Apple supplier in China accused of 86 labour rights violations July 29, 2013 A New York-based rights group has reported three factories making Apple products in Shanghai and Suzhou enforce unpaid overtime and employ minors among other violations of Chinese regulations (release). China Labor Watch says Pegatron, which assembles iPads and iPhones at factories in China, were found to be “violating a great number of international and Chinese [...]
iPhone discounts help Apple in battle for smartphone market July 28, 2013 APPLE is regaining ground in the battle for control of the UK smartphone market after cutting the cost of its iPhone 4, according to research released today. Kantar Worldpanel ComTech found that almost a third of British purchasers chose products running Apple’s iOS software in the three months to June 2013, up five per [...]
Battle of the online giants: Why Facebook continues to surprise its many critics July 25, 2013 BEFORE Facebook surprised the market with a 53 per cent rise in second quarter revenues to $1.8bn (£1.2bn), the social network had had a wretched few months. It was forced to admit it hands data to the US National Security Agency – stirring up privacy concerns. In May, Nissan and Nationwide pulled ads after they [...]
Inside Track: All bets on Ross McEwan as field of candidates for RBS narrows July 24, 2013 AND then there was one. The search for Stephen Hester’s successor as chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) was never going to be straightforward – George Osborne put paid to that prospect by engineering the current boss’s removal last month. So it was hardly surprising that Mark McCombe, the former HSBC executive who [...]
Bullish ARM beats forecasts as quarter two profits rise 30pc July 24, 2013 BRITISH chip designer ARM Holdings yesterday said it expected continued strong demand for its technology after higher-than-expected licensing of its processors in the second quarter. The FTSE 100-listed firm reported a 30 per cent rise in pre-tax profit to £86.6m yesterday, beating forecasts. ARM has outpaced the wider semiconductor market for the past five years [...]
New York Report: Weak results drag the Dow from its record July 24, 2013 US STOCKS mostly retreated yesterday as losses in utility and commodity shares more than offset gains in the tech sector on Apple’s solid earnings. The Dow Jones industrial average ended slightly lower on the day after closing at a record high. Caterpillar and AT&T dragged on the Dow following weak results on a day when [...]
Main street versus Wall Street: A mixed bag of corporate earnings July 24, 2013 Last week, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said that main street is doing better than Wall Street. Judging by today’s second quarter corporate results coming out of the US this afternoon, he could have a point. PepsiCo reported a 35 per cent boost in net income to $2.01bn, or $1.28 per share, up from 94 [...]
Apple surprises with strong rise in iPhone sales July 23, 2013 SALES of Apple’s iPads fell more than expected in the third quarter, the US tech giant revealed last night, but strong iPhone sales surprised the market and sent shares up in after hours trading. And the firm hinted at new product announcements in the autumn, widely expected to include another update to the iPhone. The business [...]
New York report: S&P slips from its record high July 23, 2013 THE S&P 500 snapped a four-day winning streak last night and pulled back from Monday’s record closing high, while healthy earnings from United Technologies gave the Dow a slight lift. Earnings as a whole, though, were lukewarm and held back the broader market. Technology shares weighed on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. Yet Apple’s [...]
Apple keeps developer site shut after hackers hit personal data July 22, 2013 TECH giant Apple yesterday continued the temporary shut down of its popular developer website after it was hit by a hacking attack looking to snatch people’s personal data. The company said in a statement that it took down the members’ section of the website on Thursday last week after a hacker tried to access personal [...]