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Samsung Galaxy Fold launch; more Korean content on Netflix; Alibaba's music deal

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Samsung Galaxy Fold launch; more Korean content on Netflix; Alibaba's music deal

TOP NEWS

* Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. said its redesigned Galaxy Fold would go on sale Sept. 6 in South Korea, with the 5G-ready device to launch shortly in select markets including France, Germany, Singapore, the U.K. and the U.S. However, Samsung canceled all online preorders for the handset to "rethink the entire customer experience" surrounding the sale of the foldable smartphone, according to The Verge. The company initially set an April 26 release for the Galaxy Fold but delayed its launch following feedback from reviewers that their test devices had malfunctioned.

* Netflix Inc. unveiled more than 10 new South Korean originals based on various genres, including supernatural action drama, romance, stand-up comedy and sci-fi. The streaming giant also announced the returning seasons of "Kingdom S2" and the unscripted variety "Busted S2."

* Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is buying a stake of about 20% in NetEase Cloud Music, a music streaming platform valued at over US$9 billion, All Weather TMT reported, citing sources close to the matter.

* The promise of faster, next-generation wireless networks is unlikely to reach many rural communities in Asia for years, making networked computers a more practical option for the overall region, a Microsoft Corp. executive said.

JAPAN

* Ioannis Pipilis, former head of fixed income at Deutsche Bank AG, has joined SoftBank Investment Advisers (UK) Ltd. as head of global financing, sources told Financial News. SoftBank Investment Advisers manages the SoftBank Vision Fund LP.

* Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. announced a multiyear partnership with Major League Baseball Enterprises Inc. with the goal of using NTT's ultra reality viewing to create new experiences for baseball fans.

* Sharp Corp. reached a license agreement with Samsung on wireless communication standard essential patent license, including LTE.

SOUTH KOREA

* Samsung and Kakao Corp.'s blockchain subsidiary Ground X are planning to launch a limited crypto-edition of the Galaxy Note 10 smartphone, which will be embedded with Kakao's blockchain Klaytn wallet, Financial News reported.

* KT Corp. signed a memorandum of understanding with POSCO Engineering & Construction Co. and Lotte Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd. to set up Genie City, a 5G-enabled artificial intelligence-based smart town in Busan, South Korea, ET News reported. Construction of the project will begin in 2021.

* LG U+ is working with Korea Transportation Safety Authority to establish a 5G autonomous driving infrastructure in K-City, a testbed for self-driving vehicles in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi province, Chosun Biz reported. The telco will provide telecommunications equipment and operation system for 5G connectivity with an aim to test its cellular-vehicle-to-everything or C-V2X autonomous driving technologies.

GREATER CHINA (MAINLAND CHINA, HONG KONG AND TAIWAN MARKETS)

* Tencent Holdings Ltd. invested US$120 million in Xiaoshouyi, a Chinese customer relationship management service provider, KrASIA reported, citing 36Kr.

* Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. is investing €70 million for its research and development efforts in Ireland over the next three years, Telecompaper reported. Research will cover sectors such as video, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and site-reliability engineering.

* ZTE Corp. was tapped by Orange Espagne SAU to manage a portion of its 5G network, Advanced Television reported.

* Tencent Games and NetEase Inc. each got one game included in the latest batch of gaming titles approved for publication by China's State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television.

* SenseTime group Ltd. is now valued at over US$7.5 billion after securing investment from backers such as SoftBank Group Corp., but the AI startup is not in a rush to go public, CEO Xu Li said during a Bloomberg conference in Singapore.

* Gionee Communication Equipment Co. Ltd., a Shenzhen-based smartphone-maker that declared bankruptcy in December 2018, introduced two smartphones in a bid to repay debts worth 17.3 billion yuan. According to TechNode, Gionee said on its official WeChat account that the devices are set to go on sale, but did not give specifics such as prices and dates.

INDIA AND SOUTH ASIA

* Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. launched its all-fiber broadband service, JioFiber, across 1,600 cities in India. JioFiber claims to offer internet speeds from 100 Mbps up to 1 Gbps, with services including free local voice calling and international calling, TV video calling, entertainment over-the-top apps, gaming, home networking and device security. Monthly plans start at 699 Indian rupees.

* Tech Mahindra Ltd. announced an expansion of its strategic collaboration with AT&T Inc. to accelerate the U.S. carrier's IT network application, shared systems modernization and movement to the cloud.

SOUTHEAST ASIA

* Thailand's Digital Economy and Society Ministry is pushing ahead with its plan to merge state-run mobile operators TOT PCL and CAT Telecom PCL and is aiming for the combined entity to begin operations by the second quarter of 2020. According to Bangkok Post, the merger plan has been greenlighted by the State Enterprise Policy Office, clearing the ministry to submit it to the Thai cabinet by October. The merger is the government's most recent attempt to keep the state enterprises afloat.

* Google LLC appointed Jackie Wang as its new country manager for Thailand, Manager reported. Wang replaces Ben King, who will transfer to the role of country manager at Google Singapore. Wang joined Google in 2014 from McCann Worldgroup AS.

* Ride-hailing app GrabTaxi Holdings Pte Ltd. plans to invest US$150 million in artificial intelligence and is hiring more engineers over the next year to improve its fraud prevention and natural language processing technology, according to Bloomberg News.

* Accenture PLC launched Accenture Google Cloud Business Group, a dedicated Google Cloud practice in Indonesia that aims to build cloud-centric solutions targeting enterprise customers, Channel News Asia reported.

* Thai telco Advanced Info Service PCL partnered with FamilyMart Co. Ltd. to expand distribution of its AIS 1-2-Call products and other services. AIS customers can also pay their monthly mobile and broadband bills at the convenience store chain.

AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

* Spark New Zealand Ltd. subsidiary Qrious Ltd. completed its acquisition of NOW Consulting, the New Zealand-based data consulting division of WhereScape Inc. The merged entity will combine the data, analytics and customer engagement capabilities of Qrious with NOW Consulting's data integration, engineering and visualization to provide data services.

FEATURED NEWS

The Program Guide: Comedy Central renews 'South Side'; Apple TV+ pulls plug on Richard Gere series: Comedy Central renewed "South Side" for a 10-episode second season, while Apple's upcoming streaming service pulled the plug on an eight-episode series starring Richard Gere.

FEATURED RESEARCH

Broadcast Investor: New Kagan Report: Economics of Internet Music and Radio 2019: For the top streaming music services, a cultural shift to subscription-based revenue models has led to a steady revenue stream with less reliance on advertising to drive the bottom line.

Nozomi Ibayashi, Myungran Ha, Emily Lai, Ed Eduard and Patrick Tibke have contributed to this report. The Daily Dose has an editorial deadline of 7 a.m. Hong Kong time. Some external links may require a subscription. Links are current as of publication time, and we are not responsible if those links are unavailable later.