Japan quake hits product supply chain March 15, 2011 FEARS over a significant shortage of components needed by manufacturers worldwide due to Japan’s devastating earthquake and tsunami saw prices for key technology parts surge higher yesterday. Japan is a dominant chip industry player, with around one-fifth of the world’s semiconductor production. Spot prices of NAND flash memory chips used in the fast-growing mobile devices [...]
They stand united, but they will fall divided March 15, 2011 SUCCESS was declared at the weekend, as European politicians came to an early agreement on increasing the size and scope of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF). In response, the euro rose 0.7 per cent against the dollar on Monday to $1.40, while yields have fallen in the peripheral bond markets of Greece and Ireland. [...]
Owners of British technology company Edwards plot stock market offering March 14, 2011 BRITISH vacuum technology producer Edwards Group is plotting a London listing to raise at least £375m. The firm provides chipmakers with vacuum technology needed to make microprocessors, used in products such as Apple’s iPad. Its private equity backers own a combined 90 per cent stake of the firm, which was valued at £1.5bn last year. [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 13, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES GREEK BANK SCUPPERS HOPES OVER DEAL Alpha Bank, Greece’s third-largest lender, has killed hopes of a merger deal with larger rival National Bank of Greece, scotching the push by regulators and the government for the country’s troubled banking sector to strengthen itself through consolidation. RETAILERS RUN OUT OF IPAD 2 WITHIN HOURS Many [...]
ARM falls on fears of tablet PC supply glut March 10, 2011 ARM Holdings shares nose dived 8.97 per cent yesterday amid fears non-iPad tablets are vastly over supplied. The UK chip designer supplies around 95 per cent of chips for smartphones and has already cornered the nascent tablet market. A JP Morgan analyst this week forecast the glut of tablets – an estimated 81m this year [...]
IBM stocks hit a lifetime high March 9, 2011 SHARES of International Business Machines (IBM) hit a lifetime high yesterday as analysts welcomed the tech giant’s commitment to double its profit by 2015. IBM shares rose as much as 3.3 per cent to $167.72 (£103.50), their highest level on record adjusted for stock splits, as analysts raised their target price on the company, the [...]
Gizmos that can make the commute a bit more fun March 9, 2011 Shouting into your mobile on the train during the morning commute may be frowned upon, but there’s nothing to say you can’t watch telly. AverMedia.com’s Hybrid Volar dongle will turn your laptop into a digital TV recorder, so you can watch 50 digital Freeview channels. Or listen to the cricket commentary on the radio. The [...]
British consumers like the iPad 2 but think it is pricey March 8, 2011 LAST Wednesday Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad 2, a revised design for the tablet that will become available in the US next week and in 25 other countries a fortnight later. APPLE CREATES BUZZ IN UK The announcement led to an immediate rise in buzz score in the UK; from +20 on the day of [...]
Microsoft to pay $1bn for Nokia tie-up March 8, 2011 MICROSOFT will pay Nokia a staggering $1bn (£620m) upfront to develop handsets designed to run its Windows Phone 7 (WP7) operating system, it is understood. Nokia will reportedly pay Microsoft a royalty fee for each WP7 licence it uses, although the exact figure has not been announced. Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop, a former Microsoft [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 7, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES IVORY COAST MOVE SPARKS COCOA FEARS Laurent Gbagbo, the Ivory Coast leader who the international community says lost presidential elections in November, announced he would nationalise the cocoa sector in a surprise move that threatened to drive the cocoa price sharply higher. The African country is the world’s largest cocoa exporter, accounting for [...]