Samsung launches world’s first smartphone with curved screen October 9, 2013 SAMSUNG Electronics yesterday launched a variant of the popular Galaxy Note smartphone with a curved display, moving a step closer to introducing wearable devices with flexible screens. The Galaxy Round’s 5.7-inch display has a slight horizontal curve and weighs less than the Galaxy Note 3, allowing a more comfortable grip than other flat-screen models on [...]
More interested parties mulling BlackBerry bids October 6, 2013 GOOGLE, Cisco and SAP have all been named on the growing list of companies interested in bidding for BlackBerry, the struggling Canadian mobile manufacturer. Such a bid would come as an alternative to the agreement reached with Fairfax Financial on 23 September to take the company private for $4.7bn, a bid which has faced some [...]
The new kids on the block October 2, 2013 The tablet market is no longer divided into “Apple” and “others”. With the release of Tesco’s budget Hudl and Microsoft’s revamped Surface 2, the market is hotting up in time for the Christmas splurge Microsoft Surface 2 From £359 Microsoft desperately wants to get a slice of the tablet market, surprising some observers by launching [...]
Potential delay on retina display for new iPad Mini October 2, 2013 A new version of Apple's iPad Mini with a high-resolution "retina" display will not be rolled out this month, reports Reuters. This puts the tablet at a disadvantage compared to rival products from Google's Nexus 7 and Amazon's Kindle Fire HDX. Sources said that Apple's supply chain is only now preparing to make retina diaplays [...]
City Moves for 2 October 2013 | Who’s switching jobs October 1, 2013 Ernst & Young The professional services firm has announced the appointment of Marc Middleton as a partner in its telecoms, media and technology transaction team. Middleton was most recently at Rothschild, where he was a partner and managing director. Investec Specialist Bank The specialist bank has appointed Joanna Turney to its growth and acquisition finance division. She [...]
Windows phones overtake Blackberry as UK’s third largest platform September 30, 2013 Windows based phone sales accounted for 12 per cent of units in the UK in the three months to August, and in the past year has surged past rival Blackberry to become the third largest platform by sales. New figures from the Kantar Worldpanel ComTech show that Windows has posted its highest ever sales share [...]
City Moves for 26 September 2013 | Who’s switching jobs September 25, 2013 Macquarie The financial services group has recruited Jeremy Dibb as a senior analyst in its metals & mining equity research team for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Dibb was most recently at Canaccord Genuity, where he was a director in its metals and mining research team. Royal Bank of Canada Capital Markets RBC’s corporate and [...]
Bottom Line: Watsa’s bite of rotten fruit may be too big September 23, 2013 IT SHOULD have been obvious. Six weeks ago, as Blackberry launched a strategic review, Prem Watsa stepped down from the board. The Fairfax chief executive cited conflicts of interest, but said his investment firm had no intention of selling its shares. Yesterday he made good on that promise – and then some – offering $9 [...]
LoveFilm falls into the red due to investment September 22, 2013 ONLINE film and DVD service LoveFilm posted a loss of £21.2m in 2012, falling into the red due to an increase in costs. The company, which was acquired by US online retail giant Amazon in 2010, made a profit of £14m in 2011. But last year its earnings were hit by the cost of interest [...]
Blackberry pulls BBM app launch September 22, 2013 BLACKBERRY suffered yet another setback over the weekend with the launch of its mobile messaging platform BBM on rival iOS and Android platforms. The app was unceremoniously pulled from the respective online stores just hours after it launched yesterday morning. The company said 1.1m users had downloaded the app in the hours after it launched, [...]