Sony's new slimmer, high capacity PlayStation 3 coming to India in Oct

Sony has unveiled a redesigned model of its existing Playstation 3 console at the Tokyo Game Show in Japan. The new PlayStation 3 sports a slimmer streamlined design which makes it 20 percent smaller and about 25 percent lighter than the existing PlayStation 3 console. Also, for the first time, the new PlayStation 3 uses a sliding door panel to top load discs as opposed to the slot-loading disc drive. A noticeable change comes in the overall power consumption, which drops from 200W to 190W.

Sony has bumped up the internals of the new version while the prices remain the same. The new PlayStation 3 console will be available in two different models with 250GB and 500GB HDDs. They will come in two colours, black and white. The black model will be released on October 4, while the white model will be released on November 22.

The company announced that the 250GB model will cost 24,980 Yen. Sony did not reveal pricing for the 500GB model. It also announced an Everybody's Golf 6 PS3 pack, which will launch on November 22 with a white PlayStation 3 250GB model for 25,980 Yen.

Sony also revealed that the 250GB model will be available on September 25 in North America for $269.99 as part of a limited edition bundle featuring Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception Game of the Year edition and a voucher for more than US$30 worth of bonus digital content for the title Dust 514.

On the other hand, the new 500GB model will be available in a limited edition Assassin's Creed III bundle on October 30 in North America. Sony did not reveal pricing for this model.

A worldwide release for the new console is scheduled for October including India. Australia and Europe can buy the new console on September 27 and October 12 AU$300 and 229 Euros respectively. These regions will have an additional option for a 12GB flash drive for the 250GB model. Users who buy this model will be able to upgrade to an HDD, but will lose the 12GB as internal storage upon upgrading.

 

Other announcements from Sony at the event included PlayStation Plus subscription service arriving on the PlayStation Vita this November. PlayStation Plus members will be able to enjoy all its features on the Vita at no additional cost. Sony's subscription service on the vita will include instant game collection, discounts, online game storage, automatic updates and automatic trophy sync.

The company also announced that it will be opening up PlayStation mobile stores all around the world (Japan, North America, EU, and Australia) later this year. Speaking of the Vita, Sony revealed two new colours for the portable handheld, red and blue set to launch on November 15.

Coming to games, Call of Duty: Black Ops for the Vita will be launching in December, while Soul Sacrifice will have cross-platform functionality but has been delayed to 2013.

Sony also unveiled a new Vita title Valhalla Knights 3, scheduled for 2013 and Oboro Muramasa: The Demon Blade, a remake of Muramasa: Demon Blade. Tecmo Koei also announced a new title, Toukiden, featuring a female protagonist. Toukiden will be made by Omega Force, the studio behind Dynasty Warriors and will have a joint release for the PlayStation Portable and the Vita with cross-platform play.

 

 

 

Canon India cashes in on East expansion

To ride high on the festive boom, Canon India announced marketing investments of Rs.40 crore and plans for East India expansion on Wednesday along with the unveiling of super-telephoto PowerShot cameras, PS SX500IS and PS SX160IS.

Both the newly launched cameras are very handy as well as flexible taking the total number of cameras launched in 2012 to 25, informed officials.
The event also marked Canon India's plan to be bullish on East India expansion since West Bengal records highest growth in camera business amongst top 10 states by registering 110% growth in digicams and 200% in Digital SLR.
Despite the year being crucial for the camera industry due to consumer sentiments, Canon has managed to grab 60% of the growth.
"Report card for Canon can be considered impressive," said Alok Bharadwaj, Senior Vice President, Canon India.
The company also announced price drops on 16 models (13 digital and 3 DSLR) in preparation for the festive season by Rs.500-11000 and it plans to take exclusive Canon brand stores tally to 12 Canon Image Squares (Canon's franchisee brand store) in East India by Dec 2012 from current level of 8 in 6 cities.
Speaking on the launch, Bharadwaj said,"East India is a crucial market for Canon and has significantly contributing to the overall growth of the brand, especially to our camera business division."
"In fact, with some luck and some efforts in lifting the buying sentiments during festive times, Canon is expecting to cross much awaited milestone of 100,000 digital cameras and 10,000 Digital SLR in West Bengal this year. This is more than 10% of national sales just in one state. This has made Canon's market share more than 30% here."
While the festive budget for investments rests at Rs.40 crore for Bengal, the overall investment plan is as high as a whopping Rs.142 crore with 25 more Canon Image Squares about to open so as to touch the count of 100 stores in 50 towns form current level of 75 nationally.
All these robust plans would help the company achieve an overall target of 27% market share in East India by the end of the year and to reach revenues of Rs.2100 crore in 2012, with market share of 25% in cameras and 45% in DSLR category nationally, added officials.
The company that claims to provide the 4E's benefit of experience, education, excitement and engagement to its consumers also cashed in to open its ninth store before the Diwali at Shyambazar in Kolkata which would be a stand alone store.
The latest launched cameras are priced at Rs.19,995 for PS SX500IS and Rs.12,995 for PS SX160IS and as a part of the festive celebrations Canon is offering a 4GB SD card and a carry case to each customer on the purchase of every digital camera.
The company has also ventured into the cinema camera domain with Cinema EOS model providing high definition pictures to cater to the Bollywood projects that aim to produce low budget films.
Canon is all set to launch its next version of 'What Makes Us Click' campaign with icon Anushka Sharma in a playful moment amidst friends blowing conch to infuse the spirit of the festival.
While cameras contribute the majority, printers (both lazer and inkjet) contributed to Rs.1000 crore this year marking 30% growth as an industry.
The newly launched models were unveiled by Alok Bharadwaj. City model Subhamita Banerjee showcased them.
"Our effort is to reconfiguring the photography business in India with youth-centric propositions using a three-pronged strategy of celebrity endorsement, imaging brand stores expansion and faster portfolio churn with strong range.
"We introduced 25 new products in 2012 and now offer 36 models to take customer experience with Canon to next level," concluded Bharadwaj.

Japan-China spat: India hopes for amicable solution

India Tuesday said that China has informed it of its position on its latest dispute with Japan over some contested islands, and hoped that the issue is resolved in "an amicable manner".

"We have been made aware of the Chinese position on this issue," Syed Akbaruddin, the spokesperson of the external affairs ministry, told reporters here.
He was responding to a question on whether China has approached India to present its side in its latest standoff with Japan over the latter's alleged purchase of the five Diaoyu islands, known as Senkaku in Japan.
The spokesperson made it clear that in such matters of maritime dispute, India has always maintained a policy of not taking sides. "We hope these issues are resolved by the parties concerned in an amicable manner," he said.

Chinese Ambassador Zhang Yan Monday told reporters here that the embassy's minister counsellor was planning to approach the Indian external affairs ministry to convey that Beijing considers Japan's "purchase" of the Diaoyu islands to be "totally illegal and invalid".

China is seeking to mobilise international opinion against it to pressure Japan in "correcting its mistake".

Retail on a roll, boom time for malls, funds for airlines & boost to selloff

The opening up of India’s multi-brand retail to foreign chains will see Asian companies such as Japan’s Lawson jostling for space with Western giants such as Walmart, Tesco, and Carrefour.

The Cabinet today decided to operationalise FDI in multi-brand retail and eased rules for foreign investment in single-brand retail.

The move is beneficial for Indian retailers such as Kishore Biyani’s Future Group, Reliance, Tata’s Trent and Shoppers Stop, which can now raise long-term capital for expansion and develop partnerships with global players.

For foreign chains such as Walmart and Tesco, who are present in India through cash-and-carry partnerships, the move will allow them to graduate from wholesale trading to retailing.

Future Group has been in discussions with Carrefour and the deal could be finalised after this move. However, the Biyani family has also been in talks with Japan’s Lawson for their Big Bazaar chain. The details will now be finalised, say analysts. Biyani hinted that he would be keen on cash infusion rather than a partner who would wrest control of his retail empire.

Hong Kong-based A.S.Watson has said it would be keen on entering India once the rules were finalised. A.S.Watson, along with German retail giant Metro and British chain Sainsbury’s, would be in hunt for local partners.

Analysts said the move could transform India’s $500-billion-plus retail market and tame inflation.

While Walmart has a tie-up with Bharti Enterprises to run cash-and-carry stores and provide back-end support, UK’s Tesco has a franchise agreement with Tata-run Trent.

“The objective of the policy is to attract investment, create local manufacturing and employment,” said industry minister Anand Sharma.

The Indian retail market, which was around $220 billion in 2005, is now expected to hit $700 billion by 2015.

“Our plan is to look at the policy in detail, understand them, start talking to state governments that are supporting FDI in retail and then open stores there,” said Raj Jain, MD & CEO, Bharti Walmart India, adding that they will be making announcements “soon”.

Walmart, which has been trying to set up multi-brand shops in India for a long time, spent nearly $1.5 million on lobbying in the quarter ended June 30, 2012 on various issues.

Major Japanese retail firms such as Lawson, Yong, Seven & Holdings and Ito Yokado — they have huge bases in China and South-East Asian countries with scores of supermarkets and back-end sourcing — have been keen on entering the Indian retail sector since 2010 and have been lobbying the government for the relaxation of norms.

By late 2011, the Future Group was in advanced talks with Lawson to invest in the holding company that will control firms which supply to Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar and KB's Fair Price, among others.

Shriya Saran to watch 'Sivaji 3D' in Tokyo

As reported by IndiaGlitz a few days ago, Shriya Saran has left for Tokyo, the capital city of Japan, to attend the premier of the 3D version of Superstar Rajinikanth starrer 'Sivaji'.

The actress is the heroine of the Shankar directed film, which was produced by AVM. In association with Prasad Labs, AVM has now converted the movie into 3D.

"Off to Tokyo now for Shivaji the boss. Can't wait, I want to watch 'Sivaji-3D' in Tokyo. Love life," the 'Azhagia Tamil Magan' and 'Kanthasami' actress wrote on her Twitter page.

Shriya, who celebrated her birthday a couple of days back, walked on the red carpet with Siddharth and the rest of the cast for the premiere of Deepa Mehta's 'Midnight Children', at the 37th Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2012.

Tiger-prawn cargo stuck in Japan, CM moves Centre

With Japan refusing to receive tiger prawn consignments from the state citing quality issues, chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday took up the cause of exporters and urged Union commerce minister Anand Sharma to intervene.

The move comes in the wake of the Seafood Exporters' Association of India seeking help from the chief minister to bail exporters out of the crisis.

"We do not want the expensive consignment to go waste. The Centre must negotiate with the Japanese government. If they still refuse to accept it, the containers must be quickly returned," Mamata said on Thursday.

It may be noted that the Centre did send representatives to Japan to impress upon officials there that it cannot stop imports by framing tougher laws unilaterally. But the team conceded that even if Japan decided to change the law, it would take a long time.

The stalemate began after Japan, which ships in Rs 650 crore worth tiger prawns from the state annually, barred unloading of prawn consignments at its docks after it detected presence of anti-oxidents beyond the permissible limit. Ethoxyquine, an anti-oxident, is mixed in prawn feed to increase the perishable commodity's shelf life.

Some 35 containers of frozen tiger prawns were held up at different ports across Japan. Another 150 containers were stranded at sea while 150 more are waiting in Kolkata and Haldia for despatch.

While the large 40-feet containers hold around Rs 70 lakh worth tiger prawns, the smaller ones are worth half of that.

The imbroglio has left exporters from the state counting heavy losses. Though the prawns have not begun decaying yet, unless the imbroglio is resolved soon, several hundred crores worth consignment will turn junk. According to Seafood Exporters Association of India representative Rajarshi Bandyopadhyay, the problem had surfaced due to Japan's norms that were 100-times more stringent than that of the US. While the US sets the anti-oxident sensitive index at 0.2ppm, in Japan it is 0.01ppm.

"Till recently, we used to conduct tests for antibiotics, salmonela, e-coli and vibrio cholera according to the guidelines of Japanese importers. But last month, Japan suddenly notified the ethoxyquine detection test and earmarked extremely stringent norms," said Bandyopadhyay.

According to exporter Amit Chakraborty, Japanese companies had already paid for the shipment that is in the ports and the letters of credit had been honoured. "Now, the Japan government is seeking a refund which is technically not possible. That is what is holding up the other shipments at sea," he said.

Japan keen on sharing infra tips

As of October 2011, there were 812 Japanese companies in India, of which 47 were in Kerala 

Japan is keen on business collaborations with Kerala and has expressed its willingness to share its abilities in infrastructure development.

Stating this, Hajime Nakamura, deputy director,Japan External Trade Organisation (Jetro), said Japanese companies were interested in information communications technology (ICT) and healthcare sectors for collaboration.

He told this at a session on ‘Business opportunities through economic cooperation between Japan and India – Japan’s resurgence post the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011’ held on Thursday in connection with Emerging Kerala 2012.

Jetro is a Japanese government-supported organisation that works to promote mutual trade and investment between Japan and the rest of the world.

As of October 2011, there were 812 Japanese companies in India, of which 47 were in Kerala. Electronics and logistics top the list of areas in which Japan partners Kerala, he added.

Shinya Fujii, director general, Jetro -Chennai, discussed Japan’s strategy for complete resurgence from the major earthquake that struck the country on March 11, 2011. He talked about how casualties in the Shinkansen high-speed train service, which transports over 150 million passengers a year, were minimised through early warning systems that slowed down the trains when the 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck. After the disaster, the Japanese government unveiled a revival package that centred around 11 growth strategies and 38 priority policy actions, he said.

Seabell solution
Japanese company Seabell International has proposed a feasibility study to tap the hydro-power potential of the state, promising a green energy solution for the state’s energy crisis.

“It would be a collaborative venture joining hands with various Kerala agencies,” said Seabell International biomass adviser, Hiroshi Oishi.

“We have done a web research on Kerala that shows that the state has tremendous potential to generate green energy. But as far as we know, 50 per cent of hydro energy in the state is untapped,” he said.