Apple Is Donating A Portion Of Its Sales During The Biggest Shopping Days Of The Year To Help Fight AIDS (AAPL) | ||
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Apple will donate a portion of sales at Apple’s retail and online stores around the world on two of the biggest shopping days of the year — Black Friday and Cyber Monday — as part of a campaign for World Aids Day, which takes place on December 1. The campaign, which sees Apple team with AIDS charity (Red), also includes a special section of the App Store called Apps for (Red), which will offer 25 apps with exclusive content where all proceeds will go directly to the Global Fund to fight AIDS. “Apple is a proud supporter of (Red) because we believe the gift of life is the most important gift anyone can give,” said Tim Cook, chief executive. “For eight years, our customers have been helping fight AIDS in Africa by funding life-saving treatments which are having a profoundly positive impact. This year we are launching our biggest fundraising push yet with the participation of Apple’s retail and online stores, and some of the brightest minds in the App Store are lending their talents to the effort as well.” Exclusive content will be available on FarmVille 2: Country Escape, Angry Birds, Frozen Free Fall and Fifa 15 Ultimate Team, among others. The section launched today, Monday November 24, and will run until Sunday December 7. Every time a customer purchases a participating (Product)Red app or an exclusive in-app purchase, all proceeds will go to the Global Fund. “Apple isn't just in the fight to end Aids. They are setting a new bar for business, giving $75 million and counting to the Global Fund as part of their partnership with (Red),” said Bono, co-founder of (Red). “I couldn't be prouder to work with them.” Monday December 1 – Cyber Monday and one of the biggest day for online sales – is also World Aids Day. Black Friday occurs on November 28. SEE ALSO: Apple Is Planning To Turn Around iAd By Venturing Into Programmatic For The First Time Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Russia Is Overstating The Funds At Its Disposal | ||
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Mr Putin is wrong. In the past year Russia's foreign-exchange reserves have fallen by 20% as the central bank has tried to prop up the rouble. They stand at around $370 billion, with $12 billion more at the IMF (see chart). The central bank claims all of this is readily available. But there is some reason to doubt that. Foreign-exchange reserves have assumed a new importance for Russia in recent months. As Western sanctions have shut Russian companies out of foreign debt markets, they struggle to raise money. That makes it harder to pay back the $130 billion of external debt that comes due between now and the end of next year. The Kremlin can step in: but if it helps Rosneft, a giant oil company, as it is being asked to, calls for more bail-outs will get louder. Some people argue that Russia's reserves are so big that they can accommodate such demands and weather the economic storm. But the central bank exaggerates the reserves at its disposal. About $170 billion of its assets sit in two giant wealth funds, the Reserve Fund and the National Wealth Fund (NWF), and much of what is in these funds could prove illiquid or inaccessible if called on to meet short-term financing needs.
Cash from the $82 billion NWF is committed to long-term infrastructure projects, says Sergei Guriev of Sciences-Po, a French university. The NWF has also provided money to VEB, the Russian development bank, to finance construction at the Sochi Olympics. The loans by which it did so have been "restructured" to allow delayed repayment. Mr Guriev says many people believe the money to have been embezzled. The NWF may thus be unable to offer any liquidity to the government. In terms of money that could actually be put to use, Russia's reserves could be more than $100 billion lower than the headline figures suggest. Mikhail Zadornov, a former finance minister, said in a recent interview with Dozhd, a television channel, that the usable amount could be as low as $200 billion. If current trends continue Russia may soon have enough for just three months' worth of imports: below that level, financiers start to panic. That is bad news for a country that will struggle to find cash elsewhere. Click here to subscribe to The Economist
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"WE HANDLE our gold and currency reserves and government reserves sparingly." So said Vladimir Putin on November 13th. 
No One Expected Latin America To Slow Down Like This | ||
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But now the growth spurt is over. What some worried would be a "new normal" of expansion of 3% a year is turning out to be far worse. The region's economies will on average grow by only around 1.3% this year. Analysts continue to slash their forecasts, as they have done for the past two years (see chart). They now expect only the mildest of recoveries next year: both the IMF and the World Bank foresee growth of just 2.2% in 2015. Latin America is decelerating faster than much of the rest of the emerging world, points out Augusto de la Torre, the bank's chief economist for the region. Alejandro Werner, his counterpart at the IMF, sees growth averaging just 2.7% over the next five years. Some of the reasons are obvious. The biggest factor is the end of the commodity boom. As China's growth slackens, commodity prices have slumped back to their lowest levels since the 2009 world recession. Now the oil price has been hit, too, thanks mainly to increased output in the United States. All this has hurt the commodity-producing economies of South America, though some benefit from cheaper oil. The outlook for Mexico, with its structural reforms and manufacturing ties to North America, is slightly brighter. Worst off are those countries with populist governments that squandered the windfall from the boom. Forecasters see no let-up in the stagflation afflicting Venezuela and Argentina. Thanks to lack of investment and clumsy macroeconomic management, Brazil's economy will barely grow this year and faces a fiscal squeeze in 2015.
Yet the deceleration goes far wider. The high-flying and well-run economies of Chile, Peru and Colombia are all suffering. The growth rate this year in Chile (2%) and Peru (around 3%) is half that of 2013. Contrast that with sub-Saharan Africa, which is also a big commodity producer and where the IMF expects growth of 5.1% this year and 5.8% next. A second oft-cited cause of the Latin doldrums is the move to normal monetary policy in the United States, which will raise the cost of borrowing in the region. But there are few signs of this having an impact yet. Latin American companies are issuing bonds at an accelerating rate. Some economists now reckon that the boom masked deep-rooted structural problems. Latin America's record in productivity may have been even worse than the data seemed to indicate, says Mr de la Torre. The effect of changes in the terms of trade, and the weight of service businesses and of the informal economy in the region, makes this especially hard to calculate. Bello has two other hunches. One is that the region's poor education and skills shortage have caught up with it. To watch and wait as staff in shops or at telecoms companies battle with IT equipment that either they don't know how to operate or is frequently out of order is to wonder whether technology is enhancing or undermining productivity. The second is that the failure to invest in public transport means that the region's big cities, clogged with the new cars the boom afforded, reap fewer economies of scale and specialisation, because people find it so difficult to move around.
What does seem clear is that the region is suffering a structural supply-side shock. Many economies have been operating close to capacity, points out Mr Werner. So demand-priming stimulus--such as Brazil's loose fiscal policy or Peru's recent giveaway of an extra bonus to public employees--looks mistaken. Fiscal balances have weakened by an average of three points of GDP since the 2009 recession. Nevertheless, low debt, stronger banks and more reserves permit looser monetary policy in some places. Many Latin currencies are depreciating, without prompting the panic of the past and thus offering the hope of growth in exports besides commodities (though it is unclear how many companies may find it harder to repay their foreign bonds). With borrowing costs still low, now is the time for these countries to step up investment in infrastructure. Such investments, like much-needed efforts to improve education and training, take years to bear fruit. The problem is that Latin America's leaders confront a mobilised population that has grown used to the good times. This calls for politically deft statesmanship. Where it is absent, Latin America may become more combustible in the next few years. Click here to subscribe to The Economist
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IT WAS great while it lasted. In a golden period from 2003 to 2010 Latin America's economies grew at an annual average rate of close to 5%, wages rose and unemployment fell, more than 50m people were lifted out of poverty and the middle class swelled to more than a third of the population. 
The 10 Things You Need To Know In Advertising Today | ||
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Good morning. Get your week off to a flying start by getting up to date with all the important advertising stories. 1. Coca-Cola has become the first major World Cup sponsor to publicly criticize FIFA over the handling of its corruption investigation into the winning bids for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments. The drinks company said the current situation — which has seen the report's author accuse FIFA of misrepresenting his findings — "disappointing." 2. Google has revealed how it plans to use the new huge Times Square billboard as it becomes the mega screen's inaugural advertiser today. Passers-by will be able to use an app to create their own mini Android characters to play with on the screen. 3. Apple finally confirmed late last week that its iAd advertising platform is venturing into programmatic for the first time, via a post on its news site. Business Insider had broken the news that Rubicon Project was to be one of iAd's automated partners last week. 4. Snapchat has rolled out a second new ad format, AdAge reports. Samsung became the first to sponsor an "Our Story" feed, which works a bit like Twitter hashtags around events, during the American Music Awards on Sunday. 5. GamerGate supporters are now trying to hurt tech website Gawker's ad revenue by approaching the ad tech companies it uses, according to Digiday. A GamerGate subreddit contains a lengthy tutorial, urging supports to petition Gawker's ad tech partners (including Criteo and Datalogix) to stop working with the website. Gawker became a primary target of GamerGate's boycott last month after one of its writers, Sam Biddle, tweeted that GamerGate "nerds" deserve to be "constantly shamed and degraded into submission." 6. Apple is to donate a portion of sales at its retail and online stores on two of the biggest shopping days of the year as part of a campaign for World AIDS Day. Apple has partnered with AIDS charity (Red) for its fundraising effort on Black Friday and Cyber Monday next month. The campaign will also see the launch of a special section of the App Store, called Apps for (Red), which will offer 25 apps and exclusive content. 7. The European parliament wants Google to unbundle its search engine from other products. The European parliament doesn't have the power to split up Google but such a motion could put political pressure on the EU to double-down on its four-year-long antitrust investigation into the search giant. 8. Beer brewer Heineken has been named the Cannes Lions "Creative Marketer of the Year" for the second year running, AdNews reports. The award recognizes the brand's "Legends" campaign, which inspires drinkers to be "travelers, not tourists." The trophy will be presented at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, which takes place in June next year. 9. The British Medical Association has called on the UK's advertising watchdog to ban the first TV ad featuring someone "vaping" an electronic cigarette, Campaign reports. The medical association says the ad, for e-cig brand VIP, breaks the ad rules because it appeals to non-smokers. 10. Google is closing all its Google Glass stores, according to a 9to5Google. Google says it is no longer accepting scheduled appointments to said Glass support hubs because most Glass sales are now happening online or over the phone. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Goldman Sachs Has Invested In A Company That Could Replace Analysts With Algorithms | ||
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Goldman Sachs has just led a $15 million funding round for Kensho, a financial data service that should have analysts quaking in their boots. The company is seeking to replace equity analysts with software. Google Ventures, Accel Partners and CNBC are also some of Kensho's big investors, according to the Financial Times. Here's what Kensho is trying to do, in its own words:
If Kensho's claims are accurate, it should send a shiver down the spine of every financial analyst and researcher. Previously, the huge and growing amount of data available hasn't harmed analysts: the numbers are often useless without some interpretation. But if that data can be interpreted automatically, it's bad news for researchers and analysts. They might not be needed anymore if a machine can do the interpreting faster and better. This process isn't just something that's hitting analysts: white collar jobs could be replaced by algorithms and robots all over the place. Computers and robotic automation have replaced a huge proportion of jobs in manufacturing and agriculture in the last hundred years, but the trend isn't likely to spare service-sector desk-based workers. Platforms like Narrative Science have already started to do this with journalism, with firms' financial statements quickly turned into news articles by the software. The stories are often indistinguishable from regular human-written news. A combination of firms like Kensho and Narrative Science mean you could soon be reading an article written by a robot journalist, based on research done by a robot analyst. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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'About 100' massacred in DR Congo's restive east last week | ||
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Kinshasa (AFP) - About 100 people were slaughtered last week in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the latest massacre in the restive region, regional deputies told AFP on Monday. The carnage took place near the town of Beni in the North Kivu province, where Ugandan rebels have been blamed for killing more than 200 civilians in gruesome attacks since October. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Apple Will Sell 72 Million iPhones — But Then See A Massive Drop In Demand | ||
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According to KGI Securities analyst, Apple is forecast to sell 71.5 million iPhones in Q4, Apple Insider reports. KGI's Ming-Chi Kuo — who has a good record as an Apple analyst because of his sources in Apple's supply chain — says quarter-over-quarter shipments of the smartphone will grow 82% in Q4, and predicts the iPhone 6 will head the surge. Apple Insider explains the iPhone 6 will likely make up nearly 60% of all sales over the period, quoting a figure of 41.65M units. The iPhone 6 Plus will not perform quite as well though. Apparently suppliers are having production issues with the larger phones, and Q4 sales are dependent on the supply chain. After strong sales over the festive season, Kuo expects iPhone sales to fall dramatically to a combined 49.5 million units as off-season demand reduces. Q1 sales always tend to dip after the Q4 holiday buying season. 9to5Mac believes demand will eventually settle at a 2:1 ratio favouring the 6 over the 6 Plus. Kuo says older models, such as the entry-level iPhone 5C and iPhone 4S, will be discontinued in 2015 in favour of the 5S. Until that happens, promotional pricing on all those lines will reduce the average sales price of iPhones in Apple's lineup. The iPhone 5s could eventually become free on contract, Kuo says. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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F1 champion Hamilton ready for new title fight | ||
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Abu Dhabi (AFP) - Two-time world champion Lewis Hamilton said Monday he is determined to keep winning Formula One titles after his triumph in Abu Dhabi. After a night of partying following Sunday's Grand Prix victory, the 29-year-old Briton said he would get immediately down to work improving the car for next season. "We want to be able to go into next season and compete again and be as strong as possible. "That's obviously going to be the goal and I have absolute faith in the team that we will come back very, very strong next year." Hamilton's victory, after Mercedes teammate and season long rival Nico Rosberg made a poor start from pole position and then suffered mechanical problems on his way to finishing 14th, added a second title to the first won in 2008. Mercedes dominated the season with a record 16 wins in 19 races – 11 to Hamilton and five to Rosberg – and produced speed and consistency that left their rivals stranded. The team now appear poised to enjoy an era of supremacy like that of Germans Michael Schumacher, at Ferrari, and Sebastian Vettel, at Red Bull. "The first title was an exceptional and an incredible feeling for me,” said Hamilton. "That was achieving a life-long goal of getting to Formula One and winning the world championship. I don't know if I was in a place to really embrace it and absorb it in the way I can today. "Being a part of this team is definitely a more satisfying feeling. Winning this championship with this team -- a young team that has worked so hard to get to where we are," he added. "To be a part of that is something really very special. "You see the atmosphere in the team, you see the guys at the factory and what's gone on with the partnership with Petronas and all the guys back at the factories in Brackley and Brixworth putting the team together. "Being in a different stage in my life, it just feels sweeter being a bit older. It's very special and a humbling experience." Having apparently pushed aside their once bitter rivalry, Hamilton and Rosberg are already favourites to repeat their duel next year. "Watching past drivers, that following year, they seemed to continue getting stronger on a positive curve and trend, so I hope that's the case for us next year,” said Hamilton. "I'm sure with Petronas we will work very hard to make sure we improve our engine and, with the car, the team is going to push and we are making positive steps in that way. "I'm looking forward to going back to the factory and downloading every bit of info that I can and make sure there are areas that I can improve on and take that away and make sure I improve on them. "Also, for the car I want to make sure the guys have all the information possible to steer them in the right direction." Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Apple Is Donating A Portion Of Its Sales During The Biggest Shopping Days Of The Year To Help Fight AIDS (AAPL) | ||
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Apple will donate a portion of sales at Apple’s retail and online stores around the world on two of the biggest shopping days of the year — Black Friday and Cyber Monday — as part of a campaign for World Aids Day, which takes place on December 1. The campaign, which sees Apple team with AIDS charity (Red), also includes a special section of the App Store called Apps for (Red), which will offer 25 apps with exclusive content where all proceeds will go directly to the Global Fund to fight AIDS. “Apple is a proud supporter of (Red) because we believe the gift of life is the most important gift anyone can give,” said Tim Cook, chief executive. “For eight years, our customers have been helping fight AIDS in Africa by funding life-saving treatments which are having a profoundly positive impact. This year we are launching our biggest fundraising push yet with the participation of Apple’s retail and online stores, and some of the brightest minds in the App Store are lending their talents to the effort as well.” Exclusive content will be available on FarmVille 2: Country Escape, Angry Birds, Frozen Free Fall and Fifa 15 Ultimate Team, among others. The section launched today, Monday November 24, and will run until Sunday December 7. Every time a customer purchases a participating (Product)Red app or an exclusive in-app purchase, all proceeds will go to the Global Fund. “Apple isn't just in the fight to end Aids. They are setting a new bar for business, giving $75 million and counting to the Global Fund as part of their partnership with (Red),” said Bono, co-founder of (Red). “I couldn't be prouder to work with them.” Monday December 1 – Cyber Monday and one of the biggest day for online sales – is also World Aids Day. Black Friday occurs on November 28. SEE ALSO: Apple Is Planning To Turn Around iAd By Venturing Into Programmatic For The First Time Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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World Cup Sponsors Are Coming Out And Criticizing FIFA's Disastrous Corruption Investigation (KO) | ||
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Coca-Cola has become the first tier-one sponsor of the World Cup to publicly criticize FIFA for its handling of the investigation into corruption over the bidding process for the 2018 tournament in Russia and 2022 competition in Qatar, according to a report in The Sunday Times. FIFA's latest crisis came earlier this month when it published a summary of the report, clearing the winning Qatar and Russia bids of any corruption. Shortly after its publication, the summary was disowned by FIFA's own ethics chief Michael Garcia, who said the report had been "misrepresented" by football's governing body, as reported in The Daily Telegraph. Coke has said the handling of the botched investigation has been "disappointing." It is extremely unusual for sponsors to publicly come out against the media they sponsor (they'd much rather just pick up the phone and thrash out issues in private.) But in recent months, sponsors including Adidas, Hyundai, Visa, Sony and Budweiser have all released statements effectively denouncing the negative tenor surrounding FIFA's decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. It shows just how tense the situation is at FIFA right now and how poisonous association with the football body is becoming. FIFA announced last week it was lodging a criminal complaint with the Swiss attorney general regarding "possible misconduct of individual persons in connection with the awarding of the hosting rights of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups." The Mail on Sunday reports that five officials with connections to FIFA are at the center of the investigation. But FIFA's ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert said there was not enough evidence to question the entire bidding process. Awarding the 2022 World Cup to Qatar has been particularly controversial. Qatar said earlier this month it will not be able to keep its promise to hold the 2022 World Cup in the summer — completely disrupting European football seasons and potentially clashing with the Winter Olympics — its original $200 billion construction proposal has already seen 12 stadium cut to eight, and the country's football body is continually fending off accusations of poor workers' conditions and a mounting death toll, which at the last report stood at around 900. A Coca-Cola spokesman told The Sunday Times: “Anything that detracts from the mission and ideals of the FIFA World Cup is a concern to us. “The current conflicting perspectives regarding the investigation are disappointing. Our expectation is that this will be resolved quickly in a transparent and efficient manner.” Coke has sponsored the tournament since 1974. Its current contract with FIFA lasts until 2022 and is estimated, by sponsorship experts BrandRapport, to be worth £75 million ($117 million) over a four year period (the World Cup takes place every four years.) Some 40% of FIFA's commercial revenue comes from sponsorship, advertising and ticket sales, while the rest comes from TV broadcasting. FIFA reported revenue of $4 billion (£2.4 billion) in the 2011-14 period. The figures highlight just how important the continued financial support of sponsors is to the organization. Adidas, another top tier sponsor of the tournament, which is signed up with FIFA until 2030 with a contract estimated to be worth £95 million over a four year period, has been less damning in its response to the corruption investigation. The sportswear manufacturer told The Sunday Times it was planning to discuss the report with FIFA directly. McDonald's, a tier two sponsor, has said it is "monitoring the situation." Meanwhile, earlier this month Emirates announced it was ending its sponsorship of the World Cup, after an eight year partnership with FIFA. The Dubai airline's contract was due to come to an end in 2014, but put out a statement saying the decision was made "following an evaluation of FIFA's contract proposal which did not meet Emirates' expectations." Most people took that to read that Emirates was uneasy about the corruption claims surrounding the bid process for the World Cup, particularly the 2022 tournament held in Dubai. However, the decision may also have been made because the brand is in a far more prominent place than it was back in 2006, and the awareness a World Cup can offer is no longer necessary. Sony's contract also comes to an end this year and the company is also rumored to be the next to pull out. Outside of brand partners, the English, German, Dutch, Belgian, Swedish and Danish football federations have also all criticized FIFA for not publishing the full 350-page corruption report. But despite the now-public outcry over FIFA's handling of the World Cup bidding process, most sponsorship experts don't think a widespread boycott is likely — despite the potential damage to sponsors' brands by being associated with football's governing body if it is found guilty of any wrongdoing, or if anything goes wrong at one of the tournaments. Nigel Currie, director at sports marketing and sponsorship agency BrandRapport told Business Insider: "Unless they all get together to put pressure on FIFA...there's a question of whether sponsors have influence. I think it's unlikely they will all come together. The World Cup is such a valuable property to these brands that they need to be part of it — and if they pull out, their main competitors will be all to glad to step in. "All major sponsorship contracts will have embarrassment or insurance clauses if something significant happens [like the unlikely event that the World Cup was held in a war zone] or if they can prove it has fundamentally negatively impacted on their business." It appears Coke's attack on FIFA may well be a none-too-subtle reminder that these clauses are firmly in place. SEE ALSO: Emirates Airlines Punched A Big Hole In Qatar's Troubled World Cup Plans Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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