Big tech faces break-up as Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google accused of ‘monopoly power’ October 7, 2020 Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google have all abused their market power and could face a potential break-up, according to a damning new report backed by US Democratic politicians. In a 449-page recommendation released yesterday, the US House Antitrust Committee set out a roadmap for cracking down on the tech giants. The report follows a 16-month [...]
Brussels to appeal court ruling over Apple’s €13bn Irish tax bill September 25, 2020 The European Commission today said it will appeal a court decision that overturned a ruling for Apple to pay back €13bn (£11.8bn) in back taxes to Ireland. In July the General Court scrapped a 2016 ruling by the Commission that found Ireland’s selective tax breaks constituted illegal state aid and ordered Apple to pay back [...]
iPhone absence offers Apple chance to show increasingly diverse portfolio at new product launch September 12, 2020 Apple’s product launch next week will be missing an iPhone for the first time in almost a decade. The latest instalment of the company’s most successful product has had its launch delayed until October due to coronavirus-related supply chain disruption. At the “Time Flies” event on Tuesday, Apple will unveil its sixth generation Apple Watch, [...]
DEBATE: Should we be worried about a tech bubble? September 2, 2020 Should we be worried about a tech bubble, particularly in emerging markets? Tatjana Puhan, managing director and deputy chief investment officer at TOBAM, says YES. Over recent years, we see a clear trend of investors becoming exposed to higher concentration risk in specific sectors like technology. Having represented already a considerable risk exposure in major [...]
Apple’s new iOS will be good for consumers but a headache for advertisers August 28, 2020 In weeks to come, Apple will update all its platforms to iOS 14, impacting its apps, home screen and the IDFA (identifier for advertisers). The changes to the IDFA, in particular, has caused uproar among marketers, with commentators claiming that Apple has crippled an $80bn industry. But what are these changes, and what does it [...]
The corporate bond market is set for a record year — but also a dangerous and dysfunctional one August 26, 2020 2020 is going to be a record year for the corporate bonds market. New issue investment grade volume in the first half of the year exceeded $2.5 trillion. Records are also being broken in high-yield junk debt, despite a rising corporate default rate. Last week, the US primary market broke through $1.3 trillion of new [...]
Report: Apple to bundle services under ‘Apple One’ subscription August 13, 2020 Apple is reportedly planning to launch a range of subscription bundles that will give customers access to a selection of its digital services at a lower price. The bundles, dubbed Apple One, are set to be launched as early as October alongside the new generation of iPhones, Bloomberg reported, citing people with knowledge of the [...]
Apple says government had not told it about coronavirus app plans June 19, 2020 Apple has said that it was not aware that the UK was developing an NHS contact tracing app using technology the firm built with Google. Yesterday the government announced that it was dropping its own app in favour of using the Apple/Google technology, which is already in use in countries such as Germany. However, speaking [...]
Amazon and Apple earnings: Covid-19 crashes the tech titan party May 1, 2020 It’s been a busy week for Silicon Valley as the major US tech firms lined up to report earnings for the first quarter. Google, Facebook and Twitter all delivered upbeat figures, proving that social media services are well-placed to weather the Covid-19 storm. But the mood was dampened somewhat last night as coronavirus costs weighed [...]
Apple prepares to sell Mac computers with its own chips from next year April 23, 2020 Tech giant Apple is reportedly preparing to sell Mac computers with its own processors by next year, based on designed used in its iPhones and iPads. The tech giant is working on producing Mac chips based on the design of its A14 processor in its next iPhone, Bloomberg reported. Apple has used processors made by [...]