HTC’s losses widen as flagship smartphone attracts slim sales April 7, 2014 TAIWANESE smartphone firm HTC reported a wider than expected first-quarter loss as its flagship smartphones continue to attract modest sales. Despite the rave reviews that HTC’s recent devices have received, the company posted a 22.6 per cent drop in revenues to 33.12bn Taiwanese dollars (£659m). “The company expects to see positive trajectory of its revenue [...]
Vodafone announces 150 new UK shops and 1,400 jobs April 3, 2014 Vodafone says it’s going to open 150 new shops across the UK, creating 1,400 jobs. The mobile phone giant is injecting a £100m boost into Britain’s high streets, taking its investment across the country to £1bn this year. The firm’s 2014 capital investment programme is the biggest in its history. Prime Minister David Cameron has, [...]
Fool or fact: Can you spot these 1 April hoaxes? March 31, 2014 HAPPY April Fools’ day folks – the day the public is invited to fall for spurious headlines like teenagers fall for One Direction’s Harry Styles. And indeed, today’s news is littered with eyebrow raising stories. But which of them are sincere and which are a sham? We’ll give you the stories, you guess fool or [...]
Motorola nabs more phone sales March 31, 2014 MOTOROLA, the smartphone firm that Lenovo is taking over, has seen its UK sales explode following the launch of the low-cost Moto G in November. Currently owned by Google, Motorola had a mere 0.9 per cent share of UK smartphone sales in September, but has now grown to six per cent, according to figures from [...]
Could these Kickstarter campaigns be the next Oculus VR? March 26, 2014 Zuck’s been waving his wallet around again. This time on his shopping list was Oculus VR, maker of Oculus Rift, a virtual reality headset. Tech-heads have been praising it as the next generation of gaming and a big step towards realism in virtual reality (if you can get your head round that). It’s been [...]
Microsoft’s deal with Nokia hits delays in China March 24, 2014 NOKIA’S sale of its phone business to Microsoft has been delayed until April as the companies await approval from various antitrust regulators in Asia, including China. Microsoft and Nokia said yesterday that while 15 regulators including the US and EU had approved the €5.4bn (£4.5bn) deal that had been scheduled to close by the first [...]
Laird hires Numis as joint broker March 24, 2014 Electronic parts maker Laird yesterday said it has appointed Numis Securities, with immediate effect, as joint corporate broker alongside JP Morgan Cazenove. The FTSE 250-quoted company, which makes components for Apple and Samsung, said in January that it was trading in line with expectations. The company also said that it is building a new manufacturing [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 21 March 2014 March 20, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Turkey blocks access to Twitter Turkey blocked access to Twitter late last night, after Recep Tayyip Erdogan, prime minister, vowed to eradicate the social media site, which has been extensively used to spread corruption allegations against his government. “Twitter and so on, we will root them out,” Mr Erdogan told an election rally [...]
Samsung, Motorola and LG join Google’s smartwatch platform March 18, 2014 GOOGLE last night unveiled a version of its Android smartphone software designed specifically for smartwatches and wearables. Motorola, LG and Samsung are among the consumer hardware manufacturers that have signed up to use the new software which Google is calling Android Wear. LG’s G smartwatch running Android Wear is due to arrive next quarter with [...]
The week in brief March 10, 2014 Cost of Twitter advertising continues to fall The cost of advertising on Twitter fell by 18 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2013 and 67 per cent over the whole year, according to the company’s annual report, released on Friday. Its ad revenue grew by 110 per cent in 2013. As its advertising inventory [...]