Taiwanese firm is caught in pincer February 6, 2012 THE demise of Nokia happened in slow motion. Apple released its first iPhone in 2007 but it took almost four years before Nokia admitted it was “standing on a burning platform”. Even now, some believe Nokia’s new Microsoft Windows smartphone, the Lumia, could snatch the Finnish handset maker from the jaws of defeat (for the [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING February 5, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES RATING AGENCIES RAISE DOUBTS ON SCOTLAND SECURING TRIPLE A STATUS XtryAn independent Scotland would not be able to count on receiving triple A status, credit rating agencies have told the Financial Times, potentially leading to higher borrowing costs for it if a referencum on independence was successful. The three leading credit rating agencies [...]
Rich pickings in poor man’s Verbier February 5, 2012 IT’S unlikely you’ll have heard of La Tzoumaz. With just 300 permanent residents, few hotels and no town centre (or après ski) to speak of, it’s not the sort of place you’d expect to find a ten-minute ski from Verbier, Switzerland’s sexiest resort. No: La Tzoumaz (rhymes with satsuma) is quite definitely Verbier’s shy, unfashionable, [...]
Billionaire Zuckerberg says it’s not about money, but he is a consummate capitalist February 2, 2012 A few years ago a very clever young man created a platform that changed the art of communication forever. Its impact is still reverberating, its democratisation of information leading to revolutions and toppling world leaders. Its creator was a maverick and – like most mavericks – he was not immune to controversy. The beginnings of [...]
Facebook unveils float of the year February 1, 2012 FACEBOOK has taken the first official step to becoming a publicly traded company, filing papers yesterday that outline plans to raise $5bn in what could be the biggest float this year. Silicon Valley’s most anticipated flotation will see Facebook represented by ticker symbol FB, although the company did not specify whether it would list on [...]
London office take-up falls but tech firm demand soars February 1, 2012 TAKE-UP of central London offices fell by 27 per cent in 2011 compared to the previous year, as the global economic slowdown continued to take its toll, according to research by Knight Frank. The property consultancy said take-up fell to 10.7m square feet last year. However, this coincided with a fall in supply and doubling [...]
Stringer set to step down as Sony chief February 1, 2012 WELSH-born Sir Howard Stringer is to step down as president and chief executive of Sony after a fifteen year run at the Japanese electronics company, to be replaced by Kazuo Hirai. Hirai, aged 51 and currently executive deputy president, will take Stringer’s seat on 1 April. Stringer – a rare foreign chief executive for a leading [...]
BlackBerry tops handset sales… sort of February 1, 2012 So, the biggest selling phone of last year was the… BlackBerry. It’s been a mixed year for… Wait… What? BlackBerry? Seriously? After a year that has seen global blackouts and gigantic writedowns – culminating in its co-chief executives stepping down last month – RIM has come out with a tub-thumping statement claiming to be the [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING January 31, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES EU TO RULE ON DEUTSCHE BÖRSE AND NYSE MERGER The NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Börse tie-up today faces its day of reckoning in Brussels, as European Union commissioners are expected to sign-off a recommendation to block a merger that allegedly stifles competition. BAA SIGNALS END TO HOPES OVER STANSTED RUNWAY BAA has signalled [...]
Apple hires Dixons boss as retail chief January 31, 2012 APPLE has poached John Browett, the boss of Dixons Retail, to take charge of its burgeoning network of retail stores. He will join the US technology giant in April as senior vice president of retail, replacing Ron Johnson, who resigned from Apple last November to join the US department store chain JC Penney as chief [...]