Ofcom deepens probe into BSkyB’s broadcast licence April 26, 2012 OFCOM has stepped up its probe into whether BSkyB remains “fit and proper” to hold a broadcast licence, it emerged yesterday. The investigation into whether News Corp is an appropriate dominant shareholder of the satellite broadcaster has focused so far on publicly available information, such as from newspaper reports and the Leveson inquiry. But last [...]
Sales of high-end televisions boost income at LG Electronics April 25, 2012 LG ELECTRONICS, the world’s second-largest television maker, more than trebled its quarterly profit to $393m on improved margins and a pick-up in high-end TV sales, underscoring South Korea’s dominance in an industry once ruled by Japanese rivals. LG had a more than 13 per cent share of the global television market in the fourth quarter, [...]
Recessionary data brushed off as FTSE mirrors gains seen on Wall St April 25, 2012 THE UK’s blue-chip index closed up yesterday, shrugging off weak UK GDP figures showing Britain slipped back into recession and disappointing first-quarter results from drugmaker Glaxosmithkline, as investors awaited results from a key US Federal Reserve meeting. Early gains on the FTSE 100 index were led by a rise on Wall Street, which opened up [...]
Apple and Fed combine to boost equities April 25, 2012 US stocks rallied yesterday, with Apple’s surge giving the Nasdaq its biggest gain of the year, while the Fed chairman reassured markets that the central bank would do more if necessary to lift the economy. Apple fueled optimism that the current earnings season would be much stronger than expected, generating gains across all market sectors. [...]
Blue sky thinking April 25, 2012 GOOGLE DRIVE COST: 5GB: free; 25GB: $2.49 a month; 100GB: $4.99 a month; 1TB: $49.99 a month; 16TB: $799.99 a month PROS: It’s cheap, compared to rivals (the free part is twice the size of Dropbox’s offering). It allows users to create, sync, store and share files across platforms. It also syncs with Google’s other [...]
FTSE rise aided by banks April 25, 2012 The FTSE 100 opened on the front foot this morning as the tech sector was given a boost by stellar sales from Apple in the US while banks also nudged up. But UK GDP figures showing that the country had plunged back into recession cast a shadow.The UK economy shrank by 0.2 per cent in [...]
Apple stock soars after stellar sales April 24, 2012 SHARES in Apple jumped seven per cent in after-hours trading last night after it posted a fresh set of forecast-smashing sales figures. America’s largest public company said its fiscal second-quarter revenue rose 59 per cent to $39.2bn (£24.28bn), better than the analysts’ estimates of $36.8bn. Strong demand for iPhones, particularly in China, helped drive a [...]
IS APPLE STILL COOL, EVEN IF IT IS MAINSTREAM?* April 24, 2012 GRAHAM THATCHER MCC INTERNATIONAL Yes, but that will decrease in time. I think its getting to a stage where it’s got to move things on quite considerably. Most people have an iPhone, but the next thing that someone sees across a table and says, ‘wow, what’s that?’ will be the cool thing. ANNE MARIE CALIXTÉ [...]
Taiwan’s HTC grows revenue April 24, 2012 TAIWANESE smartphone maker HTC yesterday pointed towards a 55 per cent jump in revenue in the second quarter from the previous three months, matching forecasts. The company said that it expects its second-quarter revenue to be T$105bn (£2.2bn) compared to T$67.79bn in the first quarter. This exceeds analysts expectations of about T$101bn. It follows a [...]
Profits increase at AT&T April 24, 2012 ■ AT&T reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit yesterday, sending its stock up as much as four per cent, as a decline in iPhone sales reduced the amount of cash it had to pay Apple and boosted its margins. Apple shares fell almost two per cent after AT&T also said its numbers should improve further in [...]