The business of winning a smile from a sceptic September 30, 2012 THE French policeman, or gendarme, didn’t look happy as he got off his motorbike. He had waved over my car after seeing me talking on my phone, and driving around a roundabout twice. However, his expression changed to one of utter disbelief when I greeted him with “Thank God you are here!” Before he could [...]
Spain’s reform plans help ease Wall St’s pain September 27, 2012 THE S&P 500 snapped a five-day string of declines in a broad-based rally yesterday, as Spain’s plans for economic reform eased some worries about one of the Eurozone’s most troubled countries. The benchmark S&P 500 rose one per cent, its biggest percentage gain since the Federal Reserve announced its plan for a third round of [...]
The iPhone 5 – is it more than a 4SS? September 26, 2012 Connectivity One of the biggest selling points for the iPhone 5 is its 4G technology, which will make mobile browsing far, far quicker. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been switched on yet in the UK. Tthe newly rebranded “EE” (formerly Everything Everywhere), plans to launch the first 4G network in London within “weeks”. If you’re on another [...]
Why Apple is playing the long-game with its Maps app September 26, 2012 An Apple user walks into a bar. Or a church. Or a field. He’s not really sure. Ha! A joke at Apple’s expense! That’s not something you hear every day. If you believe the hype, problems with Apple’s in-house Maps app could be the iPhone 5’s equivalent of the antenna troubles that dogged the launch [...]
What the other papers say this morning September 25, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Total warns against Arctic oil drilling Total SA says energy companies should not drill for crude in Arctic waters, marking the first time an oil major has publicly spoken out against offshore oil exploration in the region. Christophe de Margerie, the oil giant’s chief executive, said the risk of an oil spill in [...]
BlackBerry outage hampers RIM’s bid to bounce back September 25, 2012 IF Research in Motion could have chosen a day to have a second BlackBerry outage in less than a year then last Friday, when Apple’s record-breaking iPhone 5 hit the shelves in the UK, would probably not have been first choice. Yet that is what transpired. Last year RIM suffered an outage that went on [...]
Foxconn China plant reopens September 25, 2012 Apple-supplier Foxconn Technology Group’s plant in Taiyuan in northern China resumed production yesterday morning after a riot that involved 2,000 workers had forced the company to close the factory on Monday. Foxconn spokesman Louis Woo said he saw no impact on supply to clients after the closure. “We have 79,000 people working in Taiyuan campus, [...]
Earnings woes push Wall St into the red September 25, 2012 THE S&P 500 suffered its worst day since June yesterday, pulled lower by Caterpillar after it cut its profit outlook, the latest high-profile company to warn about profit growth. Technology shares came under pressure after a second day of weakness for Apple, the world’s most valuable public company. Shares fell 2.5 per cent to $673.54 [...]
New iPhone 5 breaks Apple sales record September 25, 2012 APPLE’S iPhone 5 broke sales records over its debut weekend, although it still failed to meet Wall Street’s expectations, sending shares in the world’s richest company down while arch rival Google hit an all-time high. The latest version of Apple’s most profitable product saw sales of more than 5m from Friday to Sunday, beating the [...]
US stocks drop as Caterpillar slows the Dow September 24, 2012 US stocks edged lower yesterday as a disappointing forecast from Caterpillar and weak German data increased concerns that global growth may remain sluggish. Just before the close, Caterpillar cut its earnings forecast for 2015. Its shares fell 0.9 per cent to $90.87 and were the top drag on the Dow. An index of German business [...]