70 Japanese businesses joining forces to create 'iOS Consortium'

A large group of Japanese companies are reportedly set to join forces on June 21 to create what is being described as an "iOS Consortium." Hitachi and NEC are among the 70 companies that share a single goal of speeding up iOS adoption within enterprise environments.

The consortium will look to jointly develop software, train engineers and make enterprise applications easier to understand and use. The Verge points out that Hitachi believes iOS products can reach far beyond their traditional roles and become valuable tools at banks and retail stores, for example.

By working as part of a consortium, each member company will be required to do far less work than they would on their own by dividing the workload. This will reduce overall costs across the board and cut down on the amount of time a client would need to wait before they can install newly developed software within their product lines.

Nikkei highlights the fact that Apple has been trying to attract support in Japan but their enterprise support is pretty weak. The group will reportedly ask Apple for help with the project, seeking out information and technology that would be necessary to create new business apps. From an outsider's standpoint, it seems that Apple would benefit greatly from cooperating with the consortium.

Surprisingly enough, Japanese businesses haven’t traditionally been quick to adopt new technologies. The Verge highlights their continued reliance on the fax machine as just one example of this. If the consortium is successful, however, perhaps it can speed along the adoption of mobile devices in the workplace to replace some other technology that’s well past its prime.

Seagate completes acquisition of Samsung's hard drive division

In April, Seagate agreed to purchase Samsung's hard drive division in a transaction valued at $1.4 billion. Technically speaking, the acquisition is complete and Seagate has launched a web pagededicated to the purchase for customers. Logistically speaking though, the companies have their work cut out for them as they restructure and combine their products, resources and talent.

Currently, Seagate is providing mechanical hard drives for Samsung PCs while Samsung is returning the favor with flash chips used in Seagate's enterprise SSDs and consumer hybrids (ie. Momentus XT).

As a result of the deal, both companies have extended and improved an existing patent agreement allowing them to dip into each other's R&D efforts. Also, Seagate will be gaining significant inroads to customers in China, South East Asia, Brazil, Germany and Russia. In addition to patents and distribution, Samsung will also be appointing a nominee who will join Seagate's executive board of directors.

Samsung's current HDD product line-up will also be Seagate's property. This includes Spinpoint M8, MP4 and S3 portable products. While it is uncertain if Seagate will choose to retain any products from Samsung's meager production portfolio, the Samsung brand name will live on for the next 12 months as per the agreement.

This latest acquisition seems to be yet another nail in the coffin for mechanical hard drive manufacturers as they continue to reduce down into just a handful of companies. Incidentally, Western Digital is still working on its own acquisition of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies. If the merger completes next year like WD believes, there will be only three major HDD manufacturers left in the world: Western Digital, Seagate and Toshiba.

Hitachi announces first USB 3.0 external drives

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) has announced a new line of Hitachi Touro Pro desktop and mobile external hard drives, which offer both local backup and cloud storage functionality. The Touro Pro line is an all-in-one solution to help protect, transport, and store your photos, music, videos, and documents for easy access from anywhere.

The Touro Mobile Pro Portable Drive (500GB for $110 or 750GB for $130) has the following features: sleek mobile design, 7200 RPM drives, local and cloud backup, cloud access anytime, upgrade for more cloud storage and apps, USB 3.0 interface, and USB powered. The Touro Desk Pro External Drive (1TB for $130, 2TB for $180, or 3TB for $230) has the following features: stackable desktop design, 7200 RPM drives, local and cloud backup, remote access anytime, upgrade for more cloud storage and apps, and USB 3.0 interface.

With a few clicks, the Hitachi Touro Pro local backup software will backup your photos, music, videos, and documents from your computer directly to the drive. Once installed, backups run quietly and automatically every 30 minutes, though you can schedule custom backups on a time or day that's convenient for you.

In addition to simple local backup features, the Touro Pro family's online storage option ensures your data is always accessible in the cloud, allowing you to access and share files from any browser, tablet, or smartphone. When using the cloud service, all content is stored in its natural format (no proprietary formatting), so files are easy to view, download, and share. You can even share your online content with others by just sending them a link. To start you off, you'll get 3GB of online storage for free. For more storage, there is an option to upgrade to 250GB for only $49 per year (you'll also get Hitachi's iPhone and iPad apps).

"Unbound by convention, Hitachi GST was the first to blend personal storage with cloud backup. We're liberating our customers from the limitations of today's technology and giving them free reign about where they store and how they access their digital content," Mike Williams, general manager of Hitachi GST Branded Business Group, said in a statement. "Our new intelligent storage products and services continue to redefine how we connect to our content -, while providing data protection, simplicity and ease of use for just about anyone."