Samsung to unpack first Tizen phone in India, Russia soon, says report

Samsung will unveil its first commercial Tizen smartphone at a Samsung Unpacked event in Moscow "in the coming weeks," according to a new report.
The phone will launch in India and Russia, said The Wall Street Journal, which spoke with "people familiar with the matter."
Apparently the announcement event is taking place around the same time as a Tizen developers conference taking place in San Francisco.
Samsung and the Tizen Association both reportedly declined to comment.

 

Taking its time

Some said Samsung would unveil its first Tizen phone way back in January, but for whatever reason that didn't pan out (it's not like it was the OS's first delay). The Journal said it was thanks to "cold feet" among Samsung's carrier partners in Japan, France and Spain.
Maybe the Korean company needed an extra few months to work out any remaining kinks, too.
Samsung hopes that Tizen will be able to take some market back from Apple's iOS and Google's Android, but not by running on high-end smartphones; instead Samsung is hoping to carve out a niche in which Tizen links multiple kinds of devices, including phones, wearables, appliances, and even vehicles.
The Journal speculates that Samsung will launch Tizen phones first in India and Russia to avoid direct competition with its two big rivals and to take advantage of emerging markets there.
Watch out for Samsung to announce an event in Moscow soon; meanwhile we'll be watching for more info on Tizen's US debut.

India to Compete With Japan to Host FIFA Club World Cup

India will face stiff competition from Asian football powerhouse Japan in the race to host the FIFA Club World Cup in 2015 and 2016.

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has to submit bid for hosting the tournaments by Aug 25.

AIFF president Praful Patel met FIFA boss Sepp Blatter in Zurich to discuss the possibilities of hosting the 2015 and 2016 Club World Cup. India have also been granted the 2017 U-17 World Cup.



FIFA in a statement Friday said that the bidding process has been opened for four editions of the FIFA Club World Cup, FIFA's major club competition.

India and Japan have expressed a wish to host the tournament in 2015 and 2016. Japan along with Brazil and United Arab Emirates (UAE) also want to host it in 2017 and 2018.

The complete set of bidding documents has to be provided by Aug 25 and the FIFA executive Committee will select the host in September 2014.

FIFA said it was also delighted to see the impressive interest from its member associations in hosting a FIFA competition, after the bidding process was opened for eight tournaments including the FIFA Women's World Cup 2019.

A total of 31 declarations of interest have been received and FIFA has submitted the bidding documents, which the relevant member associations have to sign and return before the FIFA Executive Committee assigns the tournament.

Five countries have declared an interest in hosting the FIFA Women's World Cup 2019, namely England, France, South Korea, New Zealand and South Africa.

England, France, South Korea and New Zealand also want to host the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup 2018.

For the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup 2018, five declarations of interest have been received: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, Finland, Northern Ireland and Sweden are aiming to host the competition.

For the three women's competitions, the deadline for submitting the bid is Oct 31.

Japan Honda’s India arm recalls 31,226 units of Amaze, Brio

Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) on Monday recalled 31,226 units of select variants of the Amaze compact sedan and Brio hatchback to inspect them for a possible defect in the brake system.

The company will inspect the proportioning valve of non-ABS variants of both models manufactured between 28 February, 2013, and 16 January, 2014. The recall is for 15,623 Brio cars and 15,603 petrol Amaze cars, HCIL said in a statement.
The proportioning valve is part of the system that adjusts brake distribution pressure to the wheels.

The inspection and replacement, if needed, would be carried out free of cost at HCIL dealerships across India and owners will be contacted individually in a phased manner.

‘There is a possibility that in some of these cars there is mis-assembly of the proportioning valve. However, no complaint related to this part has been reported. HCIL will voluntarily replace the proportioning valve after inspection, if required,’ the company added.

Customers can check if their cars are among those recalled by submitting their 17-character alpha-numeric vehicle identification numbers (VIN) on the company website. ABS variants of Brio and the petrol Amaze and all variants of the diesel Amaze would not need to be inspected because the proportioning valve is not a part of their braking systems.

Last month, Maruti Suzuki India recalled 1,03,311 units of its Ertiga, Swift and DZire models manufactured between 12 November, 2013, and 4 February, 2014, to replace a faulty fuel filler neck in one of the biggest vehicle recalls in the country. Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) recalled 44,989 units of multi-purpose vehicle Innova manufactured between February 2005 and December 2008 in India to rectify a faulty cable on the steering wheel.

Automobile companies have been pro-active in recalling vehicles in case of safety issues since industry body SIAM initiated a voluntary recall policy in 2012.

Last year, General Motors India recalled 1.14 lakh units of its multi-purpose vehicle Chevrolet Tavera manufactured between 2005 and 2013 to address emissions and specification issues. It was the biggest recall in India till date.

Gene linked to heart disease in kids uncovered

You will now be able to know if your next generation will suffer from a heart disease responsible for the organ's failure that affects 1 person in 2,500 globally a?? a condition known as dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).

A team of scientists from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital, US, Hyderabad, Japan and India have found a new predominant gene responsible for dilated cardiomyopathy in children. With the discovery of this gene, parents can be screened before they plan a child to know about its presence in the progeny. The mutation in RAF1 gene has been found to result in early onset of the disease in children.

"The team sequenced the DNA of a total of 513 DCM patients from south India, north India and Japan and found 1 out of 9 children with DCM to be carrying this mutation," said Prof Madhu Khullar, department of experimental medicine and biotechnology, PGI, whose group collaborated on the project.

The findings have been published in reputed international journal Nature Genetics.

The cause of DCM remains largely unknown. The doctors often emphasise on few known factors to be underlying infection and genetics. "It's the dilation of heart muscles which slows the rate of pumping. The body is unable to get sufficient oxygenated blood and subsequently, it can result in heart failure. There is no treatment for genetic causes," said Dr Rajesh Vijayvergia, cardiologist, PGI.

The researchers found 9% prevalence of RAF1 mutation in childhood-onset DCM patients under study. There is no gene therapy available for DCM. The team has tested rapamycin drug as a potential treatment for RAF1 induced DCM and found it to be effective. "The drug was tested on zebrafish embryos, which have heart similar to the humans, where DCM-associated RAF1 mutants heart defects had been induced. The drug was found to reverse some of the mutation induced effects on the heart in zebra fish," said Prof Khullar. "The next step will be further animal trials for the drug," she said.
The study provides new mechanism for childhood associated DCM which may help in finding new treatment.

Jorhat boys to play for India

A Jorhat boy has been selected for the first time to compete in the World Championship in Tokyo being hosted by Japan Karate Association in October.

Ramanuj Bora, who is an expert in Shotokan Karate, has a number of gold medals under his belt, many of them won in national meets.

Ramanuj was selected after winning gold in both the kumite and kata events in the under-14 category in the East India Shoto championship held in Calcutta in last September.

“It was in this championship that he was noticed by Anand Ratna, India chief of Japan Karate Association, Mumbai,” said his father Bijoy Bora, who is also the chief of Japan Karate Association’s Jorhat branch.

Ramanuj, his elder brother Priyanuj and two others — Maithali Kolita of Majuli and Aryan Sharma from Jorhat district — have also been selected to compete in the National Championship organised by Karate Association of India at Talkatara indoor stadium in Delhi on May 30 and 31.

The United Karate Association Assam selected them along with others from the state after they competed in various weight and age categories in the state-level youth, veteran and under-21 karate championship held in Guwahati on March 22 and 23.

Students under this branch have won 16 gold medals since 2012 in various competitions held at the national level.

In the national championship held in Calcutta in 2012 the team from here won 12 medals. The next year, in Goa, they won 13 medals and in Mumbai in January 2014 they won 14 medals.

There are five major branches of karate practised in India. They are Shotokan, Shito Ryu, Goju Ryu, Wada Ryu and Shrinji-Ryu.

Ramanuj, who has been practising Shotokan karate under the Jorhat branch of Japan Karate Association, will proceed to Japan on October 4.

His father hopes that he will find sponsors to send his son to Japan and as chief of the Jorhat branch he is also in search of sponsors for the four who will be going to Delhi by this month-end.

“The ONGC and some other companies have assured that they will give us something otherwise it will be very difficult to send them,” he said.

Tata's telco biz in doldrums after DoCoMo breaks partnership

When NTT DoCoMo of Japan made its $2.7-billion entry into India by picking up 26.5 per cent in Tata Teleservices in 2009, the Indian mobile telephony sector was going through an unprecedented boom.
Tariffs were steady and millions of subscribers were coming on board every month.
Large multinational telecom service operators were making a beeline to the country: Telenor of Norway, Etisalat of the United Arab Emirates and Sistema of Russia. DoCoMo was the latest to join the party.


The mood was celebratory when Ratan Tata, then Tata Sons chairman, addressed a news conference in Mumbai to announce the DoCoMo investment.
Five years later, DoCoMo has decided to exit India — at a substantial loss. Under the agreement between the two partners, it is mandatory for the Tatas to buy out DoCoMo at 50 per cent of the original investment.


This erosion in value can be looked at from another angle: at least, DoCoMo will go back with $1.35 billion (almost Rs 8,000 crore), whereas others like Etisalat, Sistema and Telenor have lost a bulk of their investments in India.
DoCoMo had the option to sell its stake back to the Tatas by March this year which it decided to exercise. Still, the timing of DoCoMo’s exit is curious. The telecom sector has begun to show signs of a turnaround.
In the last couple of quarters, telcos have done away with discounts (base-level tariffs are yet to show improvement) and there is a sharp rise in data traffic. Both Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular have reported a substantial jump in earnings for the quarter ended March 2014.

The government’s decision to auction spectrum and delink it from the subscriber base has helped telcos shed their long tail of inactive subscribers who made no contribution to their revenues.
The Telecom Disputes Settlement & Appellate Tribunal’s nod to intra-circle roaming pacts amongst telcos is expected to boost the 3G business.
The proposal of the department of telecom, or DoT, to allow spectrum trading is also expected to improve profitability.


Changing  the game 
However, whether the upswing in the sector’s fortunes will last is debatable:  an aggressive launch from Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio could slow the recovery, Nomura analyst Sachin Gupta said in a note to clients dated April 25.
It is possible that this may have played on DoCoMo’s mind. Reliance Jio is expected to launch its services, voice as well as data, with attractive price tags. That could set the clock back for the incumbents, it is being felt.



While briefing analysts on April 25, DoCoMo executives said the reason why the plug was pulled on India was the spectrum mess.
“We thought things were moving very, very smoothly in the beginning but the spectrum administration in India was so confusing and was beyond our expectation and totally unpredictable.”

There is some element of truth in it. For instance, Tata Teleservices’ spectrum in some circles was taken back after the Supreme Court in February 2012 cancelled 122 licences handed out in 2008-09 when Andimuthu Raja was the telecom minister.
(The Supreme Court had also fined Tata Teleservices of Rs 5 crore for benefiting from what was popularly known as “2G scam.”)

In subsequent auctions, the price of spectrum was much higher, which must have thrown DoCoMo’s business projections haywire. In the all-important circle of Delhi, the company was never allotted spectrum, in spite of having paid for it. “Tata (Teleservices) is struggling today to make a profitable business,” the DoCoMo executive said.

Moser Baer Solar crosses Rs 200 crore business in Japan

Solar power gear maker Moser Baer Solar today said the sale of its indigenously built solar PV modules have crossed Rs 200 crore business in Japan.

"Moser Baer Solar, a subsidiary of Moser Baer India has achieved sales of more than Rs 200 crore in the last fiscal year in Japan," the company said in a statement.

Moser Baer Solar has been exporting solar PV (photo voltaic) modules to Japan for the last 4 years.

"We are delighted to strengthen our association with the Japanese solar market. Our understanding of entire value chain of solar PV gives us the edge in catering with the right products in these markets," Vivek Chaturvedi, Chief Marketing Officer, Moser Baer Solar said in the statement.

Going by the demand from these international markets, we expect there will be a surge in demand for Moser Baer Solar products, Chaturvedi added.

Moser Baer Solar was launched in 2007 to provide EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) solutions for effective deployment of PV Systems.

The company manufactures and supplies solar modules to customers across India, Europe and Japan.