Japanese Tech Stock Weekly Report

The following is excerpted from IRG's weekly stock report:

Internet

• Industry observers said that Baidu.com Inc. (BIDU), China's biggest Internet search company, may need to add online shopping and mobile phone web searching to succeed in its plan to attract users from Yahoo Japan Corp., the country's most-visited site, following the announcement of China’s biggest Internet search company to start operations in Japan next year. The Beijing-based company cites its experience with non-English languages and similarities between Japanese and Chinese as a factor that will draw users in Japan. Yahoo Japan Corp. remains the country’s most visited site. The plan of Baidu to go to Japan is happening, as the battle for online advertising spending between Google and Yahoo increases. An analyst from Ichiyoshi Research Institute stated that Yahoo might pose a greater challenge for Baidu in Japan. Yahoo's Japan unit is controlled by Softbank Corp. (SFTBF.PK), which also operates the country's third-largest mobile phone carrier. According to Analyses International, Baidu retains 44 percent of the search market in the first quarter in China.

Media, Entertainment and Gaming

• Japaninvest Group plc, an independent research provider, announced the successful listing of its shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers market. Japaninvest is an independent equity research group founded in London in 2002. As the leading independent equities research provider on Japan, Japaninvest provides overseas institutional investors with high value added English language research reports on Japanese companies, prepared by experienced analysts. In this role, the company acts as a bridge between Japanese corporations and overseas investors. By focusing solely on research services, Japaninvest's model enables it to offer reliable and timely research services free from any conflicts of interest with an investment banking business. Many listed Japanese companies, particularly in the small to mid-cap range, lack analyst coverage, even though they may potentially offer high investment value. Focusing on many of these under researched companies, Japaninvest provides clients with idea based, rather than coverage based research services and offers unique investment advice. Japaninvest's client base primarily consists of overseas-based pension and hedge funds that invest in Japanese equities as well as investment managers and fund managers who provide investment advice to such funds.

• The Japan Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers (Jasrac), a Japanese entertainment group, has asked the popular video-sharing site YouTube to implement a system to prevent users from uploading videos that would infringe copyrights. The request was made on behalf of 23 Japanese TV stations and entertainment companies. Most videos posted on YouTube are homemade but the site also features copyrighted material posted by individual users. YouTube's policy has been to remove clips that infringe copyright after it receives complaints, but questions have continued to linger about the site's vulnerability to legal claims for distributing content owned by other media. YouTube has been negotiating with leading copyright holders and reached an agreement with several, letting the website post copyright music videos and other content in exchange for sharing ad revenue.

Software

• DataDirect Networks Inc., the storage performance and capacity leader, announced that it has opened a fully owned subsidiary in Japan. The company said the subsidiary, DataDirect Networks Japan, will provide sales, marketing, training and technical support to its OEM customers and partners in Japan, and together with DataDirect's Chinese subsidiary, will also support the expansion of the company across Asia. A company official said that the move to establish a local presence in Japan is seen as enabling better support for its customers and partners, and will capitalize on the growing opportunity for high performance, high capacity storage solutions in the market.

Hardware

• Major electronics retailers are starting to market cheaper, lesser-known models from start-up manufacturers, in an aim to make a name in the market. Byd:sign Corp., a start-up manufacturer of digital appliances, has formed alliances with four discount chains to begin marketing its 19-inch LCD TV. The TV is being sold for about 70.000 yen (US$172), which makes it 30 percent cheaper than models from manufacturing giants such as Sharp Corp. and Sony Corp. Two of the four chains -Osaka-based Joshin Denki Co. and Fukuoka-based Best Denki Co. - started selling the TV, and Mitobased Gigas K's Denki Corp. will begin handling the product next week. The retailers hope the lowpriced TV, unavailable at rival chains, will act as a major draw, particularly during the year-end shopping season. Analysts said that Byd:sign formed the alliances in part to counter a similar tie-up between Yamada Denki Co and Funai Electric Co. Yamada Denki began handling Funai Electric's LCD TVs exclusively at its outlets in July. Funai Electric chose Yamada Denki as a partner when it decided to reintroduce its own brand of TVs to the Japanese market. Until recently, the manufacturer made products primarily for other companies to sell under their brands in North America. Another start-up making inroads with its LCD TVs in Japan is Nippon Polaroid KK, which has linked up with retailer Kojima Co. and looks to forming additional partnerships with other chains in the future.

• Mitsubishi Electric Corp., a Japanese maker of factory robots and cell phones, and NTT DoCoMo Inc. (DCM), the nation's biggest mobile-phone operator, announced their decision to recall 1.3 million handset batteries that may overheat. Sanyo GS Soft Energy Co., a Kyoto, Japan-based unit of Sanyo Electric Co. (SANYY), made the batteries. The Mitsubishi Electric cell-phone battery advisory follows Sony Corp.’s (SNE) move to recall laptop computer cells following reports that some had caught fire. Sony's replacement program has grown to 9.6 million cells, costing the company about 51.2 billion yen (US$440.1 million) and helping drag its annual profit forecast to a five-year low.