Ericsson results miss expectations as North America fails to deliver January 30, 2014 Swedish communications giant Ericsson has performed below analysts expectations posting a fall in sales and fourth quarter operating profit. Sales in networks also declined by one per cent in the quarter from the same period a year earlier. Sales at Ericsson were 67bn krona (£6.2bn) against a forecast of 69.3bn krona. Ericsson's earnings before interest [...]
Google sells off Motorola unit to Lenovo for $3bn January 29, 2014 LENOVO Group said last night it agreed to buy Google’s Motorola handset division for $2.91bn, less than two years after Google paid $12.5bn to buy the firm. The deal ends Google’s short-lived foray into making consumer mobile devices and marks a pullback from its largest-ever acquisition. However, Google will keep several lucrative patents, including the [...]
Carphone set to run 60 Samsung stores in Europe January 29, 2014 SAMSUNG and Carphone Warehouse have signed an agreement for the high street retailer to convert 60 of its stores across Europe into dedicated Samsung stand-alone stores. Carphone Warehouse was one of the top risers on the London Stock Exchange yesterday on the news with shares rising 6.69 per cent to close at 287.2p a share. [...]
Samsung takes on Apple with dedicated Carphone Warehouse stores January 29, 2014 Samsung and Carphone Warehouse have signed an agreement for the high street retailer to convert 60 of its stores across Europe into dedicated Samsung stand-alone stores. Of the 60 stores, that will stock only Samsung products, around 20 will be opened in the UK with the others spread across Ireland, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Sweden and [...]
Smartphone shipments reach 1bn as Samsung keeps crown January 28, 2014 SMARTPHONE shipments topped 1bn units worldwide for first time in 2013, climbing 38.4 per cent from the previous year, research firm IDC said yesterday. Smartphones made up 55.1 per cent of all mobile phone shipments last year from just over two-fifths in 2012, IDC said. “The sheer volume and strong growth attest to the smartphone’s [...]
City Moves for 29 January 2014 | Who’s switching jobs January 28, 2014 KPMG The professional services firm has announced the appointment of Mike Walters as a partner and head of its financial risk management group. He was most recently at Barclays, where he was global head of compliance. Nikko Asset Management The asset management firm has made two senior appointments. Takuya Koyama has been appointed global head [...]
Google and Samsung sign up for a 10-year patent licensing deal January 26, 2014 Google and Samsung Electronics, which are frequently involved in patent infringement lawsuits but not against each other, yesterday announced they have reached a global patent cross-licensing agreement. The deal covers patents currently owned by the companies, as well as any filed in the next 10 years, the companies said in a release. Financial terms were [...]
London Report: Unemployment near threshold for UK rate hike January 19, 2014 UNEMPLOYMENT figures due out this week look set to show further signs of the UK’s recovery, with November’s rate expected to have fallen. Alan Clarke, of ScotiaBank said: “The highlight of the UK economic calendar is going to be the labour report, where we see a very good chance that the unemployment rate falls by [...]
Samsung sells stake in UK chipmaker CSR January 15, 2014 SAMSUNG yesterday confirmed it has sold its stake in UK chipmaker CSR, causing the London-listed firm’s share price to tumble nearly three per cent during trading. The sale comes after CSR’s announcement in December that it would discontinue its camera-on-a-chip technology used in point and shoot digital cameras, a move welcomed by investors. Samsung’s stake [...]
Apple falls out of favour with UK consumers January 15, 2014 APPLE fell out of favour with UK consumers in 2013, losing its coveted spot last year as one of the UK’s top ten brands. In 2012 Apple’s iPad held the No 6 slot on YouGov’s BrandIndex report, but this year the technology giant is nowhere to be found. “Samsung has risen the most places as [...]