Samsung Will Make One-Third Fewer Smartphone Models Next Year | ||
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Seoul (AFP) - Samsung Electronics has announced plans to slash the number of smartphone models it issues next year by up to one-third as it tries to cut prices in the face of intense Chinese competition. The strategy, confirmed by a company spokesman Tuesday, was unveiled during a presentation in New York by the South Korean conglomerate's head of investor relations, Robert Yi. Yi said the company -- which last month reported a near 50-percent plunge in third-quarter net profit following a 20 percent drop in the previous quarter -- would reduce the number of smartphone models in 2015 by between one-quarter and one-third. The strategy is expected to be accompanied by a significant increase in the production of remaining models that can be sold more cheaply to compete with cut-price Chinese rivals. The recent nosedive in Samsung's fortunes followed several years of stellar growth and a seemingly endless succession of record quarterly profits driven by its all-conquering mobile unit. Its flagship Galaxy S smartphone has suffered in the high-end market from the popularity of arch-rival Apple's new iPhone 6, while its dominance of the middle- and low-end handset segment has been challenged by Chinese handset makers such as Huawei, Xiaomi and Lenovo. For the moment, Samsung is still the comfortable leader by sales volume, but its share of the global smartphone market has fallen from 35 percent a year ago to just under 25 percent, according to Strategy Analytics. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Journalist An Uber Exec Reportedly Suggested Publicizing Personal Details About Has Responded | ||
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On Monday night, Buzzfeed released a report stating that an Uber executive made some offhand and regrettable remarks in the presence of a journalist without realizing he wasn't off the record. The executive in question is reportedly Emil Michael, Senior Vice President of Business. As Buzzfeed writes, he's accused of suggesting "that the company should consider hiring a team of opposition researchers to dig up dirt on its critics in the media — and specifically to spread details of the personal life of a female journalist who has criticized the company."
The remarks were partly aimed at journalist Sarah Lacy, who has been critical of Uber in the past. Lacey is the founder and editor-in-chief of PandoDaily, and a former senior editor at TechCrunch. On Monday night, the website was hosting their "PandoLIVE" program when Buzzfeed posted its story. Lacy was on the program and she, along with her co-host, responded to the article, and had plenty to say about Uber itself. As one might imagine, it's a passionate and angered response. You can hear it all below via Soundcloud, and please note the audio does contain strong language:
Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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EasyJet pretax profit jumps 22% | ||
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London (AFP) - EasyJet's annual profits climbed on the back of rising passenger numbers and sales, the no-frills British airline said Tuesday. Net profits, or earnings after taxation, rallied 13 percent to £450 million ($704 million, 565 million euros) in the group's financial year to the end of September, compared with 2012/13, EasyJet said in a results statement. Pre-tax profits surged 22 percent to £581 million, which was slightly ahead of the group's own forecast. Passenger numbers jumped seven percent to 64.8 million, as the airline also picked up business from rival Air France -- which had to cancel flights in September because of a record two-week-long pilots' strike. EasyJet's total revenues meanwhile swelled by 6.3 percent to £4.527 billion. "Our performance demonstrates our continued focus on cost and progress against every strategic revenue priority," said chief executive Carolyn McCall. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Iran's Zarif says nuclear deal possible if no 'excessive demands' | ||
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Vienna (AFP) - A nuclear deal between Iran and world powers is possible if the other side refrains from "excessive demands," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Tuesday as he arrived for a final round of talks. "A deal is still possible," Zarif was quoted by Iranian media as saying. "If, because of excessive demands by the other side, we don't get a result then the world will understand that the Islamic Republic sought a solution, a compromise and a constructive agreement and that it will not renounce its rights and the greatness of the nation."
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Japan PM tells party he will call election, delay sales tax rise | ||
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Tokyo (AFP) - Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told his party Tuesday he would call a snap general election and delay a planned sales tax rise, the day after figures showed the country was in recession. "Prime Minister Abe expressed his intention at an extraordinary board meeting of his Liberal Democratic Party that he would dissolve the House of Representatives," Jiji Press said. The vote, which is likely to come in mid-December, is two years earlier than necessary.
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Samsung Will Make One-Third Fewer Smartphone Models Next Year | ||
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Seoul (AFP) - Samsung Electronics has announced plans to slash the number of smartphone models it issues next year by up to one-third as it tries to cut prices in the face of intense Chinese competition. The strategy, confirmed by a company spokesman Tuesday, was unveiled during a presentation in New York by the South Korean conglomerate's head of investor relations, Robert Yi. Yi said the company -- which last month reported a near 50-percent plunge in third-quarter net profit following a 20 percent drop in the previous quarter -- would reduce the number of smartphone models in 2015 by between one-quarter and one-third. The strategy is expected to be accompanied by a significant increase in the production of remaining models that can be sold more cheaply to compete with cut-price Chinese rivals. The recent nosedive in Samsung's fortunes followed several years of stellar growth and a seemingly endless succession of record quarterly profits driven by its all-conquering mobile unit. Its flagship Galaxy S smartphone has suffered in the high-end market from the popularity of arch-rival Apple's new iPhone 6, while its dominance of the middle- and low-end handset segment has been challenged by Chinese handset makers such as Huawei, Xiaomi and Lenovo. For the moment, Samsung is still the comfortable leader by sales volume, but its share of the global smartphone market has fallen from 35 percent a year ago to just under 25 percent, according to Strategy Analytics. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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UK Inflation Ticks Up To 1.3% | ||
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UK inflation ticked up to 1.3% in October, according to figures just released by the Office for National Statistics. Analysts had expected inflation to come in at 1.3%, up from September's 1.2% reading. The core figure, which strips out the most volatile prices, like food and tobacco, came in slightly higher at 1.5%. Despite the slight increase, with oil prices dropping, inflation will probably remain below the Bank of England's 2% target in the coming months. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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SMS alerts cut deaths caused by elephants in rural India | ||
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Valparai (India) (AFP) - Geetha Thomas owes her life to a text message. The 38-year-old tea plantation worker was able to scramble onto the roof of her home in southern India as a herd of elephants rampaged through her village thanks to an alert on her mobile phone. The warning was part of an initiative by the environmental group Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) aimed at reducing the number of deaths caused by elephants in the area by alerting communities to the animals' presence. Dozens of people have been killed by elephants in Valparai, a tea-growing area surrounded by forest in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, where around 70,000 people live mostly as workers on tea estates. The area is a key corridor for elephants migrating from one section of forest to another, and the local population has little choice but to coexist with the large animals. NCF came up with the SMS scheme after research found that 36 of the 41 deaths from elephant attacks in Valparai since 1994 could have been prevented if the victim had received a warning. The group set up a network of local people to observe the elephants and provides regular updates on their whereabouts, sending out SMS messages when they had pinpointed an elephant's location. "In a split second, up to 1,500 people, mostly tea pickers, are informed in English and Tamil," said NCF researcher Ganesh Raghunathan. The NCF also set up red beacon lights that are activated with a missed call from a mobile number and can be seen from far away, reaching people without mobiles or in areas where connectivity is poor. NCF figures show that average annual deaths from elephants in Valparai have fallen from three to one since the scheme was launched in 2012. Mani Megalai, a tea picker on an estate on the edge of the forest, says the warning have made her feel "much safer" than she did before. "Everyone keeps a cell phone here for safety. Before we didn't know where the elephants were," she told AFP. "Now that we do, thanks to the SMS, we feel much safer." Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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REPORT: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Just Called A Snap Election | ||
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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has told his party leadership that he plans to call a snap election for Japan's lower house next month, Japanese public broadcaster NHK World reports. Abe was expected to announce an early election on Tuesday after an unexpectedly bad GDP report showed that Japan had slipped back into a recession. Analysts were expecting a 0.5% increase in GDP for the third quarter, but the figure actually came in at -0.4%. The prime minister wants the election to get a mandate for some changes, including support for a plan to postpone a sales tax hike scheduled for October next year. The GDP slippage is being attributed to a sales tax hike in April, which was agreed by political consensus before Abe came to office. Japan's NHK is reporting that Abe wants an 18-month delay on the hike. Abe's party currently has an 85 seat majority in the lower house. Pushing back the tax hike will also likely extend Japan's monetary easing until at least 2017. The Bank of Japan unexpectedly boosted its quantitative easing (government bond purchases) at the end of October, as the April sales tax hike's effects were more severe than expected. The combination of fiscal easing, monetary easing and structural reforms pursued by Abe have become known as 'Abenomics'. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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European Stocks Are Climbing, Asian Markets Closed Mixed, US Futures Are Flat | ||
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France's CAC 40 is up 0.42% Germany's DAX is up 0.70% The UK's FTSE 100 is down 0.40%, the only loser. Italy's FTSE MIB is up 0.76% Spain's IBEX is up 0.78% Asian markets are mixed. Japan's Nikkei closed up 2.18%, erasing much of Monday's loss, following terrible GDP figures. Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed down 1.13%. US futures are up practically flat. The S&P is up 0.5 points and the Dow is down 4 points. It's another fairly quiet day for data. UK inflation figures are out at 9.30 a.m. GMT, with economists expecting a 1.3% reading, well below the 2% target. The German ZEW investor confidence index is also out at 10 a.m. GMT, and should give the first insight into Europe's biggest economy in November. Across the Atlantic, producer price data is out at 1.30 p.m. GMT, with analysts expecting a 0.1% drop in October. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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European markets are up this morning, after a mixed night in Asia. Here's the scorecard: 10 Things You Need To Know In Markets This Morning | ||
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Good morning! Here are the major stories you need to hear about before markets in London and Paris open. JP Morgan Downgraded The US Stock Market. JP Morgan on Monday downgraded its view of the US stock market, reversing from a bullish view to a bearish one as valuations relative to Europe had "turned outright expensive."' The US Senate Is Heading For A Vote On The Keystone Pipeline. Backers of the Keystone XL oil pipeline hope a vote in the US Senate late on Tuesday will send a bill to the desk of President Barack Obama. European Carmakers Had The Best October For Five Years. Sales are up 6.5% on the same month last year in Europe, despite poor economic performance generally, according to the Financial Times. Japan Is Poised For A Snap Election. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to announce on Tuesday that he will delay an unpopular sales tax rise and call a snap election. Asian Markets Were Very Mixed. Japan's Nikkei closed up 2.18%, erasing much of the drop seen on Monday as terrible GDP data were released. In comparison, Hong Kong's Hang Seng is currently trading down 0.87%. Traders Aren't Using The Hong Kong-Shanghai Stocks Link Much. Investors largely turned away from the link-up between the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges on Tuesday, a day after it launched to much fanfare and ambitions for billions of dollars in daily cross-border transactions. The UN Says Fewer Babies Will Be An Economic Miracle For Africa. Fewer babies could mean an "economic miracle" for sub-Saharan Africa, with gains of $500 billion (£319.4 billion) a year over three decades for the region, the UN Population Fund said Tuesday. Hong Kong Police Are Preparing To Clear Out Protesters. Hong Kong authorities on Tuesday prepared to clear part of a key area of the heart of the city that has been occupied by pro-democracy demonstrators for nearly two months. UK Inflation And German Confidence Are Coming. UK CPI figures are out at 9.30 a.m. GMT, with analysts expecting a modest jump to 1.3%. German investor confidence figures are out at 10 a.m. GMT, which should give a hint at the state of Europe's largest economy in November. Chinese House Prices Dropped For A Second Month. According to the Financial Times, Chinese property prices dropped by the steepest amount in October since the current data series began three years ago. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Journalist An Uber Exec Reportedly Suggested Publicizing Personal Details About Has Responded | ||
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On Monday night, Buzzfeed released a report stating that an Uber executive made some offhand and regrettable remarks in the presence of a journalist without realizing he wasn't off the record. The executive in question is reportedly Emil Michael, Senior Vice President of Business. As Buzzfeed writes, he's accused of suggesting "that the company should consider hiring a team of opposition researchers to dig up dirt on its critics in the media — and specifically to spread details of the personal life of a female journalist who has criticized the company."
The remarks were partly aimed at journalist Sarah Lacy, who has been critical of Uber in the past. Lacey is the founder and editor-in-chief of PandoDaily, and a former senior editor at TechCrunch. On Monday night, the website was hosting their "PandoLIVE" program when Buzzfeed posted its story. Lacy was on the program and she, along with her co-host, responded to the article, and had plenty to say about Uber itself. As one might imagine, it's a passionate and angered response. You can hear it all below via Soundcloud, and please note the audio does contain strong language:
Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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