Studio Press

TV9, the nation’s new free-to-air TV station, which will begin transmission from on April 22, has targets to reach seven million viewers in the country, with Malays as its target audience.

Ch-9 Media Sdn Bhd chief operating officer Bukhari Che Muda said its prime-time programmes would be aired to cater to Malay audiences aged between six to 14 years old, and 15 to 34 years old.

He said the television station, the fourth under the Media Prima Bhd stable, had invested about RM20 million in programming and transmission. “Our strength is content and branding; we’ve done extensive research on the audience’s profile and their needs.

“We’re very confident about TV9; we believe we’ll reach seven million viewers, including those who seldom or never watch TV,” Bukhari said after the signing ceremony between Ch-9 Media and Senheng Electric (KL) Sdn Bhd in Petaling Jaya on April 21 to provide nationwide frequency-tuning and antenna-fixing services.

Citing a research by Nielsen Media, Bukhari said 96% of the country’s Malay population watch TV.

“The TV station (TV9) positions itself as a Malay-focussed station, with 85% of the programmes aired in the Malay language, 10% in English and 5% in other languages. Some 45% of our programmes are local content and the rest are foreign programmes imported from the US, the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Korea, Thailand and Hong Kong,” he said.

TV9 will broadcast a two-hour live interactive talk show "Salam di 9" to launch its official transmission in the peninsula at 8.30pm on April 22.

On the revenue it expected from TV9, Bukhari said: “We do have a forecast, but it’s too early to reveal it.”

Bukhari said it would extend TV9’s coverage to Sabah and Sarawak later.-theedgedaily

Samsung Electronics announced today that it has developed a 2GByte MultiMediaCard (MMCmicro) that combines four 4Gbit NAND flash devices. This is the smallest, fastest and highest capacity memory card for mobile phones, developed only three months after Samsung led the industry by launching a 1GByte MMCmicro. “The 2GByte high-performance MMC is a powerful indicator of Samsung’s expanding efforts to embrace the widest possible range of multimedia applications including mobile video,” said Don Barnetson, Director, Flash Marketing, Samsung Semiconductor, Inc. Despite being the size of a fingernail (12mm x 14mm x 1.1mm), the new MMCmicro will provide the highest transmission speed of any removable memory card, transmitting data 3.5 times faster than other cards. The card can store 12 hours of mobile video and is fast enough to download three hours of it in under two minutes. An adapter allows the card to be plugged into any multimedia card slot.

The 2GB MMC can operate at either 1.8 volts (V) and 3.3V, making it an even more viable solution for mobile phones. The new MMC, in a format standardized by the MultiMediaCard association (MMCA) and being standardized by JEDEC, can be obtained by manufacturers without royalties or licensing fees. The 1 GB MMCmicro will be commercially available in 2006. According to Dataquest, a semiconductor market research firm, as the global memory card market will grow five percent between 2005 and 2010, the multimedia card market will grow 17% and the MMCmicro market by 95 percent during the same period.

f all goes well, music fans will be able to purchase music downloads, ranging from RM2 to RM4 per song, this October.

Recording Industry Association of Malaysia (RIM) chairman Sandy Monteiro said its members were hoping to sell digital tracks for download at that price range.

“RM2 would be for older, catalogue material while RM4 would be for premium releases,” he said.

TM Net chief executive officer Michael Lai declined to comment on the pricing because the matter is still in discussion.

“We have to come up with a pricing mechanism that makes sense to the local market,” he said. “Although, we can't get it down to RM1, we may be able to make available Internet-only tracks and rarities for 99sen.”

Lai stressed that pricing flexibility is important, adding that there is a possibility of a subscription-based model being used, where consumers would be able to access a certain number of tracks to listen to for perhaps RM10 a month.

He is confident that TM Net's music portal will be launched by the end of the third quarter. The twin issues of pricing and licensing are causing a delay in the launch of much anticipated music portal.

“There are just so many licenses to be cleared. It's a time consuming process. We have to get them from bodies like RIM, Music Authors Copyright Protection and others,” Lai said.

“It is a complicated process to get licensing together,” said Akademi Industri Muzik Malaysia (AIMM) general manager Jennifer Thompson in agreement.

AIMM is a think tank for the local music industry and it also organises the high profile Anugerah Industri Muzik awards.

There are currently 250 videos being streamed at the TM Net portal, of both local and foreign artistes.

The portal was scheduled to be launched in the first quarter of this year, with the objective of becoming the equivalent of Apple’s hugely successful iTunes Music Store, in this region (see In.Tech, Sept 29, 2005).

It will feature songs and music videos by local and international artistes, as well as industry news, interviews, artiste profiles and fan club activities.

TM Net is working with the four biggest music labels – Sony BMG Music Entertainment (M) Sdn Bhd, EMI Music (M) Sdn Bhd, Warner Music (M) Sdn Bhd, and Universal Music (M) Sdn Bhd – as well as nine independent labels. -thestar

Motorola continued to strengthen its balance sheet, generating operating cash flow of approximately US$ 700 million, its 21st consecutive quarter of positive operating cash flow. In addition, the company significantly accelerated its stock repurchase program during the quarter and repurchased approximately 37 million shares of its stock for approximately US$ 815 million.

“We are very pleased about our results, which set a record for first-quarter sales and, excluding the significant items highlighted above, would have also been a record for first-quarter earnings. The company continues to profitably grow revenue and market share,” said Ed Zander, chairman and CEO. “Our compelling products and solutions are advancing our vision of seamless mobility. In order to further build on this success, we announced a streamlined corporate structure to improve efficiency and reduce costs as well as an agreement to sell Motorola’s automotive business. With a sharpened strategic focus, Motorola is well-positioned for growth and success.”

Operating Results Mobile Devices Segment sales were US$ 6.4 billion, up 45 percent compared with the year-ago quarter. Operating earnings increased to US$ 702 million, compared with operating earnings of $440 million in the year-ago quarter. Motorola’s portfolio of market-leading innovations - “must have” designs that deliver “must do” experiences such as mobile music and mobile video - is enabling the company’s steady momentum in the global marketplace.

Shipped 46.1 million units, up 61% compared to the first quarter of 2005 - and up 3% compared to 44.7 million handsets shipped during Q4 2005.

Expanded global market share to an estimated 21%, further narrowing the gap vs. the industry’s market share leader. This is up 4.8 points from a year ago and up more than 2 points from Q4 2005 -- with particularly strong year-over-year performance in China, India and Africa.

Increased brand strength and market share leadership in the Americas and remained the solid No. 2 with growing brand momentum in Europe, North Asia and the high-growth markets (Middle East, Africa, India and Southeast Asia).

Launched six new handsets: 2 for GSM networks, 3 for CDMA and 1 for iDEN.

Expanded sales in the candy-bar form factor category with the SLVR L7 and L6.

Rejoined the Sprint line-up in North America with the Motorola C290 clamshell, enabling consumers to choose Motorola at all of the region’s largest wireless operators.

Added new colours and features in the RAZR suite -- including the exclusive Dolce & Gabbana gold edition and music and mega-pixel cameras.

Doubled sales versus the prior quarter of the ultra-stylish PEBL U6 clamshell, and introduced an array of fashionable colours for Spring.

TAIWAN-BASED InnoDisk Corporation has announced the availability of two of its latest products, MobileBank-SE and Secure ID Stick, to the local market. MobileBank-SE enables users to easily backup or restore important data such as contacts and SMS messages from a Sony Ericsson mobile phone by plugging it directly to the phone's data port. Eight Sony Ericsson models are supported: the K600i, K608i, Z800i, K300i, K700i, T630, T610 and T68i. MobileBank-SE also functions just like a normal USB Flash drive, and it comes in various capacities, from 128MB to 2GB with prices ranging from RM75 upwards. The company said it will soon introduce other models that support phones from brands such as Motorola and Nokia. For those who require extra security features built into their USB drive, there is the Secure ID Stick. Targeted at road warriors who need to store important data or medical practitioners who need to carry around private medical information, the device will only run on three authorised PCs at any particular point of time. To use it on other machine, users have to remove the existing profile from the drive in order for it to recognise a new machine. Also included is the non-reversible MD5 encryption technology to protect personal passwords from being easily cracked by unauthorised users. Prices for the Secure ID Stick start from RM55. For more information, call Disccomp Bhd, (03) 7983-3333.

Nera Malaysia has launched the world's smallest and lightest mobile broadband satellite terminal in Malaysia. Nera Malaysia is linked to its Norway-based parent company that specialises in marketing telecommunication products to companies in the energy, technology and banking industries. According to Nera Malaysia's managing director Ahmad Fauzan Hashim, the company is targeting to sell 1,000 units of the broadband equipment which offers both voice communications and data services suitable for remote and disaster-affected areas. "Malaysia is the fourth country in Asia after Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines to have launched the product," he said during the launch of the broadband equipment called Nera WorldPro 1000. Nera Telecommunications Ltd (Asia)'s executive vice president of satellite communications, Dr Tan Hong Pew, said the Nera WorldPro 1000 could be used in almost any part of the world. "By 2007, it will have complete global coverage when the network reaches the Pacific Ocean," he said. The Nera WorldPro 1,000 set-up equipment is retailed at RM12,000 per set. "We are targeting to bundle with a telecommunications provider in a month's time for network integration," Tan said. According to him, the Nera WorldPro 1000 international calls rates are relatively cheaper than most other mobile lines. "It will cost about US$1 per minute for roaming charges as compared to the market rate of about US$2 to US$3 per minute," he said. The Nera WorldPro 1000 uses an antenna unit that homes in on the new Inmarsat 1-4 satellite. This gives the Nera WorldPro 1000 almost worldwide usability, receiving at 384 kilobits per second and transmitting at 240 kilobits per second. These rates are similar to terrestrial broadband and five to six times better than the existing mobile satellite services, the company said.- BERNAMA