:00:00. > :00:00.is due to start. Members of the RMT union are set to walk out from nine
:00:00. > :00:18.o'clock in the evening. Time for Asia Business Report.
:00:19. > :00:20.Apple against Samsun. Have we seen the end of the long and drawn`out
:00:21. > :00:25.battle between the two technology giants? Investing in Myanmar will
:00:26. > :00:32.stop why businesses are drawn to the frontier markets despite the
:00:33. > :00:39.hurdles? Welcome to Asia Business Report. When a jury in California
:00:40. > :00:44.ordered Samsung to pay Apple $120 million over the weekend, it was
:00:45. > :00:49.viewed by some as a defensive victory for Samsung. Apple had been
:00:50. > :00:53.seeking more than $2 billion, claiming that the South Korean
:00:54. > :00:55.company had infringed its patents. Where does this leave the legal
:00:56. > :01:00.battle between the smartphone giants? Earlier, I spoke with our
:01:01. > :01:07.technology correspondent in San Francisco and ask him if this
:01:08. > :01:11.signals a victory for Apple. It is hardly a victory. The only thing
:01:12. > :01:14.Apple can say is that Samsung were found guilty on two counts of
:01:15. > :01:22.infringing their patterns, one of which was wilful infringement.
:01:23. > :01:27.Samsung were rewarded a small amount of money for what the jury found was
:01:28. > :01:34.one case of Apple having infringed one of their patterns. Frankly,
:01:35. > :01:39.something of a stalemate yet again. Could you say it is a victory for
:01:40. > :01:45.Samsung? In some ways, although the jury had found that Samsung had
:01:46. > :01:50.wilfully `` wilfully infringed the patents on Apple's smartphone. It
:01:51. > :01:54.does lend credibility to Apple's claimed that Samsung had copied the
:01:55. > :01:58.software inside the device. In that sense, not great for Samsung but
:01:59. > :02:03.clearly, the damage is much less than Apple 's claiming and it's
:02:04. > :02:10.highly unlikely there will be a sales ban on any handsets, which
:02:11. > :02:19.again is what Apple was seeking. Who is benefiting from this battle? You
:02:20. > :02:23.could argue that the lawyers are the big winners in all of this. One of
:02:24. > :02:29.the other victors that you could argue is a competitor. These
:02:30. > :02:35.companies are going into trial in a court like this, so it is all in the
:02:36. > :02:37.public. There are a lot of internal discussions that were happening
:02:38. > :02:41.inside Apple and Samsung that were revealed in the process of
:02:42. > :02:45.testimony. How Apple felt about its advertising agency, how Samsung felt
:02:46. > :02:49.it had to compete in the marketplace. It has provided insight
:02:50. > :02:53.into what the companies were thinking as they brought these
:02:54. > :03:00.products out. Interesting perspective. Did this decision
:03:01. > :03:02.surprise you? Not really. I did not think it would stop any of these
:03:03. > :03:07.companies from selling their products in the US. But on the other
:03:08. > :03:16.hand, it did reveal how small the monetary amounts turn `` turned out
:03:17. > :03:23.to be. In the end, the companies keep making the money. And it will
:03:24. > :03:30.have no impact on the product itself? Features will not change?
:03:31. > :03:34.Samsung has been doing a lot more that is quite different from Apple
:03:35. > :03:38.in that sense. In addition, keep in mind that the products that were
:03:39. > :03:41.involved in this worthy previous generation products. Even if an
:03:42. > :03:46.injunction were put in place, it would not have that much of an
:03:47. > :03:53.impact. Australia's Westpac bank has reported an 8% jump in profits in
:03:54. > :03:57.the six months to March. That's a record profit for Australia's
:03:58. > :04:02.second`biggest bank, following robust lending and a fall in bad
:04:03. > :04:06.debt. Banks in Australia are on track for another year of record
:04:07. > :04:10.earnings as the country's low interest rate environment encourages
:04:11. > :04:16.borrowers to take up loan. A Chinese still company is partnering with an
:04:17. > :04:19.Australian rail company in an attempt to take over and iron ore
:04:20. > :04:24.developer in the country. The two parties have made a bid for
:04:25. > :04:30.acquittal of resources. China's largest listed steel maker already
:04:31. > :04:33.owns 20% of the company. Indonesia will be releasing its first`quarter
:04:34. > :04:39.growth figures later today, expected to show an expansion of almost 5% in
:04:40. > :04:41.the first three months of the year. The government has already eased
:04:42. > :04:46.foreign investment rules for its pharmaceutical and car industries
:04:47. > :04:53.and the economy will play an important role in July's
:04:54. > :04:58.presidential elections. Indonesia's new shopping mall is just one sign
:04:59. > :05:02.of the country's gross. In the last five years, the biggest economy in
:05:03. > :05:08.South East Asia has expanded by an average of 6%, and in the coming
:05:09. > :05:12.months, and whether voters believe can maintain that growth may be
:05:13. > :05:16.voted in as the next president. Currently, the governor of Jakarta
:05:17. > :05:22.is leading in the popularity polls. He is ahead of the former minister
:05:23. > :05:32.of the economy and a former military general. But they face significant
:05:33. > :05:36.challenges. Rising power among the country's trade unions. Last week,
:05:37. > :05:41.thousands gathered to demand higher wages and better benefits. They say
:05:42. > :05:46.it has become harder to keep up with the rising cost of living. The gap
:05:47. > :05:49.between the rich and poor is also growing. Millions of people live in
:05:50. > :05:55.slums and experts warn that as inequality rises, so does the risk
:05:56. > :06:00.of social unrest. The growth figures for the last few months will set the
:06:01. > :06:05.tone for the election campaign. Major reforms are needed to maintain
:06:06. > :06:11.economic growth. The voters will decide who can deliver them.
:06:12. > :06:14.Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has only recently opened its economy
:06:15. > :06:19.to foreign investment after decades of military rule but it is already
:06:20. > :06:24.becoming one of the region's hottest investment destinations. Seven out
:06:25. > :06:30.of ten Asian businesses plan to expand into Myanmar within the next
:06:31. > :06:35.year, according to a recent survey. But there are still a number of
:06:36. > :06:40.challenges to setting up shop there. Myanmar has a population of about 55
:06:41. > :06:44.million people and over the last several decades, they have had very
:06:45. > :06:48.limited access to modern consumer goods and services. There is a ready
:06:49. > :06:53.market for foreign companies to come in, particularly if they are looking
:06:54. > :06:57.to sell consumer goods and people here. There is also a sense that
:06:58. > :07:02.there is an un` exploited resource sector particularly in gas, so many
:07:03. > :07:07.companies are looking to invest in resource extraction. But this is a
:07:08. > :07:14.far from easy place to do business. Just look at the infrastructure, for
:07:15. > :07:18.example. The banking sector is extremely basic by modern
:07:19. > :07:22.standards. The things people need to operate businesses, the internet,
:07:23. > :07:27.mobile phones, all of them do not work very well here at the moment.
:07:28. > :07:30.But the two main obstacles to companies coming here and investing
:07:31. > :07:36.in a big way our corruption and uncertainty. If you are going to
:07:37. > :07:41.come and start a big operation here in Myanmar, it is generally accepted
:07:42. > :07:44.that you do need to have connections and local partners, and almost
:07:45. > :07:49.always, that will involve doing this with one of the big local
:07:50. > :07:53.conglomerates here, and those big companies almost always are
:07:54. > :07:57.connected with either the Burmese military all the Burmese government.
:07:58. > :08:02.But the biggest single obstacle, particularly to Western and American
:08:03. > :08:07.companies, is uncertainty. There is an election scheduled for the end of
:08:08. > :08:11.next year and it is far from clear that the reforms we have seen over
:08:12. > :08:15.the last few years will continue. If the military decides to reassert
:08:16. > :08:21.itself, that could mean a return to isolation and a return of
:08:22. > :08:27.sanctions. And of course, that would not be good for business.
:08:28. > :08:31.Earlier, I spoke with someone who worked on that survey for the
:08:32. > :08:38.overseas banks, and I asked why businesses were keen to set up in
:08:39. > :08:42.Myanmar. We have seen strong economic growth. This year, the
:08:43. > :08:47.country is expecting economic growth of 7%, 8%, which makes Myanmar one
:08:48. > :08:53.of the fastest`growing economies in Asia. And the other attraction is
:08:54. > :09:01.that it has a very good strategic location, located at a crossroads in
:09:02. > :09:05.mainland South East Asia. That adds a huge asset to the consumer market
:09:06. > :09:10.with a combined population of 2 billion people. Another point is
:09:11. > :09:15.that uncertainty is perhaps the largest challenge, the question of
:09:16. > :09:21.whether reforms will continue. How do businesses cope with that
:09:22. > :09:24.uncertainty? One has to understand that the reform in Myanmar is
:09:25. > :09:31.unprecedented and still in its early stage. Whether the country can
:09:32. > :09:39.continue with this reform and Edmonton and whether the reform can
:09:40. > :09:43.be sustained... `` reform momentum. Business will have to grapple with
:09:44. > :09:46.this as it invests in Myanmar. How do businesses deal with that
:09:47. > :09:52.uncertainty and the physical challenges of infrastructure and
:09:53. > :09:57.communications? What is the best way to work around those challenges? We
:09:58. > :10:02.always advise our clients that one of the main ways to help them
:10:03. > :10:08.overcome those challenges is to find the right local partners. People
:10:09. > :10:11.have good local connections that can help them overcome and navigate the
:10:12. > :10:18.complexities of doing business in Myanmar. Currently, we all
:10:19. > :10:23.acknowledge that there are still challenges like... There are
:10:24. > :10:29.challenges to foreign companies that intended to operate in that market.
:10:30. > :10:41.Thank you for joining us. Sport is next.
:10:42. > :10:46.The headlines: Police in Northern Ireland have released the Sinn Fein
:10:47. > :10:52.leader Gerry Adams, who has been questioned in connection with a
:10:53. > :10:53.murder committed more than 40 years ago. Ukrainian prosecutors