TOP NEWS
* Facebook Inc. and Google Inc. face a tougher regulatory climate in Vietnam under a cybersecurity law that has been approved by the country's National Assembly, Bloomberg News reports. The legislation, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2019, requires tech companies to locally store personal data of Vietnam-based users and for them to open offices in the country. The law also allows authorities to censor content that is deemed "illegal" and to prosecute people for posting such content.
* Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. appealed a U.S. jury verdict ordering it to pay Apple Inc. US$539 million in damages over a patent dispute which has persisted since 2011, Yonhap News Agency reports. The South Korean tech giant argued in its post-trial motion that the compensation amount is excessive and lacks evidence. Samsung also asked for a retrial and reduction in damages.
PAN-ASIAN NEWS
* Lenovo Group Ltd. promoted its India marketing head Bhaskar Choudhuri to chief marketing officer of Lenovo Asia-Pacific, according to Marketing Interactive. Choudhuri succeeds Nick Reynolds, who takes on the role of global head of marketing for digital, web and social media.
JAPAN
* SoftBank Group Corp.'s SoftBank Vision Fund led a series D funding round of US$250 million in California-based data storage company Cohesity Inc., which plans to use the capital raised to accelerate its investments in cloud-like infrastructure.
* Deepcore Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of SoftBank Group, invested an undisclosed sum in Tokyo-based artificial intelligence developer UsideU Inc.
* Capcom Co. Ltd. will release its two major titles, "Resident Evil 2" and "Devil May Cry 5," on Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 4, Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox One and PC in the first quarter of 2019.
* Fujitsu Ltd. said its subsidiary RUN.EDGE, which was established via a company split in April 2018, has begun operations in Japan to offer information and communications technology-based image search and image analysis services for the sports sector.
* Nintendo Co. Ltd. said it now supports the video game "Fortnite" on Nintendo Switch.
SOUTH KOREA
* CJ E&M is negotiating a deal to acquire a 51% stake in Pledis Entertainment Inc., which manages K-pop groups, to expand its music business, iNews 24 reports.
* SK Telecom Co. Ltd. announced a deal to deliver real-time video-streaming technology to DJI. The drone manufacturer will use SKT's video technology to deliver low-latency live streams of HD footage on drones and handheld gimbal products. The agreement also covers global sales and marketing.
* In other SKT news, the local telco is increasing its base station capacity to prepare for local elections and the World Cup season, with plans to operate a special control tower to quickly respond to any issues caused by traffic overload, according to Financial News.
CHINA, HONG KONG AND TAIWAN
* Xiaomi Corp., which recently filed its Chinese depositary receipts application with the China Securities Regulatory Commission, plans to issue class B common stocks to the depositary that will be converted into CDRs and listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, according to KR Asia.
* Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. introduced its OceanConnect internet of vehicles platform that will provide automobile manufacturers support for hundreds of millions of connections, access to intelligent services, big data and control of digital assets.
* Migu, China Mobile Ltd.'s subsidiary for livestreaming and on-demand videos, reached a partnership with SINA Corp.'s Sina Weibo on content creation, minivideo production and interactive games for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Sina reports. Weibo also reached a similar deal with China Central Television (CCTV)(CN) Sports, according to Caijing.
* Chinese music video platform Tik Tok revealed that it has 150 million active users daily and more than 300 million users per month, 36kr reports. The app, owned by news aggregator Jinri Toutiao, also disclosed that over 40% of the users are between 24 and 30 years old.
INDIA AND SOUTH ASIA
* Pakistan's Supreme Court suspended what it called "exorbitant tax deductions" on prepaid mobile top-up cards, The Express Tribune reports. Chief Justice Saqib Nisar, who ordered all taxes deducted on recharge cards to be suspended within two days, said 38.08 Pakistani rupees collected by operators on a card costing 100 Pakistani rupees, is "illegal."
* India's Department of Telecommunications may avoid the auction route for allocating backhaul spectrum in the E and V bands, a highly placed official in the ministry of communications told The Economic Times.
* Indian online retailer Paytm E-Commerce Pvt. Ltd Mall received the final tranche of the US$445 million funding commitment from SoftBank Group Corp. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., according to Press Trust of India.
* Uber Technologies Inc. launched Uber Lite, a lightweight version of its rider app in India that will work on slow internet connections and basic Android smartphones.
SOUTHEAST ASIA
* South Africa's Naspers Ltd. is in early discussions to invest in Carousell, a Singapore-based mobile app, two sources with knowledge of discussions told TechCrunch. The minority investment could reportedly value Carousell at over US$500 million.
* Thailand police arrested 14 people on suspicion of spreading false information about the government online, Khaosod reports. The punishment is a five-year jail term and a fine of up to 100,000 baht.
* The 2018 FIFA World Cup matches on Telekom Malaysia channels RTM 1 and RTM 2 will not be available on its IPTV service Unifi TV due to broadcast rights, The Star reports.
* Customers of True Move H, the mobile subsidiary of True Corp., can watch all 64 matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup free-of-charge via the True ID app or online portal, Daily News reports. Meanwhile, noncustomers can pay to watch the games on True ID's app or website.
* PT Indosat Tbk will provide telecommunication solutions for the light rail transit systems in the Greater Jakarta area, Indotelko reports. The first phase of the LRT systems is expected to be completed in December.
* Malaysia's Media Prima Bhd. announced the appointment of Datuk Mohd Nasir Ahmad as an independent nonexecutive chairman. Ahmad previously served as independent nonexecutive director in the company.
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
* Unlockd Media Pty Ltd. has gone into voluntary administration and is blaming Google's "anti-competitive" conduct for its inability to access the funding it needed to survive, The Australian Financial Review reports. The tech startup's IPO plans have been in limbo ever since the Alphabet Inc. unit threatened to pull Unlockd's app from Google Play for violation of policies in April.
* Vodafone New Zealand Ltd. is losing its long-time CEO Russell Stanners as he steps down from his role at the end of October. Stanners will be succeeded by Jason Paris, Vodafone's director for convergence acceleration for the Africa, Middle East and Asia-Pacific regions.
* Google will open a new Melbourne office July 5, The Australian reports. It will be the company's second office in Australia.
FEATURED NEWS
Conference Chatter: E3 2018: Sony sticks to games, stays silent on VR, streaming: Sony Interactive Entertainment's Shawn Layden said at its PlayStation E3 2018 briefing that instead of a "bombardment of new creative," the company's focus would be on providing deeper looks into four key PS4 titles.
FEATURED RESEARCH
Economics of TV & Film: Rising ticket prices, costlier concessions boost 2017 exhibitor revenue: The domestic theatrical market continued to register growth in revenues in 2017 despite theater admissions declining for the second year in a row and the seventh time in the past decade.
Nozomi Ibayashi, Myungran Ha, Emily Lai, Ed Eduard and Patrick Tibke 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.
