January 2013 reached 60.48 million units. Panel prices for 39-, 42-, and 50-inch LCD and open cell TV panels have been supported by pre-May 1 holiday demand in China. AMOLED display shipments for handset applications are expected to grow at a four-year compound annual growth rate (AGR) of 26% from 195.1 million units in 2013 to 447.7 million units in 2017.

Semiconductor Industry Intel Capital, the chip company's venture-capital arm, has invested in software maker BlueStacks.

Intel aims to deliver more targeted packages of TV and Internet content at different price points. Intel is set to promote its Wireless Display (WiDi) technology in 2013. Broadcom Corp teamed with Antix Labs. to offer interactive games to consumer home device. Broadcom announced the industry's first low cost, high definition (HD) digital cable set-top box SoCs. Broadcom Corporation recently signed a deal with IndusInd Media & Communications Ltd. NXP introduced the TJA1052i, a highspeed Controller Area Network (CAN) transceiver. NXP and TI announced an agreement to cooperate on conformance testing for EPC Gen2 Standard. NXP will cost an estimated $800 million, save $550 million annually and affect approximately 4,500 NXP staff. STMicroelectronics and SoftAtHome have successfully demonstrated a client/server solution. STMicroelectronics has signed a new Euro 350 million loan agreement. Atmel announced that it has completed the acquisition of IDTI smart metering IC product lines. MediaTek indicated the company now expects to complete its merger with MStar on August 1, 2013. GlobalSat and Entropic introduced the the latest high performance set-top box solution. GreenPeak has introduced a ZigBee radio transceiver. Avnet announced that it has agreed to acquire the shares of RTI Holdings Ltd. ALi Corporation announced the launch of its new high definition network media player. The ACCESS-powered ALi SoCs will ship to set-top box manufacturers from Q2, 2013. The ZigBee Alliance announced the completion and public availability of its third specification, ZigBee IP. Total DTV semiconductor revenues fell to US$14.09 billion in 2012.

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Worldwide spending for wafer fab equipment will decline 13.3% year over year in 2012 and 0.8% in 2013. The revenues for OE automotive semiconductors grew by 12 percent to USD 25.5 billion. The total market for open short-range is expected to reach almost 5 billion units in 2013 and grow to nearly 8 billion by 2018.

Software Industry Microsoft may have over-estimated the demand for itsSurface RT and Surface Pro tablets. Yahoo Inc. is in talks to buy a controlling stake in France TelecomSA's online-video site Dailymotion. Dropbox has announced they will be acquiring the company behind the mobile email app Mailbox.

Service Industry DirecTV has decided to end its pursuit of Vivendi's GVT. Netflix Inc unveiled a new feature that allows subscribers to let their Facebook Inc friends.

Ingenico said that it hoped to boost revenues to above 1.8 billion euros ($2.3 billion) by 2016. Ingenico and First American Payment Systems (FAPS), one of the nations top privately-held ISOs and merchant acquirers, announced that FAPS has successfully certified. VeriFone said Chief Executive Douglas Bergeron will step down. Visa recently announced the opening of the Myanmar market. Visa Inc could be forced to buy the Visa Europe payments system. Z Energy will begin adopting "contactless" payment technology. PayPal said that it acquired mobile app developer Duff Research. NCR Corp. ( NCR ) recently unveiled a mobile point-of-sale (POS) software solution targeting the restaurant industry. NEC has unveiled a cloud-based prepaid electronic money system. Online payment service PayPal has launched a new iOS SDK for developers. The RFID card/tag market volume will grow to 2.11 billion units, from 894 million in 2012. The volume of contactless cards increased significantly from 220.0 million in 2008 to 610 million in 2012.

Automotive Industry BMW and Continental have teamed up to develop self-driving car technology.

Energy Industry Bosch said it will sell or shut down its heavily loss-making solar energy operations. Smart meter shipments surpassed 20.6 million units in the fourth quarter of 2012. Annual smart grid revenue will grow to $73 billion by 2020 Global LED lighting market will be worth US$25.4 billion in 2013.

Hopitality Industry Quadriga Worldwide announced it has completed its integration of the NXsystems business and has officially converted the NXSystems.

Retail and Payment Industry Ingenico announces a strategic partnership with Timbec Inc. Safran said it is selling a 12.57% stake in electronic payment company.

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Consumer Electronics (CE) Samsung Investment to Sharp Samsung has announced that it will be investing the equivalent of $111.5 million into display manufacturer Sharp, giving Samsung a 3% stake in the company. This investment will provide Samsung with a stable supply of LCD panels for use in its TVs. Sharp will invest $73.7 million of the investment into developing new LCD technology, as well as a further $34.5 million into other areas of its business over the next two years.

Advertisement complaints According to the Korea Herald, Samsung claims that LG ran a series of advertisements that contained false information and have allegedly tarnished its corporate image. The controversy started when Samsung produced an advertisement that mocked the purported small size of LGs refrigerators. TheKorea Herald says that LG released online advertisements condemning Samsung Electronics in response that Samsung alleges misconstrued facts about the company.

LG Laser TV LG Electronics is launching the LG Laser TV, an ultra-short-throw projector system which requires a mere 22 inches of clearance from the wall, inthe United States next month.

Samsungs stock performance LCD TV Shipments Samsung (SSNLF) and LG Electronics (LPL) are expected to ship 45M and 30.5M LCD TVs, respectively in 2013, reports DigiTimes. According to market observers, the two companies are expected to reach a combined TV market share of 34%-35%.

LGs stock performance Market Share in LCD TV market LGE ranked second in 2012, with the companys shipments accounting for 15% of global flat panel TV revenues and also enjoying revenue growth during the year.

LCD TV Market Share Samsung Reaches New Flat Panel TV Revenue Share Record in 2012 Samsungs global flat panel TV revenue share reached a new record high of 27.7% in 2012, up from 25% in 2011, with total flat panel TV revenues increasing 6% Y/Y.

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Sony Selling Online Game Provider DeNA Sony Corp said that it would sell all the shares it owns in Japanese online game provider DeNA Co Ltd to Nomura Securities. Sony said in a statement that it expected to post a gain of 40.9 billion yen ($437 million), to be recorded as operating income in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year that ends this month. Sharps stock performance Sell LCD TV Plant in Mexico to Foxconn According to Japan-based media, Sharp originally wanted to sell its LCD TV plant in Mexico to Taiwan-based Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry), and the negotiation was almost final. But due to various differences, Sharp reportedly has given up the deal, raising concerns about the cooperation between the two firms. Some industry sources noted that for Foxconn to buy Sharp shares, the procurement of the plant is not a priority. The main goal for Foxconn is to cooperate on technology and integrate the production process. Hence, development concerning the Mexico plant should not be used as an indicator on the overall relationships between the two firms. The key of the cooperation remains on the cooperation terms regarding the IGZO technology.

Sonys stock performance Sharp Qualcomm Investment Sharp Corp said it will miss a March 29 deadline to receive the second half of a $120 million investment from Qualcomm Inc after it failed to complete a plan to begin fabricating power-saving screens the two companies are jointly developing. Qualcomm, which paid half the $120 million in December, set conditions for the remainder that included having completed the specifications for the smartphone and tablet PC screens and preparations for their production.

Panasonic Cut shipments of Plasma TV Panasonic is reportedly planning to cut shipments of its PDP TV products to less than one million in 2013, and instead is looking to bump up its procurement of LCD TV panels in order to give the company a wider range of LCD TV products, according to a Japanbased report.

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The market observers added that Panasonic is expected to bump up its proportion of LCD TV procurement to about 70% by the end of the 2012 fiscal year, which is also expected to result in additional orders to Innolux Corporation, AU Optronics (AUO) and LG Display. The observers also said Panasonic is likely to further develop Ultra HD TV production as well in 2013. Panasonic will continue to manufacture televisions, the company has announced, following rumours it was ready to through in the towel.

Foxconn Financial Foxconn International Holdings Ltd, the worlds biggest contract maker of cellphones, fell into the red in 2012 with a net loss of $316.4m due to weak orders from some of its major customers. The success of the iPhone 5 and three new iPad models in 2012 not only raised Apple's profits to record levels, but has also helped manufacturerFoxconn to reach a alltime high $3.2 billion profit ($3.9 trillion New Taiwan dollars) during the year.

Panasonics stock performance Haier Production in India The Indian arm of Chinese consumer durables major Haier wants to manufacture all its products in India by 2016. Local production will shield Haier India from the volatile rupee-dollar fluctuations and accelerate growth.

Foxconns stock performance CE Market Global TV Shipments Total global TV shipments fell over 6% Y/Y in 2012, from 249 million to 233 million. On a regional basis, North America shipments were essentially flat in comparison to 2011, with the US accounting for 89.7% of North American volume according to new data available from NPD DisplaySearch. However, shipments to both Japan and Western Europe fell sharply, declining 68% and 15% Y/Y, respectively. China was once again the worlds largest market for TV shipments, with demand rising 6% to nearly 52 million, signaling the first time any region has reached an annual volume of more than 50 million. Growth slowed in the other

Haiers stock performance

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emerging regions, including Asia Pacific, MEA, and Latin America, all of which declined in volume. Eastern Europe was the only region with strong growth in 2012, rising 17% Y/Y in volume as analog to digital transitions drove purchasing. DLED LCD TV TV vendors' proportion of direct-type LED-backlit LCD TVs is expected to climb in 2013 as consumers, primarily in emerging economies, are looking to ditch their CCFL units, according to market observers. The observers said low-cost direct-type LED-backlit LCD TVs will be the main driver for consumers to replace their CCFL units throughout the year. While there are still some TV vendors who have CCFL reserves, others such as Samsung Electronics have completely stopped production of CCFL units in order to push LED TVs, noted the observers. Additionally, the penetration rate of LED-backlit LCD TVs in 2013 is expected to reach 90% during the year largely due to vendors driving down costs for their entry-level LED TV products. Korea-based TV vendors' product proportion of direct-type units is expected to increase from 70% as a result, while the top-six TV vendors in China are expected to see their proportion of LED TV units increase to 60%, added the observers. The government in China is also expected to extend energy-saving subsidies to local consumers for purchasing products such as LED TVs throughout 2013, and possibly until 2017. The subsidies were a major factor for LED TV growth in China throughout 2012 as well as for pushing up the global penetration rate of LED TV products.

Ultra HD TV Ultra HD TV penetration rates will stay below 5% until 2015 and that the penetration rate of panels in 2013 will come to only 1.2%.

Digital STB MRG projects that the annual growth rate for unit shipments of digital set-top boxes in 2012 will exceed 15%. Total worldwide unit shipments will end the year at 250 million, a new record high.

Digital Living Room The total digital living room market is expected to cross $200 billion by 2018 with a single digit growth rate. Currently, the market value is approximately $180 billion.

Competition against 39 models Korea-based TV vendors are planning to lower prices for their TV units sold in China due to the increasing popularity of cheaper 39-inch models from other TV vendors, according to industry sources.

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ICT Industry Samsung Galaxy S4 Samsung Electronics is ratcheting up its rivalry with Apple with its new Galaxy S 4 smartphone, which has a larger, sharper screen than its predecessor, the best-selling S III.

Samsung is expected to adopt Qi wireless charging technology run by the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) for its next flagship model, the Galaxy S IV, the sources indicated.

Apple iPad Shipments Apple is currently adjusting shipment estimates for its iPad and iPad mini products in 2013 to 33 million and 55 million, respectively, according to industry sources. Originally Apple had predicted shipments for its 9.7-inch iPads to reach approximately 60 million units and the iPad mini 40 million units. Not only has Apple dropped its overall expected shipments for the two devices, but it also expects the iPad mini to sell substantially better during the year, said the sources.

Galaxy Note 3 Samsung will launch the third edition of its Galaxy Note tablet/smartphone hybrid device in September, according to a report, Digital Spy said.

Smart Watch The S. Korean electronics giant, which is locked in a smartphone war with Apple (AAPL), could also challenge the U.S. tech giant for space on consumers' wrists. A source told Reuters that Samsung is working on a digital device that could be worn like a wristwatch, and perform many of the tasks of a smartphone.

5.9 OLED Device The Korea Times claims that Samsung is gearing up for a 5.9-inch device to be introduce in the "latter half of this year". "Samsung is working on introducing a new phablet using a 5.9-inch organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screen", an official told The Korea Times on condition of anonymity.

Apples stock performance iPhone 5s A pair of reports from earlier this week suggested that Apple (AAPL) plans to launch its iPhone 5S this coming August, and now a newreport states that production of the nextgeneration Apple smartphone is currently underway.

Wireless Charging Following the steps of Nokia, LG Electronics and HTC, Samsung Electronics and Apple are expected to add wireless charging capability to their flagship models in 2013, according to industry sources.

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Wireless Charging Apple is likely to adopt the wireless charging technology developed internally, but it remains unknown if the next-generation iPhone will come with built-in wireless charging capability or with other attached accessories, said the sources.

LG Smart Video Eye LG announced that Smart Video eye recognition will be coming to the LG Optimus G Pro. As part of an upcoming "Value Pack" software update, the feature will be made available for select future LG premium smartphones.

Smart Watch Amid rumors that Apple is working on a smart wristwatch running on iOS, its bitter rivals Samsung and Google are also reportedly working on a similar gadgets of their own. Sony

Firefox OS in India Sony will launch new handsets in India with Mozilla's Firefox operating system, according to sources of The Mobile Indian.

iTV Apple is reportedly continuing to develop a TV rumored to be called the iTV, which is likely to support Ultra HD (3840 by 2160) along with voice and motion control functions and Internet connectivity, according to industry supply chain sources.

Google Lay Off Motorola Staff Google's Motorola Mobility unit is to shed another 1,200 jobs or 10 percent of its workforce as the smartphone maker tries to return to profitability, Google said.

Away from dependence on Samsung Apple (AAPL) has continued to move away from its dependence on Samsungs manufactured components in new products. David Hsieh of NPD Groups DisplaySearch said on Thursday that the company will rely on Taiwanese firm Innolux and Chinas Century Display for touch panels in its next-generation iPad mini, the Taipei Times reported. Innolux revealed earlier this week that it plans to ship its first touch panels for smartphones and tablets with its touch-on-display technology by the end of this year. Digitimes also reported that Apple will move away from Samsung (005930) and instead rely on components from LG Display (LPL), Sharp (SHCAY), Japan Display and AU Optronics (AUO) for the iPad mini.

Googles stock performance

Google Glass Production The first run of Google's Glass networked specs will be rolling off the production lines of device manufacturing giant Foxconn within

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weeks, according to the Financial Times. Googles high-tech glasses will be manufactured in California, according to multiple reports, in the latest example of an American tech company choosing to build one of its products in the United States. Googles highly touted computerized spectacles, known as Google Glass, will be assembled by Foxconn Technology Group, the Taiwanese industrial giant that builds many of Apples products, at a plant in Santa Clara, California, according to reports in the Financial Times and Bloomberg.

Kindle e-book reader shipments Amazon Kindle e-book reader panel shipments reached about 750,000 units in January 2013 followed by 420,000 units in February. The shipments are expected to drop even further to 20,000 units in March and April, which is expected to affect E Ink Holding's (EIH) revenues for the two months, according to industry sources.

IBM Cooperation with Nokia Siemens Nokia Siemens Networks and IBM have announced a collaboration to deliver a mobile edge computing platform that can run applications directly within a mobile base station.

SmartWatch Google and LG Electronics reportedly are the latest tech vendors looking to develop an Internet-connected smartwatch.

Amazon Cut the price of Kindle Fire Amazon.com Inc said it cut the price of its largest Kindle Fire tablet, part of an effort by the world's biggest Internet retailer to get the device into the hands of as many consumers as possible. The Kindle Fire HD 8.9 inch Wi-Fi tablet will now be priced at $269 in the United States, down from $299. The 4G wireless version now starts at $399, compared with $499 before, Amazon said.

IBMs stock performance HP Glasses free 3D Video on mobile devices Researchers at Hewlett-Packard Co. have developed a way to put glassesfree 3-D video on mobile devices with a viewing angle so wide that viewers can see an object more fully just by tilting the screen.

Amazons stock performance

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HTC New Smartphone Taiwans HTC unveiled a new flagship smartphone in its domestic market yesterday with revamped designs which analysts said may boost the companys sluggish sales against rivals Apple and Samsung.

HPs stock performance Ericson Acquisition of Microsoft software unit Swedish network equipment vendor Ericsson (ERIC) is in talks to buy Microsofts software unit that allows phone companies to provide television over the Internet, according to a report Wednesday from Bloomberg News. Foxconn Acer Still Negotiating with Sharp Cooperation with Wistron Acer will cooperate with Wistron to adopt recycled materials such as plastic into their products and the company also plans to cut its carbon emissions by 30% by 2015 and 60% by 2020. Taiwan's Foxconn Technology Group said it was still negotiating a deal for greater cooperation with Sharp, despite the Japanese display maker securing a US$110 million investment to supply LCD panels to rival Samsung Electronics. Sharp president Takashi Okuda hinted at a press conference on March 14 that talks over investments from Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) are already in a status of being cancelled, but Foxconn has emphasized that the two sides are still in negotiation. Although the two firms will be unable to reach an agreement before the end of March as planned, Foxconn said it will continue to negotiate with Sharp to seek any possible breakthrough.

HTCs stock performance

Acers stock performance

Hire new technicians Taiwan's tech giant Foxconn will hire 5,000 technicians locally this year,

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many of them to work on factory robots to build its gadgets, officials said Monday, in a sign the firm is refocusing operations to its home island.

Roku New Features on STB Roku is plugging headphones and several other new features into its latest set-top box for streaming Internet video to TVs, a move that amplifies its effort to upstage Apple's (AAPL) better-selling player.

Wistron Smart Education Solution The Institute of Professional Development of Open University Malaysia (IPD-OUM) will be using Wistron Smart Education Solution System, an e-learning education system developed by Taiwan technology service provider, Wistron Corporation.

ICT Market SmartPhone Market Smartphone sales are expected to extend their strong growth trend in 2013 with some 918 million units worldwide, led by gains in big emerging markets China, Brazil and India, a survey showed. The research firm said that by the end of 2017, 1.5 billion smartphones will be shipped worldwide, over two-thirds of the total mobile phone market.

Smartphone OS in China Wistrons stock performance Belkin Acquisition of Linksys Belkin completed its acquisition of Linksys and will keep the longtime home networking company's brand, products and support channels. Cisco Systems agreed to sell Linksys to privately held Belkin in January for an undisclosed price. The move continued a shift by Cisco away from consumer products and toward large architectures for enterprises and service providers. The China Academy of Telecommunication Research for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has published a white paper stating that China's handset industry has been relying heavily on the Android platform. In fact, China's handset industry has been hoping to reduce its reliance on Google's Android platform by switching to other platforms such as Windows Phone, Tizen, and Firefox OS. Industry sources believe the percentage of products using the Android platform is likely to fall continuously in China.

Tablet Shipments Underscoring the increasing opportunity in mobile for Apple and its competitors, IDC also raised its 2013 tablet shipment forecast to 190.9

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million units, up from its previous forecast of 172.4 million units. Last year, global tablet shipments grew to 128.3 million units, up from 72 million in 2011, according to IDC. iPad shipments are expected to account for 46 percent of the tablet market in 2013, down from 51 percent last year, IDC said. Devices running Android are expected to grow their market share to 49 percent this year from 42 percent last year.

Smartphone Shipments In the smartphone market, which reached 545 million units shipped last year, Apple has already fallen behind Samsung. Samsung is likely to sell 290 million smartphones this year, up 35 percent from 2012, according to Strategy Analytics. Apple's smartphone sales are projected to reach 180 million this year, up 33 percent. IDC said tablets running Microsoft's Windows 8 platform would grow their market share from 1 percent last year to 7.4 percent in 2017.

Smartphone Revenues Smartphones have created a bridge between two previously separate industrieswireless networks and personal computing. For Internet firms and device makers, this means access to the worlds largest network of people. As can be seen above, the wireless telephone business is large compared to personal computing. In 2012, the worlds mobile operators did $1.2 trillion in business and served around 3.2 billion people, versus perhaps 1.7 billion people who used PCs to access the Internet. By comparison, the combined revenue of Microsoft, Google, Intel, Apple, and the entire global PC industry was $590 billion. Online advertising, the main driver of the consumer Internet, generated only $89 billion in revenue.

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Tablet OS Android-based tablets expanded their share of the market notably in 2012, and IDC expects that trend to continue in 2013. Android's share of the market is forecast to reach a peak of 48.8% in 2013 compared to 41.5% in IDC's previous forecast. Android's gains come at the expense of Apple's iOS, which is expected to slip from 51% of the market in 2012 to 46% in 2013. In the long term, IDC believes that both iOS and Android will eventually relinquish some market share to Windows-based tablets, with Windows 8 predicted to grow from 1% of the market in 2012 to 7.4% in 2017. IDC expects Windows RT growth to remain below 3% during the forecast period.

Connected Devices Worldwide shipments of connected devices (tablets and smartphones) topped 1 billion in 2012 -- a 29.1% increase year over year, according to a press release published today by the International Data Corporation. Samsung remains the leader in smartdevice unit-shipment market share, with 21.2%. But Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ) inched closer to Samsung with 20.3% in Q4 2012, because of iPhone 5 and iPad Mini shipments. Looking at the revenue share, though, Apple easily beats Samsung with 30.7%, compared with Samsung's 20.4%. Competition between the two companies is heating up, considering that the IDC expects tablet shipments to increase by 48.7% and smartphone shipments to increase 27.2% year over year in 2013. Keeping with the mobile trend, the research company expects tablet shipments to outpace desktop PC shipments this year and surpass portable PC shipments in 2014. The IDC said that over the next four years, tablet shipments will grow by 174.5% and smartphone shipments will grow by 109.9%. The company also estimates that smart-device shipments will surpass 2.2 billion units in 2017, with revenues of $814.3 billion that year.

Touchscreen Notebook As touchscreen notebooks are expected to account for a double-digit share of the global notebook market in 2013, up from only a single-digit percentage in 2012, notebook brand vendors have turned aggressive about securing touch panel supplies with many even placing security deposits to ensure smooth supplies, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.

E-book Readers While IDC continues to revise its tablet forecast upward, the firm had done the opposite for its e-book reader forecast. The growth of low-cost tablets is clearly damaging the prospects of the singleuse e-book reader, and IDC reduced its forecast for the category by an average of 14% between 2013 and 2016. IDC believes e-book reader shipments peaked in 2011 at 26.4 million units. After declining to 18.2 million units in 2012, the category is expected to grow only modestly in 2013 and 2014, before it begins a gradual and permanent

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decline beginning in 2015, noted the firm. Shipments of e-book readers will decline 27 percent to 10.9 million units in 2013, according to researcher IHS Inc. (IHS) By 2016, IHS expects 7.1 million e-readers to ship, less than a third of the peak volume seen in 2011.

Flat Panel Industry Samsung Sell Liquavista BV to Amazon Samsung Electronics Co. (005930), the worlds largest flat-panel maker, is trying to sell Dutch subsidiary Liquavista BV to Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), according to a person familiar with the matter. Samsung is seeking a sale of the Eindhoven, Netherlands- based maker of electronic-reader display technology for less than $100 million, said the person, who declined to be identified because the discussions are private. Samsung, based in Suwon, South Korea, acquiredLiquavista in 2011.

Wearable Devices Industry observers have been talking for several years about computer systems that users can wear. Analysts at ABI Research said in February that the wearable computing device market could grow to 485 million device shipments by 2018.

Automotive Infotainment Shipments of connected automotive infotainment systems will grow from 9 million in 2013 to more than 62 million in 2018 with connected navigation, multimedia streaming, social media, and in-car Wi-Fi hotspots becoming key features. Drop patent suit against LG Samsung Display Co., the world's biggest display maker, has decided to drop a patent suit against LG Electronics Co. over liquid-crystal display technologies, paving the way for both sides to end a long-running legal battle, Yonhap news agency reported citing industry sources.

AUO Financial AU Optronics (AUO) has announced that its consolidated February 2013 revenues reached NT$27.73 billion (US$935.4 million), down by 3 % from the previous month and down by 0.8% from the same period last year. Large-size panel shipments, with applications on desktop, notebook, LCD TV and other applications, decreased by 7.2% on month to around 7.88 million units. As for small- to mediumsize panels, shipments were about 9.28 million units, up by 3% on month.

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Innolux Investment Taiwan-based panel maker Innolux has set its 2013 capex at NT$20 billion (US$671 million) to strengthen new LCD technologies and develop new products. Through removing bottlenecks, the firm will add a total panel area of 2.2 million square meters and its capacity will increase by 7% in 2013. The firm plans to improve technologies and the quality of large-size LCD products by upgrading equipment. At the same time, the firm hopes to expand its 5G, 5.5G, 6G, 7.5G and 8.5G production lines on a smaller scale. Innolux also hopes to develop new technologies such as IGZO, AMOLED, 4Kx2K, and IPS. Innolux plans to spend around NT$5-6 billion to expand equipment for touch products as the firm hopes to obtain a more than 20% share in the touch and tablet panel market in 2013.

AUOs stock performance UHDTV AU Optronics (AUO) has obtained orders for Ultra HD (3840 by 2160) TV panels from Samsung Electronics and Philips in addition to existing customers Sony and Toshiba, according to industry sources. AUO has also increased its Ultra HD TV panel production capacity to 200,000300,000 units with capacity utilization exceeding 90%. Most of the panels AUO is shipping are sized 55- and 65inch, said the sources.

New Jobs Panel makers in Taiwan such as Innolux Corporation and AU Optronics (AUO) are looking for extra staff, most notably engineers, for developing highend panel products, according to industry sources. The sources indicated that AUO is looking for about 1,000 engineers for developing AMOLED and Ultra HD (3840 by 2160) panels while Innolux is offering 5,500 new job openings, 1,000 of which are for engineer positions.

Innoluxs stock performance Orders from Nokia Innolux has obtained 30-35% of orders for panels used in Nokia handsets, becoming Nokia's largest handset panel supplier, according to Taiwan-based supply chain sources. Handset vendor Nokia is reportedly putting in steady orders to its panel providers such as Innolux Corporation,

Wastewater Treatment Taiwan-based TFT-LCD panel maker AU Optronics (AUO) on March 20 introduced an in-house-developed solution for completely recycling wastewater to attain zero discharge of wastes.

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which is expected to help Innolux bump up its revenues in 2013, according to Taiwan-based supply chain sources. The sources said Innolux has obtained 30-35% of orders for panels used in Nokia handsets, including entry-level, midrange and high-end handsets, becoming Nokia's largest handset panel supplier.

TV vendor TCL, one of CSOT's main customers. TCL sold over 15 million LCD TVs in 2012 and is hoping to see similar results in 2013. The sale is expected to be completed by the end of the second quarter of 2013 for a total of US$71.52 million.

Cut off cooperation with IDTI Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT) and incell touch solution developer Integrated Digital Technologies (IDTI) may cut off cooperation to develop in-cell touch panel technology, according to industry sources.

Orders from Amazon Innolux Corporation has been selected as a supplier of TFT-LCD panels for use in Amazon smartphones, according to Taiwan-based supply chain sources. Daxin New panel sizes of monitors Innolux Corporation is reportedly planning to produce 19.5- as well as 28-inch monitor panels as part of its product differentiation strategy in 2013, according to industry sources.

Touch Panel material investment Daxin Materials, a Taiwan-based design house of specialty materials used in TFT-LCD and touch panels, is planning to invest NT$4.4 billion (US$147.7 million) to construct a new plant that should be up for production by the end of 2014, according to industry sources.

CPT Acquisition of GiantPlus Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT) has announced that it has purchased Giantplus Technology, a Taiwan-based small- and medium-sized LCD panel maker that has also diversified into the touch panel market.

Sell of the stake to CSOT in LCD module business Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT) has announced the sale of a 100% stake in its LCD module subsidiary called CPT Display Technology in Shenzhen, southern China, to China Star Optoelectronics Technology (CSOT). Market observers believe CSOT's purchase is aimed at increasing its backend module production capacity in order to meet demand for China-based

Daxins stock performance Flat Panel Market UHD/4K TV Global shipments of ultra highdefinition (4K) LCD panels are forecast to grow 40-fold to reach 2.6 million units in 2013, according to the latest NPD DisplaySearch Quarterly Large Area TFT Panel Shipment Report.

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The market analysts said 4K panel shipments totaled only 63,000 units in 2012.

several months of price cuts, and the price decline in the second half of the month is expected to be at around US$0.2-0.3. Ultra HD TV The penetration rate of Ultra HD TV panels may reach as high as 20% in 2013 due to demand from China-based TV vendors, noted market observers.

Tablet Panel shipment in Korea Korea-based panel makers' tablet panel shipments exceeded 10 million in February 2013 largely due to LG Display ramping up production of 9.7inch tablet panels for Apple's iPad products, according to industry observers.

Panel Shipments Increase the Utilization rate Panel makers in Asia are expected to increase their utilization rates for LCD TV panels in the second half of March 2013 in order to meet expected demand for the second quarter of the year, according to industry sources. TV panel prices are also expected to improve as a result of the production, noted market observers. The global shipments of large-sized LCD panels in January 2013 reached 60.48 million units, down 20% from 75.6 million from December 2012. Still, January's numbers were up 14% from levels during the same time last year, when large-size LCD panel shipments amounted to 53.1 million units in January 2012. TV panel shipments, for instance, amounted to 18.68 million units, down 8% from 20.3 million. The declines were worse in monitors and notebooks, with both segments suffering doubledigit decreases. In monitors, a 15% slide meant that panel shipments fell to 12.62 million from 14.8 million. For notebooks, the large 31% slide resulted in panel shipments of 13.1 million, down from 19.1 million. Notebook panels, in particular, have suffered grievously as panel demand shifts to tablets, which have proved a hit among consumers. Among afflicted panel makers, LG Display had the largest decline in notebook panel shipments during the month, down 38%. Other notebook display suppliers

Panel Prices Panel prices for 39-, 42-, and 50-inch LCD and open cell TV panels have been supported by pre-May 1 holiday demand in China, while other TV panel sizes have seen a US$1-3 decline, according to research firm WitsView. Moreover, impacted by dropping panel supply in the industry,18.5-inch monitor panel pricing may see a small increase, while other monitor panel sizes are expected to see a price drop at around US$0.5-1. Notebook panel prices meanwhile have showed gradually trimmed declines after

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that experienced big decreases were Innolux Corporation of Taiwan, down 36%; AU Optronics (AUO), also of Taiwan, down 27%; and Samsung Display of South Korea, down 16%. AMOLED Display Shipments AMOLED display shipments for handset applications are expected to grow at a four-year compound annual growth rate (AGR) of 26% from 195.1 million units in 2013 to 447.7 million units in 2017. Within the handset display market, the market share for AMOLED displays is forecast to grow from 7.9% in 2013 to 15.2% in 2017. The AMOLED market share for 4-inch or larger handset displays representing the smartphone market is likely to increase from 23% in 2013 to 24.4% in 2017, said the firm.

Semiconductor Industry Intel Investment in BlueStacks Intel Capital, the chip company's venture-capital arm, has invested in software maker BlueStacks. The companies announced the deal yesterday but didn't say how much Intel Capital invested. BlueStacks offers software, called App Player, that lets users run their mobile applications on aMac or Windows PC. According to BlueStacks, the company's platform has been downloaded more than 5 million times and supports the most-popular titles, including Angry Birds Space and Instagram.

Intels stock performance

TV STB Intel aims to deliver more targeted packages of TV and Internet content at different price points through its upcoming TV set-top box, which will better address user needs than bundles offered by cable TV and satellite companies. Later this year, Intel will release a settop box that will deliver live TV and ondemand content through a customized Web user interface. The set-top box could replace cable TV boxes, Apple TV or Roku boxes, and will also deliver TV and Internet content to tablets and smartphones.

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WiDi Intel is set to promote its Wireless Display (WiDi) technology in 2013 for the technology to become one of the standard PC specifications and LCD TV players including LG, Samsung Electronics and Toshiba will also join the promotion and adopt the WiDi technology into their HDTV products, according to sources from the upstream supply chain. In addition to notebooks, Intel also plans to gradually push the WiDi onto other devices such as tablets and all-inone PCs. Currently, the latest WiDi 3.5 is already able to support transmission for 1080Pbased content, Blu-ray playback, 3D content and 5.1 surrounding sound. The technology also meets Miracast standard of the Wi-Fi Alliance.

friendly payment modes, security, performance and usability needs.

Broadcoms stock performance

HD Digital Cable STB Broadcom Corporation (BRCM), a global innovation leader in semiconductor solutions for wired and wireless communications, announced the industry's first low cost, high definition (HD) digital cable set-top box SoCs with integrated Full-Band Capture and IP video server technology. Broadcom's BCM7583 and BCM7584 devices provide entry-level HD and HD-DVR platforms for cable MSOs with features that facilitate internet video streaming capabilities to multiple video devices simultaneously. Broadcom Corporation (BRCM), a global innovation leader in semiconductor solutions for wired and wireless communications, announced that two top Chinese equipment manufacturers SumaVision and ZTE have adopted Broadcom's C-Data over Cable Interface Standard (C-DOCSIS) Ethernet over Coax (EoC) technology to design products supporting converged services for Internet, television and telecommunications in China.

Broadcom Cooperation with Antix for games Leading semiconductor solutions provider Broadcom Corp ( BRCM ) recently teamed with Antix Labs, Ltd to offer interactive games to consumer home devices, including smartphones, tablets and television set-top boxes (STB). The combined offering includes Broadcom's full range of silicon and advanced IPTV, cable and satellite STB technology solutions with Antix. The adoption of Antix game services will facilitate high quality media services sans the restrictions of FLASH/HTML5, or virtual machine solutions. The users can share games across devices and enjoy uninterrupted game play with greater flexibility, making it more viral than music and video sharing, while protecting copyrights and revenues of the developers. The video consumption on mobile devices is continually on the rise and with these services, users are likely to have a greater experience with user-

Cooperation with Cable operatr in India Broadcom Corporation (BRCM) recently signed a deal with IndusInd Media & Communications Ltd (:IMCL), one of the largest cable operators in India, to provide integrated system-on-

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a-chip (SoC) technology with integrated silicon tuner in new set-top boxes (STB) to facilitate standard definition (SD) digitized services for the emerging cable market in the country.

sourcing for implementations of RFID throughout the world.

Restructuring A restructuring of manufacturing, R&D and support at NXP, the former Philips semiconductor division, will cost an estimated $800 million, save $550 million annually and affect approximately 4,500 NXP staff, or about 15 percent of its workforce.

NXP CAN Transceiver for automotive Building on its industry-leading position in In-Vehicle Networking, NXP Semiconductors N.V. (Nasdaq: NXPI) introduced the TJA1052i, a high-speed Controller Area Network (CAN) transceiver with integrated galvanic isolation technology. The TJA1052i is the first ISO11898-2 compliant product of its kind to offer this level of integration at AEC-Q100 automotive grade quality.

ST Microelectronics Cooperation with SoftAtHome STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, and SoftAtHome, a provider of home operating platforms enabling operators to deliver convergent services for the digital home, have successfully demonstrated a client/server solution that will allow service providers to reach extra screens with optimal user experience in subscribers' homes via a single, managed connection.

NXPs stock performance RFID test with TI Two of the leading radio frequency identification (RFID) semiconductor manufacturers, Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) and Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NYSE: TXN), announced an agreement to cooperate on conformance testing for the technical interpretation of the EPCglobal Inc Electronic Product Code (EPC) Generation (Gen) 2 RFID standard. This joint effort is aimed at ensuring interoperability and accelerating market deployment of Gen 2 products, such as labels, hardware and system solutions, to offer multiple

STMicroelectronicss stock performance Loan Agreement STMicroelectronics (NYSE:STM), a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, has signed a new Euro 350 million loan agreement with the European Investment Bank } 23

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(EIB). The facility, which has not yet been drawn by ST, is also available in the US$ equivalent amount and has an option for disbursement until September 2014 with final maturity eight years after disbursement.

Atmel Mediateks stock performance Acquisition of IDTI Atmel Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML), a leader in microcontroller and touch technology solutions, announced that it has completed the acquisition of Integrated Device Technology's (NASDAQ: IDTI) smart metering IC product lines and technologies, further enhancing Atmel's smart energy product portfolio. Entropic Acquisition of MStar GlobalSat, a leading Chinese manufacturer of satellite and terrestrial products and Entropic(ENTR), a world leader in semiconductor solutions for the connected home, introduced the GOOSAT S1-50HD, the latest high performance set-top box solution for the global Free-to-Air (FTA) Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) zapper market. The entry-level FTA zapper market continues to expand worldwide, with service providers looking for ARM(R)based set-top box solutions to take advantage of the architecture's inherent high performance processing power. GlobalSat chose Entropic's latest STB system-on-a-chip (SoC), the EN7100, as it uses a single-core ARM(R) Cortex(TM)- A9 processor with up to 2500 DMIPS and advanced security features. Additionally, Entropic's EN7100 SoC family delivers unprecedented price performance and delivers up to 1GHz operation in a "LP" low-power process node for low power consumption.

Atmels stock performance Mediatek Acquisition of MStar MediaTek Inc., Taiwans largest chipdesign house, is a step closer to merging with smaller rival MStar Semiconductor Inc. after South Korean regulators earlier this week gave the deal a green light. MediaTek indicated the company now expects to complete its merger with MStar on August 1, 2013. The pair initially set a January deadline for their merger, but previously revised the time frame to May 1.

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Entropics stock performance

Avnets stock performance

GreenPeak Combined Zigbee solution GreenPeak Technologies NV (Utrecht, The Netherlands) has introduced a ZigBee radio transceiver that contains a coexistence scheme that allows Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and ZigBee chips to work side by side in the same equipment.

ALi HD Network Media Player ALi Corporation (3041.TW), a leading Set-Top Box (STB) solution provider, announced the launch of its new high definition network media player, M3912, featuring multi-screen video sharing technology.

Cooperation with Access Avnet Acquisition of RTI Avnet, Inc. (NYSE:AVT) announced that it has agreed to acquire the shares of RTI Holdings Ltd., a value-added distributor of wireless, optical, telecom, data communications, and industrial components in Hong Kong and the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). In addition, Avnet will also acquire the shares of three related entities, RTI Technology China Limited, Eastele Technology China Limited, and DSP Solutions Limited. This transaction has received all necessary regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the next 30 days. ACCESS CO., LTD, announces that ALi Corporation has selected ACCESS award-winning DLNA solution NetFront Living Connect SDK to integrate with its system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions designed for set-topboxes. The ACCESS-powered ALi SoCs will ship to set-top box manufacturers from Q2, 2013.

Zigbee Alliance New Specification The ZigBee Alliance, a global ecosystem of companies creating wireless solutions for use in energy management, commercial and consumer applications, announced the completion and public availability of its third specification, ZigBee IP. ZigBee IP is the first open standard for an IPv6based full wireless mesh networking

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solution and provides seamless Internet connections to control low-power, lowcost devices. A free public webinar hosted by industry experts will discuss the unique capabilities of ZigBee IP on April 3.

Automotive Semiconductors The Semicast figures highlight the significance of the automotive sector for the semiconductor industry. In 2012, a phase characterized by overall soft demand and a revenue drop of 3 % for the chip industry as a whole, the revenues for OE automotive semiconductors grew by 12 percent to USD 25.5 billion. Semicast's OE automotive semiconductor vendor share analysis ranks Renesas Electronics as the leading supplier in 2012, with an estimated market share of 13.3%. Renesas continues to hold a substantial lead over the second placed supplier, Infineon Technologies, which in 2012 had an estimated market share of 8.3%. STMicroelectronics is judged to have been the third largest supplier last year with a market share of 7.4%, ahead of Freescale on 6.6% and NXP on 6.0%.

Semiconductor Market DTV Semiconductor market Amid a drop in television demand, the global market for digital television semiconductors (DTV) declined by nearly 6% in 2012, according to IHS iSuppli. Total DTV semiconductor revenues fell to US$14.09 billion in 2012, down from US$14.91 billion in 2011. While revenues for chips used on TV motherboards actually rose during the year, revenues sagged in three other DTV segments: power management, LED backlighting and flat-panel TV driver ICs. Better prospects are in store in 2013 when revenues rebound to US$14.35 billion, IHS said.

Short Range Wireless The total market for open short-range wireless (SRW) technology based ICs, i.e. Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, ZigBee, NFC, and GPS, is expected to reach almost 5 billion units in 2013 and grow to nearly 8 billion by 2018. This includes standalone wireless connectivity ICs, wireless connectivity combo ICs, and also platforms with integrated wireless connectivity.

Wafer Industry According to technology research firm Gartner Inc. (IT), worldwide spending for wafer fab equipment will decline 13.3% year over year in 2012 and 0.8% in 2013. However, the firm predicts a 15.3% increase in semiconductor spending in 2014. This keeps the long-term business prospects intact for the company.

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Software Idustry Microsoft Surface Microsoft may have over-estimated the demand for itsSurface RT and Surface Pro tablets if reports this weekend are to be believed. Bloomberg claimed that the company had only shifted around a million Surface RT tablets since its launch in October, and has another two million gathering dust in storage facilities. Dropbox Acquisition of mobile app company Cloud storage provider Dropbox has announced they will be acquiring the company behind the mobile email app Mailbox the companys first acquisition outside of its core filesharing service, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

Yahoos stock performance

Microsofts stock performance Yahoo Acquisition plan of Dailymotion Yahoo Inc. is in talks to buy a controlling stake in France TelecomSA's online-video site Dailymotion, according to people familiar with the talks, in what would be Yahoo Chief Executive Marissa Mayer's first major acquisition since taking over the Internet pioneer last year.

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Service Industry DirecTV End its pursuit of Vivendi GVT DirecTV, the largest U.S. satellite television provider has decided to end its pursuit of Vivendi's GVT, complicating the sale of the Brazilian telecommunications operator.

Automotive Industry BMW Cooperation with Continental for self driving German automotive companies BMW and Continental have teamed up to develop self-driving car technology, or as they call it, an electronic co-pilot for cars. The main goal of the joint venture is to develop and test technologies that would usher in an era of highly automated driving on European freeways from 2020, with fully automated systems expected from 2025.

DirecTVs stock performance

Nexflix Connect to Facebook Video service Netflix Inc unveiled a new feature that allows subscribers to let their Facebook Inc friends know what television shows and movies they are watching and also see friends' viewing activity. BMWs stock performance

Netflixs stock performance

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Hospitality Industry Quadriga Integration of NXSystems Quadriga Worldwide announced it has completed its integration of the NXsystems business and has officially converted the NXSystems and NXTV brands into Quadriga Americas effective March 1, 2013. This completes the UK-headquartered company's effort to align itself with its corporate hotel brands and their efforts to partner with a single technology partner to enhance the guest experience across multiple continents. Quadriga is now uniquely positioned with operations in the US, EU, Africa, Middle East and Asia.

Retail & Payment Industry Ingenico Partnership with Timbec Ingenico (Euronext: FR0000125346 ING), leading worldwide provider of payment solutions announces a strategic partnership with Timbec Inc., a Montreal-based interactive indoor kiosk solution provider, to jointly market Ingenico's new generation iSelfService Series payment solutions in the growing dynamic self-service unattended payment acceptance vertical in Canada.

Ingenicos stock performance

Selling of Safrans stake Safran SA (SAF.FR) said it is selling a 12.57% stake in electronic payment company Ingenico (ING.FR) for 286.8 million euros ($372.84 million) via a private placement, as the French maker of airplane and rocket engines reduces its holding in a peripheral business.

Revenue expectation French payment terminal group Ingenico said that it hoped to boost revenues to above 1.8 billion euros ($2.3 billion) by 2016 while targeting an EBITDA margin goal above 20 per cent of its revenue.

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In 2012, Ingenico's annual revenue was 1.2 billion euros, with an EBITDA margin of 18.5 per cent.

Cooperation with FAPs Ingenico, (Euronext: FR0000125346 ING), leading worldwide provider of payment solutions, and First American Payment Systems (FAPS), one of the nations top privately-held ISOs and merchant acquirers, announced that FAPS has successfully certified Ingenicos iWL250 3G wireless payment terminal for use on its extensive company-owned and operated processing network in the United States. FAPS becomes the first ISO/MSP to offer Ingenicos 3G wireless EMV-ready payment device to merchants nationwide.

acceptance through their licensing agreements with Co-operative Bank, Kanbawza Bank, and Myanmar Overseas Bank. This represents significant progress for Myanmar's electronic payments infrastructure as it provides the country with a platform to participate in the global financial system. By joining the Visa network, the banks agree to adopt Visa's global security standards for electronic payment.

Verifone Step Down of CEO VeriFone Systems Inc (PAY.N), a maker of credit card swipe machines, said Chief Executive Douglas Bergeron will step down after more than a decade at the company's helm.

Visas stock performance Growing plan in Europe Visa Inc. (V: Quote), the world's largest payment card processing network, could be forced to buy the Visa Europe payments system, under a plan being discussed by the European banks that own the business, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Paywave in Petrol station Z Energy will begin adopting "contactless" payment technology that should slash the time taken by customers to pay at the till. From the end of May, motorists with Visa "Paywave" and Mastercard "Paypass" payment cards will be able to pay for petrol and other purchases of up to $80 at all Z Energy's 205 service stations by "tapping" their card against a payment terminal, without having to enter a Pin or sign a receipt, the company said.

Verifones stock performance Visa Entering into Myanmar Market Visa recently announced the opening of the Myanmar market to ATM and POS

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Paypal Acquisition of Duff Research PayPal said that it acquired mobile app developer Duff Research, part of an effort by the online payment giant to become more nimble and technology focused.

NCR Mobile POS software NCR Corp. ( NCR ) recently unveiled a mobile point-of-sale (POS) software solution targeting the restaurant industry. The new kid on the block, NCR Aloha Mobile solution, is actually an addition to its existing suite of Aloha Table-Service POS solutions. Paypal

NECs stock performance

New iOS SDK

Online payment service PayPal has launched a new iOS SDK for developers. The tool should let iOS apps integrate PayPal checkouts directly, including optional direct credit card payments. For those, apps will have to rely on PayPal's card.io system, which involves taking a photo of a credit card for scanning purposes.

Retail&Payment Market RFID Card/tag market NCRs stock performance NEC Cloud Based Prepaid Electronic Money NEC has unveiled a cloud-based prepaid electronic money system that includes system servers, media (including cards and smartphones) and payment terminals. The RFID card/tag market volume will grow to 2.11 billion units, from 894 million in 2012, reflecting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19%. In revenue terms, the market will grow to $807 million in 2017, from $454 million in 2012, at a CAGR of 12%.

Contactless Card Market From 2008 to 2012, the volume of contactless cards increased significantly from 220.0 million in 2008 to 610 million in 2012. During the review period, the number of contactless cards in the US increased from 58.6 million in 2008 to 140.0 million in 2012 at a CAGR of 24.31%. The number of contactless cards in

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Canada registered a review-period CAGR of 63.87%, growing from 1.5 million cards in 2008 to 10.5 million in 2012.

Energy Industry Bosch Solar Energy Business Bosch (BSE: BOSCHL.BO - news) said it will sell or shut down its heavily lossmaking solar energy operations, the latest blow to the industry as Germany curbs green energy subsidies and cheap Chinese imports flood the market.

improvements, the luminous efficacy of LEDs compared to traditional lighting continues to rise. LED lighting product prices are likely to drop by 20-25% in 2013, as LED component performance/price ratios rise from 2012's 500 lm/US$ to 1,000 lm/US$ in 2013.

Energy Market SmartGrid According to market research firm Pike Research, annual smart grid revenue will grow to $73 billion by 2020, a compound annual growth rate of over 10 percent. References Tweets Please follow my twitter accounts (ferhatunlukal) if you want to reach the details of the news in the report.

Smart Metering Worldwide smart meter shipments surpassed 20.6 million units in the fourth quarter of 2012 (4Q12), representing year-over-year growth of 182.7% and a 33.9% increase over the third quarter of 2012, according to the IDC Energy Insights Worldwide Quarterly Smart Meter Tracker.

LED Lighting Digitimes Research forecasts that the global LED lighting market will be worth US$25.4 billion in 2013, representing 54% growth on the 2012 figure of US$16.5 billion, while the LED lighting penetration rate will also rise to 18.6%. In terms of technological

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