Amazon’s Fire smartphone looks set to light up mobile market June 18, 2014 Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos last night put Apple, Samsung and legions of online retailers on red alert with the launch of its new Fire smartphone, with the promise that the online giant would once again revolutionise shopping. Bezos, in a rare media appearance, demonstrated Firefly, a service that lets the $199 (£117) phone identify [...]
New York Report: Stocks rise on Fed outlook on interest rates June 18, 2014 WALL Street stocks jumped on Wednesday, taking the S&P 500 index of top companies to an all-time record after the Federal Reserve promised to keep in place low interest rates until 2015 and forecast a moderate growth in the economy. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 98.13 points, or 0.58 per cent, to end at [...]
For Samsung Electronics boss Andy Griffiths life’s tough at the top of the tech table June 16, 2014 Samsung Electronics UK’s boss is always seeking innovations Samsung is at a tipping point. Its largest subsidiary, Samsung Electronics, maker of the hit Galaxy range of smartphones which generated total sales of $217bn (£128bn) last year, continues to see its core mobile business weaken, having reported its second straight quarter of declining profits in April. [...]
For the price of a Starbucks coffee you can charge your phone wirelessly June 12, 2014 Starbucks will soon let you charge your phone wirelessly when you grab a coffee. It's planning to rollout wireless phone charging capabilities in its coffee shops after a successful trial in the US. Anyone who panics when their phone flashes five per cent will rejoice at the news that they can simply head to [...]
UK’s tech giant avoids growing fears of bubble June 5, 2014 APRIL’S worldwide tech sell-off – which knocked off 3.1 per cent of the Nasdaq index in a single day, its biggest one-day decline since 2011 – was the forerunner to a wider tech stock bubble bursting, an investment bank said yesterday. Berenberg yesterday warned that Samsung’s smartphone growth is peaking, Apple’s success in tablets is [...]
Samsung to reduce dependence on Google with first Tizen phone June 2, 2014 SAMSUNG will launch its first smartphone running its own Tizen mobile software instead of Google’s Android platform. The South Korean firm will officially announce the Samsung Z, which comes with a 4.8in high-definition display and offers features such as a fingerprint sensor, in San Francisco today. The phone will first be made available in Russia [...]
The week in brief June 1, 2014 Twitter and Omnicom sign mobile ad deal Omnicom struck a $230m (£137.5m) mobile ad deal with Twitter last week, reportedly securing the media agency fixed ad rates, preferential inventory access, early information on new formats from Twitter, and an eventual integration of the two firm’s programmatic mobile ad exchanges. The agreement follows on from a [...]
Tablet market in slowdown as shipments drop May 28, 2014 GLOBAL tablet shipments fell during the first quarter of 2014, according to new research, the first fall since Apple’s iPad launched in 2010. Shipments dropped from 59m units in the first quarter of 2013 to 56.3m units in the first quarter of this year, according to research firm NPD. “The wider trend is that clearly [...]
Apple rumoured to be close to unveiling Jetson-style home automation platform May 27, 2014 Remember the Jetsons? Their home was filled with a variety of push-button, space age, automated conveniences. Fifty years on and the fantasy could soon be another step closer, as Apple takes its biggest stride yet into the "internet of things". According to the FT, the electronics titan is preparing a new software platform that’d turn [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 27 May 2014 May 27, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Apple readies “smart home” platform Apple is readying a new software platform that would turn the iPhone into a remote control for lights, security systems and other household appliances, as part of a move into the “internet of things”. Apple plans to take on rivals Google and Samsung and make a “big play” [...]