France ordered to repay Taiwan banned commissions (AP)

PARIS – A Paris appeals court has ordered France and French defense company Thales SA to pay back euro630 million (about $913 million) to Taiwan in a long-standing dispute over bribes in a 1991 frigate sale, the French prime minister's office said Thursday.

The ruling brings to a close a two-decade-old dispute over enormous bribes that were specifically forbidden in the contract but became an integral part of the transaction to sell Taiwan six Lafayette frigates.

The Taiwanese navy bought the frigates from French firm Thomson-CSF — which has since changed its name to Thales SA — as well as state-owned shipbuilders. The French government guaranteed the contract.

The contract said that if any commissions to intermediaries were uncovered that sum would have to be turned over to Taiwan. Taiwan's government has said that the military paid $460 million — nearly double the original budget — for each of the six frigates.

The case has bedeviled a series of French governments, but Prime Minister Francois Fillon placed the blame on the Socialist government of President Francois Mitterrand, in power when the contract was signed.

The public coffers "must therefore support today the heavy consequences of the decision taken in 1991 to pay commission contrary to the letter of the contract," a statement from Fillon's office said.

"This episode ... weighs heavily on the image of our naval arms exporting industry," the Defense Ministry said.

Fillon's office said the state's part in the payback amounts to some euro460 million. Thales said in a statement it will pay the remaining 27.46 percent, or about euro170 million. Provisions have already been made for the fine so won't reflect on the company's financial results, Thales said.

However, the French government hopes to recover at least some of the funds, according to the prime minister's statement. It said France hopes to obtain "at least a partial reimbursement" should Taiwanese authorities manage to get "all or part of the commissions paid out" from the intermediaries.

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Intel taps into new computing at Taiwan show (AP)

TAIPEI, Taiwan – Intel Corp. is touting a hybrid laptop 0.8 inches (20 mm) thick with sleek tablet computing features and ultra-sharp visual images that it hopes will create a market bridging traditional PCs and new devices.

The laptop also represents what the U.S. technology giant promises its latest generation of processors will be able to deliver by 2012, when they power new computers produced by companies like Taiwan's AsusTek Computer Inc.

"Computing is taking many forms," Intel executive vice president Sean Maloney said Tuesday at the opening of Taipei's Computex, the world's second-largest computing show.

He said that by the end of 2012, Intel aims to shift 40 percent of consumer laptops to its "Ultrabook" model, a new category of thin and light mobile computers.

Like many other tech companies, Intel is under immense pressure from Apple Inc., whose iPhones and iPads have swept through global markets with the force of a hurricane and show no signs of slowing.

Maloney described the Ultrabook as a laptop-tablet hybrid, featuring touch screens and instant log on, all with a price of less than $1,000.

The projected thickness of the new Intel-powered device would make it the sleekest laptop in the marketplace after Apple's MacBook Air 15" model, which ranges from .11 to .68 inches.

The devices will be based on Intel's "Ivy Bridge," a new generation of chips made with 22 nanometer manufacturing technology and the 3-D transistor the company unveiled early in May. It is slated to be on the market by 2012, Intel said.

The new transistor, with increased density, will make more powerful computing devices, it said.

Also by 2012, a new Intel chip designed for tablets and smartphones, named "Medfield," will be launched. It will give the mobile devices longer use-time, advanced imaging and more power efficiency, the company said.

Intel general manager for the Asia-Pacific region Navin Shenoy acknowledged the market is experiencing significant changes with "the explosion of smartphones and tablets."

"The industry is in constant change," he said. "We're more and more like the fashion industry. Nothing sticks forever."

"We win when we go after and create new markets," he said.

AsusTek is among the Taiwanese computer makers which have pledged to collaborate with Intel.

With the advent of tablets, "the whole industry is reshuffling, including the microprocessors and including operating systems," said AsusTek Chairman Jonney Shih.

"The boundaries between notebooks, tablets and smartphones are blurring," he told a news conference Monday. Laptops "have to evolve quickly to respond" and become "ultra-thin, ultra-light and ultra-responsive."

Also at Computex, Google Inc. pushed its Chromebook notebook, which is based on its web-browsing-oriented Chrome operating system — an up-and-coming rival in a field long dominated by Microsoft Corp.

Google is partnering with Intel and has engaged South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. and Taiwan's Acer Inc. to produce the Chromebooks, set to go on sale in June.

Google's Senior Vice President Sundar Pichai said the company has set up a center in Taipei to try to bring more manufacturing partners onboard, but declined to give specifics on his expectations for Chromebook's market share.

"Today my only goal is to make sure we deliver Chromebooks and make customers happy," he said. "That's the only criteria. Focus on quality of experience for consumers rather than quantity."

___

Associated Press writer Debby Wu contributed to this report.

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Taiwan show to feature Apple tablet challengers (AP)

TAIPEI, Taiwan – Computer manufacturers of all sizes and descriptions have been pushing to get a piece of the ever-expanding tablet market created by the launch of Apple's iPad in April 2010.

The obsession with tablet computing will be on full display Tuesday as Computex, the world's second-largest computer show, begins its annual five-day run in Taipei. The prominence of tablets underscores a dramatic shift under way in the personal computer industry — and keenly felt in Taiwan, which is home to some of the world's biggest PC manufacturers — as many consumers opt to buy a tablet rather than a new PC.

Computex will feature more than 50 tablet models, said organizer Taipei Computer Association, with big names including Lenovo Group Ltd. and Toshiba Corp. having their products displayed.

Researchers have predicted slower growth in PC sales this year because of the rising consumer interest in tablets. Gartner Research recently cut its sales growth forecast for global PC sales in 2011 from 15.9 percent to 10.5 percent. According to IHS iSuppli, world PC shipments declined 0.3 percent year-on-year to 8.1 million units in the first quarter of 2011, with sales by No. 3-ranked Acer plunging 20 percent.

Many analysts say it may take two or three years before mobile device software from Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. can catch up with iPads, which have thousands of applications for consumers to choose from. That may mean a hard time for many PC makers in the short term.

Research company IDC says Apple Inc. had a 73 percent share of the tablet market in the last quarter of 2010. South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. was a distant second with 17 percent. It said 2010 tablet sales totaled 18 million units. IDC expects Apple to account for 70-80 percent of 2011 tablet sales that it predicts will reach 50 million units.

Besides tablets, Computex will also feature corporate and home servers and other cloud-based computing equipment and services, a sector Taiwanese firms have recently entered to make up for shortfalls in PC sales.

The world's top contract laptop manufacturer, Taiwan-based Quanta Computer Co., is among those producing servers for global firms such as Google.

Cloud computing involves running applications in web browsers. The cloud allows users to store and retrieve data over the Internet whenever it is needed, instead of saving it on their own computers.

At least 10 of the tablet models to be shown at Computex are powered by Intel Corp.'s new Atom chip, the U.S. technology giant's first microprocessor designed for tablets. Intel has moved into the fast growing market now dominated by chips using designs by UK-based ARM Holdings.

The new Atom "delivers improved video playback, fast Internet browsing and longer battery life," Navin Shenoy, general manager of Intel's Asia-Pacific region, said in an emailed statement.

There is "a tremendous amount of experimentation going on in the industry," Shenoy said. Tablets, which are more popular in mature markets, will not replace PCs, he said, noting the strong PC demand in Asia and emerging markets.

Taiwanese high-tech firms are also entering the mobile device market pressured by Apple, whose market dominance — extending to the second generation iPad2 — has cut into their PC sales and dented the profits of some.

Taiwan's top two PC vendors, Acer Inc. and AsusTek Computer Inc., are among those using Computex to display a range of touch-screen tablet computers. Their tablets run on the Android operating system that Google distributes free to allow quick Web browsing or film viewing, or on Microsoft mobile software that mostly targets the commercial market.

Acer and AsusTek have promoted their tablets — Iconia Tab and Transformer among others — as having expandable memory slots, hoping to lure consumers with more storage needs. The iPads don't have built-in USB ports.

In addition, the companies say their sleek devices can become full-fledged laptops when plugging them into a keyboard docking station for easy typing.

In terms of tablet prices, Apple's big orders give it a huge edge, while South Korean Samsung Electronics is able to bring costs down by making key components in house — an advantage denied local makers, said Simon Yang, an analyst with Taipei-based Topology Research Institute.

So far, the Taiwanese company with the best success in selling mobile devices is HTC Corp.

The company manufactured the first handset based on the Android operating system in 2008. It has since marketed a wide range of smartphones to meet different tastes, and has recently introduced a movie viewing program called "HTC Watch." HTC's sales jumped to 9.7 million handsets in the first quarter, up from 3.3 million a year earlier.

HTC's first tablet, the 7-inch Flyer, sold well in pre-orders in Taiwan this month, vendors say. Its 16 gigabyte Wi-Fi version is priced at $499, the same as the 9.7-inch iPad. But HTC says its smaller-size device has an advantage, because it is lighter, and more manageable than the iPad.

By contrast, Acer and AsusTek have pursued a low-price strategy. Their Iconia Tab and Transformer models — despite having larger 10.1-inch screens — are priced at $450 to $500.

"Taiwanese companies are yet to become serious rivals to Apple," said Yang. "They either price their tablets too high or sell them at a loss in order to become competitive."

(This version CORRECTS Corrects research company name to IDC instead of CDC.)

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Miss Sofi Shoes Taiwan

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Market of mainland of active position of Miss Sofi of Taiwan female shoe

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