Apple set for bumper quarter July 17, 2011 Apple is set to deliver yet another bumper quarter when it announces its results tomorrow. Analysts expect stronger second-quarter revenue and profit, boosted by the easing of component shortages for the iPad caused by the Japanese tsunami, which could boost gross margins to as high as 41 per cent. The market expects revenues to rise [...]
Stress test relief to provide a lift to markets on open July 17, 2011 AND the winner is…” direction for stocks this morning will be driven by the results of the European bank stress tests, which were released at 5pm on Friday, after European stock markets closed. A grand total of eight banks failed the tests, but that number was well below the worst fears of some analysts who [...]
Apple increases app prices July 14, 2011 Apple has increased prices in its UK App Store, upping charges by up to 25 per cent across its product range. The lowest price – currently 59p – will rise to 69p, a jump of 17 per cent. Price points at £1.19 and £3.99 will both rise by 25 per cent, to £1.49 and £4.99 respectively. [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS July 13, 2011 ESSAR ENERGY Goldman Sachs rates Essar a buy with a £5.75 target price after disappointing second-quarter results. Its earnings were hit by underperforming units – but Goldman thinks these will recover after an overhaul in September, and is focusing on its refinery upgrades, due for completion at the end of the year, which it believes [...]
Why I might ditch my iPhone for Windows. No, really. I’m serious. July 11, 2011 This could be the year I swap my iPhone for a Windows Phone. Really. No, really. Seriously. Wait, hear me out. Fine. What? Just get out. Go. Last week I got my hands on the latest version of WP7, codenamed Mango. And it’s good. It’s very good. Its predecessor was nice – it avoided the [...]
Boston’s calling July 10, 2011 CAPE ANN: SMALL-TOWN BEAUTY MANCHESTER-by-the Sea is a little town about 30 miles north of Boston. It’s got white picket fences, a harbour, a tiny train station, two ice cream shops and an old diner called the Coffee Cup that’s recently been bought by a plucky, Italian-American mother and daughter called Christine and Kathy DeSalvo, [...]
Apple climbs as App Store sales hit 15bn July 7, 2011 APPLE customers have downloaded more than 15bn applications in the past three years, the company said yesterday, releasing figures that suggest the rate of downloads is sharply accelerating. The latest figures from Apple show that customers have downloaded around 5bn apps so far this year, as the company said in January that it had just [...]
Profits fall at Samsung as TV sales drag July 7, 2011 PROFIT at Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest maker of memory chips and televisions, fell by a quarter as weak earnings at its flat screen unit dragged, underlying the conglomerate’s struggle to return to last year’s record profit. A bleak outlook for computers and TVs and a wobbly global economy is overshadowing robust sales of Samsung’s [...]
Want to enjoy work? Become the office Elvis July 5, 2011 OVER 60 per cent of people admit that they are not engaged at work, according to a Towers Perrin/Gallup poll. Chris Barez-Brown, a career coach, says this need not be the way. All the bored and frustrated need to do to bring office work to life is “Up their Elvis.” “When Bono, the U2 star, [...]
HACKERS TAKE A BITE OUT OF APPLE July 4, 2011 The Internet vigilante group Anonymous claimed to have broken into an Apple server and published a small number of usernames and passwords for one of Apple’s websites. Anonymous said on Twitter that Apple could be a target and released the data as part of its Anti Security campaign. Apple, led by Steve Jobs (pictured), did [...]