HTC sees May profits double June 7, 2011 Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC said yesterday sales for May reached £860m, more than double the same month a year earlier. The monthly sales compared with £400m a year ago and £820m in the previous month. The handset manufacturer has seen its sales rocket since it started to predominantly produce handsets for Google’s Android mobile operating [...]
Ofcom 4G plan worries phone firm June 7, 2011 Everything Everywhere has raised fresh concerns over 4G spectrum auction plans proposed by Ofcom. The communications watchdog has set strict limits on the amount of 4G spectrum – used to power next generation mobile internet – each player can buy, partly in a bid to protect the UK’s smallest operator 3. Everything Everywhere is worried [...]
Apple strengthens its grip on music June 7, 2011 THAT Apple was ready to launch a cloud-based music service has been the worst-kept secret since a certain Welsh footballer tried to keep his name out of the newspapers. Exactly what Apple’s latest venture means for the industry, however, is only just becoming clear. Steve Jobs’ insistence on returning from medical leave to show it [...]
BIG NEWS FROM THE E3 GAMES EVENT June 7, 2011 THE highlight of yesterday’s E3 gaming showcase event in Los Angeles was the resumption of the console wars, with Nintendo unveiling the follow-up to its blockbuster Wii. When the Wii launched in 2006 Nintendo said it would change the face of gaming. It did, drawing in a whole new demographic and knocking Nintendo out of [...]
Sony unveils new console and apologises for elephant in room June 7, 2011 THE other big announcement from LA was from Sony, which finally released details of its new portable console. After issuing a grovelling apology to its users over the security breach that brought its PlayStation Network (PSN) to its knees, Sony showed off the Vita, calling it its biggest release since the PlayStation 3 five years [...]
NEWS FROM IATA AIRLINE INDUSTRY CONFERENCE June 7, 2011 Boeing says it will defend the supremacy of its 777 BOEING vowed yesterday to defend its successful 777 wide-body aircraft and signalled it feels under no immediate pressure to respond to a reported challenge from European rival Airbus. Industry sources revealed on Monday that Airbus planned to place a bigger engine on one variant of [...]
Commodities still driving up food costs June 7, 2011 FOOD prices at UK stores rose again last month, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) revealed today. Food costs were 4.9 per cent higher than in May 2010, up from April’s annualised food inflation rate of 4.7 per cent. Soaring prices of fresh foods were the main driver, with year-by-year inflation jumping to 4.2 per cent, [...]
UK house prices in downward trend June 7, 2011 HOUSE prices rose just 0.1 per cent in May, the latest Halifax index revealed yesterday, barely recovering from a sharp 1.4 per cent drop in April. The underlying decline in prices was shown by a 1.2 per cent fall in the three-monthly measure, which irons out some of the monthly volatility in the figures. Prices [...]
Companies hit the brakes on recruitment in May June 7, 2011 PERMANENT employment in the UK grew for the 22nd month in a row in May, yet the rate of jobs growth slowed to its weakest level since October last year, a report revealed today. Temporary jobs continued to rise, yet at a remarkably sluggish rate. The purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 52.4 for temporary [...]
London’s rising housing rents begin to slow June 7, 2011 RENT hikes in London have begun to slow, according to a Homelet index released yesterday. Rented accommodation in the capital cost 0.42 per cent more in May than April, yet this was the slowest rate of growth seen this year. Demand is being dented by high inflation, particularly in areas such as the north west, [...]
