7-Eleven strikes deal with Hon Hai to sell tablets and notebooks in Taiwan

7-Eleven strikes deal with Hon Hai to sell tablets and notebooks in Taiwan

The stars have aligned in such a way that two of our favorite, yet disparate interests are crossing paths: gadgets and Slurpees. Hon Hai Precision Industry (better known as Foxconn’s parent company) has struck a deal with 7-Eleven, and will manufacture slates for the latter to sell in Taiwan. Details are slim on the 7-inch (7.11-inch?) tablet, but it’s now up for pre-order, and the pair hope to give 3,000 units new homes in the first three months of sales. As absurd as it sounds, this isn’t the first partnership between the unlikely couple. In June, a similar deal resulted in 7-Eleven-branded TVs (in 40-, 60- and 70-inch flavors), and over 15,000 have been sold since. Now, a 50-inch set has been added to the mix, and between five and ten new products — which include smartphones and laptops — will be available by years’ end. Rather than crowding the inside of shops with the gadgets, the televisions were up for order through the convenience store’s 7net website as well as brick and mortar locations, and it appears the other hardware will follow suit. We don’t expect the gas station to dabble in electronics stateside, so you might as well make the most of a trip to Taiwan and pick up a Honey Lemon Slurpee while you’re at it.

[Image credit: Nicky Fernandes, Flickr]

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Source: Taipei Times

Foxconn’s Q2 revenues hit $30 billion, up 0.6% year over year

Foxconn's Q2 revenues up only 06% year on year

Hon Hai, better known in the west as the iPhone maker Foxconn, seems to be doing just fine after allegedly losing some orders from Apple to competitor Pegatron in September 2012. According to Bloomberg, the company’s second quarter revenues hit $30 billion, up 0.6 percent from the same quarter a year ago. That’s far better than the 19 percent drop it experienced during the first quarter. While there’s no guidance as to Q3 figures, we’ve got to think that an iPhone 5S can help fill those coffers.

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Via: The Next Web

Source: Bloomberg

Foxconn demos iPhone-friendly smartwatch with health sensors

Hon Hai shows iPhonefriendly smartwatch

Foxconn isn’t waiting around for rumors of an Apple smartwatch to come true — it’s building a timepiece of its own. The company has just shown iPhone-compatible wristwear that previews Facebook messages and phone calls while tracking the owner’s breathing and heart rate. Upgrades are also coming in the long run, such as a fingerprint reader that would lock down the wearer’s health data. Foxconn hasn’t discussed launch details for the watch, but it’s almost more of a symbol than a product — it represents the diversification of a business that still leans mostly on contract manufacturing for revenue.

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Source: Want ChinaTimes

Mozilla inks deal with Foxconn to co-develop Firefox OS devices, shows off its first-ever tablet

Foxconn inks deal with Mozilla to develop Firefox OS phones and tablets

In between the packed schedule at Computex earlier today, our brethren over at Engadget Chinese managed to sneak into the joint event held by Foxconn and Mozilla. As you may have already heard, the former company has signed on to become the 19th member of the latter’s Firefox OS alliance, and it’s already working on at least five devices. That said, it’s unclear whether these include the first-ever Firefox OS tablet (pictured above) that was present at the event. And no, we weren’t allowed to touch this mysterious device.

The two groups will also cooperate on the software side, and Mozilla took the opportunity to indicate the healthy growth in its app ecosystem, with well-known apps like AccuWeather and SoundCloud jumping on board. But will that be enough? We’ll see how the developing countries react to the first Firefox OS phones when they come out in the summer. Press release after the break.

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Source: Engadget Chinese

China’s LeTV debuts ‘Super TV’ X60, throws in a quad-core S4 Prime chip

LeTV X60 debuts in China with Snapdragon S4 Prime

Quad-core smart TVs? Move over, Samsung and Haier, because another company’s now joining the party. At a press event in Beijing yesterday, Chinese video content provider LeTV announced its first TV series dubbed “Super TV.” Despite the cheesy name, there are a handful of big names behind it: Kai-Fu Lee’s Innovation Works, Qualcomm, Foxconn and Sharp. The last two aren’t surprising considering Foxconn’s parent company, Hon Hai, is an investor of Sharp as well as LeTV. It’s also worth noting, though, that Hon Hai already has a deal with RadioShack to make and sell a 60-inch TV, the RS60-V1, in China since January.

The flagship X60 (pictured above at GMIC Beijing) features an aluminum alloy body that encases Sharp’s 10th-generation 60-inch 1080p panel — as featured on the RadioShack TV — with 120Hz 3D, on top of a 1.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Prime MPQ8064 (with 2GB of RAM and Adreno 320 graphics), dual-band WiFi and S/PDIF optical output. You can also add an optional 2.4GHz gyroscopic remote control and a PrimeSense motion sensor just for giggles. But most importantly, LeTV now streams over 2,000 TV apps as well as some 90,000 TV episodes and 5,000 movies for free (LeTV claims to own the rights to 95 percent of the video content). So, the ¥6,999 or $1,140 price tag seems a steal for the X60. There will also be a 39-inch 1080p (likely 2D only), dual-core S40 model priced at ¥1,999 or about $330, and both TVs will be available by the end of June.

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Via: Engadget Chinese

Source: LeTV

Foxconn parent Hon Hai licenses Microsoft’s patents for Android, Chrome devices

Microsoft has insisted for years that companies building products based on Android and Chrome are treading on ground covered by its patent portfolio, and it’s continuing to press that claim. Today it announced it’s agreed to IP licensing terms with another device maker — Foxconn parent Hon Hai. Perhaps best known for making many Apple products, the massive company manufactures more than 40 percent of consumer electronics devices in the world. According to the press release the deal covers patents for phones, tablets and TVs, and will result in Microsoft receiving royalty payments. We’ve already seen companies like HTC and LG choose to cut a deal over the technology, while Google-owned Motorola is continuing to fight. It’s far too soon to know how those court battles will be resolved, but while the team in Redmond may not have caught up to Android in mobile market share, that doesn’t mean it’s not getting paid.

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Source: Microsoft

iPhone maker Hon Hai sees sudden 19 percent sales drop in 2013 Q1

Reuters is reporting that Hon Hai, the manufacturer that everyone else knows as Foxconn Technology, saw its sales tumble in the first quarter of this year. In the post-Christmas season, the iPhone maker brought in $26.9 billion — a fall of 19 percent compared to the same quarter last year. It’s a strange turn of events, seeing as 2012 turned out to be a record year for the company, but Reuters interprets the figures as being a symptom of a drop in demand for the Apple products that Hon Hai builds and is largely dependent on — an issue that has been brewing for a while now.

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Source: Reuters

Hon Hai shows record profits, keeps making money from making iPhones

Hon Hai Precision, also known as Foxconn Technology, has reported its earnings for the year and notched a net income of $3.2 billion according to the Financial Times. Most familiar as the manufacturing muscle behind Apple’s iPhones, iPads and the like, the Taiwan-based manufacturer beat analyst predictions on high margins for those products. Its subsidiary, Foxconn International Holdings, is the world’s largest cellphone maker and produces devices for companies including Nokia and Motorola, but suffered a net loss of $316.4 million. As a result, some are concerned about Foxconn’s heavy reliance on Apple as a customer going forward. Still, the company is reportedly continuing a plan to increase vertical integration, by manufacturing the parts for devices and not just putting them together — we’ll see if anyone notices changes in the final product anytime soon.

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Source: FT, BBC, Bloomberg

Sharp takes out $4.6 billion loan while it continues restructuring

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Much of the business news out of Japan from Sharp hasn’t been good, but for now at least it’s worked out a loan agreement to keep rolling. It’s still pursuing a deal with manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry / Foxconn that would provide a much-needed injection of capital, but those talks have reportedly stalled. Until something happens there it has a 360 billion yen ($4.6 billion) syndicated loan worked out with a couple of Japanese banks that runs until June 30th 2013. We’re still not sure how Sharp will proceed with all this, but hopefully an agreement can be reached that brings its sweet IGZO LCD tech and any other new screens it will be showing off at CEATEC next week to more devices.

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Sharp takes out $4.6 billion loan while it continues restructuring originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Sep 2012 01:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Riot breaks out at Foxconn’s Taiyuan plant, reportedly over guards beating up a worker

Foxconn's Taiyuan plant on riot

News just came in that workers at Foxconn’s Taiyuan plant have started a riot in the wee hours in China, and that police forces are on site to control the crowd. While the motive isn’t clear, Sina Weibo user Li Tian reports that the riot isn’t related to the recent anti-Japan protests, though judging by his photos, much damage has been done in the process. The same site suffered from a strike back in March over salary dispute — the front-line workers failed to receive the promised pay rise. On a similar note, Foxconn’s Chengdu plant also had a riot in June, but that was apparently due to an argument between some workers and a local restaurant owner.

Update: We are seeing unofficial reports claiming the “2,000-people” riot was triggered by security guards hitting a worker at 10pm local time.

Update 2: According to a provincial website, Foxconn’s Taiyuan industrial park focuses on magnesium alloy components for consumer electronics, heat conduction products, LED lighting products, mobile phone products and magnesium alloy automotive components.

Update 3: An undercover report from August mentioned that the Taiyuan plant processed the back casing of the iPhone 5. It also highlighted the company’s harsh management as well as “practically compulsory” over-time work. We don’t doubt that this riot escalated due to dissatisfaction over working conditions.

Update 4: Unsurprisingly, the original Sina Weibo posts have since been deleted. At the time of publication, the author had already noticed that some of the photos were already being censored by Sina. However, the photos over at Baidu Tieba are still intact.

Update 5: Well this is interesting. Foxconn has told Reuters that there was “a fight among workers from different production lines,” but the company’s spokesperson said they’re “still investigating the cause of the fight and the number of people involved.” An official statement will be released on Monday.

Update 6: The Next Web has heard that there were no deaths in the incident. Here’s hoping those 40 injured people will recover quickly.

Continue reading Riot breaks out at Foxconn’s Taiyuan plant, reportedly over guards beating up a worker

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Riot breaks out at Foxconn’s Taiyuan plant, reportedly over guards beating up a worker originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 23 Sep 2012 16:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceSina Weibo (login required), Baidu Tieba  | Email this | Comments