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Saturday, July 7, 2012

UPDATE 1-Nokia senior exec leaving for venture fund

(Adds details on Ojanpera, investment fund)

HELSINKI Aug 31 (Reuters) - Finnish phone maker Nokia said a senior executive was leaving the company to work for a new venture investment fund which will help it develop new applications for its phones.

Tero Ojanpera, Nokia's executive vice president, who had worked at the company for 21 years, will resign at the end of September and become a managing partner at investment fund Vision+.

Nokia said it would invest in Vision+ to bolster the venture capital fund's plans to help develop new applications for Nokia phones.

The Finnish company created the smartphone market in 1996 with its first Communicator model but has failed in recent years to mount a serious challenge to the surge from Apple Inc's iPhone. It has also lost ground in the cheaper end of the market to Asian brands like ZTE .

Nokia Chief Executive Stephen Elop has been pinning turnaround hopes on new smartphones using Microsoft software, due later this year. (Editing by Helen Massy-Beresford)


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Thursday, June 28, 2012

Sony may stumble in bid to become tablet No.2

* Launch follows HP's rapid exit from crowded market

* Price likely a critical factor for success

* iPad, Galaxy Tab sell for $500 and upwards

* Sony shares down 17 pct since July 28 earnings

By Isabel Reynolds

TOKYO, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Sony Corp's new tablet computers, expected to be launched on Wednesday, face an uphill battle against dominant players Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics , with the gadget's expected pricing in particular raising red flags.

The Japanese electronics conglomerate behind PlayStation games consoles and Vaio PCs is struggling under the weight of its lossmaking television division and badly needs the boost of a new hit product.

"Sony really must be in the tablet market and must succeed," said Mito Securities electronics analyst Keita Wakabayashi.

Sony has said it is targeting Samsung's No.2 slot in the booming market, where the Korean company's Galaxy Tab range is a distant second to Apple's blockbuster iPad.

At an industry event in Germany on Wednesday, Sony is expected to launch its tablets, which were first shown off at a Tokyo event in April.

One, codenamed S1, has a single 9.4-inch screen, while the other is a clamshell type with two 5.5-inch displays. Both run on an adapted version of Google's Android Honeycomb.

The company hopes features such as access to first generation PlayStation games and the single-screen version's unique curved design will help it stand out in the crowd of more than 100 iPad challengers based on Android.

But analysts say the price, to be announced later in the day, may be the determining factor.

"We worry that the S1 tablet could be priced too high (eg near $600), and thus sell poorly, and we think the S2 clamshell design will fail," Jeff Loff, an electronics analyst at Macquarie Securities, said in a report.

Hewlett Packard's decision to drop its Touchpad tablet weeks after launch demonstrates how easy it is to fail in a market pioneered and dominated by the makers of the iPad.

Analysts estimate Apple had sold about 30 million iPads by mid-August, while distant runner-up Samsung is expected to sell about 7.5 million units of its Galaxy Tab this year, though sales are banned in Germany and delayed in Australia after Apple sued it over "slavish" imitation.

Both the iPad and Galaxy Tab sell for $500 and upwards, but HP's experience underlines the importance of keeping gadgets affordable amid weak consumer sentiment in Europe and North America.

Sales soared after HP slashed the price of its Touchpad to $99 from $399 and $499, prompting the company to announce a further "final run" of the tablets to meet demand.

Even if the Sony tablet does take off, investors say it will do little to revive the company's share price, which has lost about 17 percent since Sony reported quarterly earnings on July 28. The broader market has fallen about 10 percent in the same period.

"It won't be much of a boost in profit terms even if this product succeeds," said Shigeo Sugawara, senior investment manager at Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Asset Management in Tokyo.

"It is still a small category compared with the total PC market. It will certainly not be a catalyst for the share price...it's more of a branding exercise."

"The biggest factor in moving Sony's share price will be televisions," Sugawara added. "How far they can restructure that division is the biggest issue facing Sony and other electronics makers such as Panasonic and Sharp ." (Additional reporting by Miyoung Kim in SEOUL; Editing by Anshuman Daga)


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Tuesday, June 19, 2012

PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Aug 31

Moscow | Wed Aug 31, 2011 3:22am EDT

Moscow Aug 31 (Reuters) - The following are some of the leading stories in Russia's newspapers on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

VEDOMOSTI

www.vedomosti.ru

- The Economy Ministry believes Russia will need 16 trillion roubles ($553.1 billion) for economic modernization up to 2020, the paper writes.

- Russia's biggest political party, United Russia, may nullify the results of its 'primaries' in the Far East, where they think a businessman falsified results, the paper writes.

- eBay Inc's online payment business PayPal is delaying the start of money transfers to Russia, which had been scheduled for late September, the paper writes.

KOMMERSANT

www.kommersant.ru

- Yahoo Inc is interested in buying a stake in Sup Media, the Russian company that owns popular internet blogging platform LiveJournal, the daily quotes a source as saying.

- Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin plans to spend 2.2 trillion roubles ($76 billion) by 2016 to develop the city's transport system, the daily says.

NEZAVISIMAYA GAZETA

www.ng.ru

- More than 50 percent of Russians approve of or tolerate those who ride public transport without paying, the daily reports. ($1 = 28.924 Russian Roubles) (Writing by Ludmila Danilova)


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Monday, June 11, 2012

UPDATE 2-Taiwan PC makers cautious as tablets, weak economy bite

* Quanta Q2 net up 5.1 pct to T$5.37 bln vs consensus T$5.2 bln

* Quanta has conservative view on notebook market

* Sees 2011 shipments up 10 pct vs 2010

* Compal Q2 down 49 pct to T$3.28 bln vs consensus T$3.19 bln (Recasts, adds Compal results and comment)

By Clare Jim

TAIPEI, Aug 31 (Reuters) - The world's top two contract laptop makers gave subdued outlooks on Wednesday in the face of stiff competition from tablet PCs and a deep malaise in major western economies that is sapping consumer buying power.

While Taiwan's Quanta Computer Inc and Compal Electronics Ltd beat forecasts for second quarter profits, their forecasts underscore the challenge facing the traditional PC industry and the need for contract makers to look for new ways to grow.

"Profit margins have been a problem for Taiwan's contract manufacturers," said Helen Chiang, senior research manager at research firm IDC.

"Over the past few years, we've seen their revenues growing strongly even though margins have been low. But from this year onwards, their revenue growth has been disappointing, partly due to economic problems."

Quanta and Compal, which supply top global brands such as Hewlett-Packard Co (HP) , Dell Inc , Lenovo Group Ltd , Apple Inc and Acer Inc , join a number of other tech firms in Asia in forecasting a slowdown this year as demand wanes.

The success of Apple's iPad has dented consumer demand for laptop computers, also known as notebooks, while the long-hoped for recovery in the corporate and government PC replacement cycle has been derailed by the U.S. and European debt crises and associated fallout.

"It's still unclear whether we'll see growth in the notebook market or not; we're holding a conservative outlook," Quanta President C.C. Leung told a briefing.

HP JOLT

Quanta recorded a net profit of T$5.37 billion ($185 million) for April-June, up 5.1 percent from the same period a year earlier but down 6 percent from the previous quarter. Eleven analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S forecast a profit of T$5.20 billion.

But it said it saw traditional pre year-end holiday demand slowing and lowered its notebook shipment growth forecast for the second half to a 5 percent rise over the first half.

Compal, whose major client Acer recently posted its first ever quarterly loss, reported net profit of T$3.28 billion. That was above forecasts of T$3.19 billion but down 49 percent from the previous year and 6 percent from the first quarter.

It cut its full-year shipment forecast by 12.5 percent.

The PC business got a jolt this month when HP, one of the industry's pioneers, announced it might spin off its PC unit, leading some to question the future of contract manufacturing a business already beset by low margins.

Compal downplayed the threat from HP's move on Wednesday, saying the the business could be more efficient if separated from HP proper, but it and Quanta have already started to look at new areas to increase margins languishing in low single digits.

Software development and cloud computing -- using remote servers hosted on the Internet to manage and store data -- are areas where PC makers are focusing their energies.

"Cloud is what we're working towards in the next 10 years, different from our path in the past 20 years," Quanta Chairman Barry Lam told a briefing. "This is a certain and meaningful path for us to go; we're not in a pure contract maker business model."

Tracy Tsai, an analyst at technology research firm Gartner, said PC demand will remain strong as tablets cannot replace traditional PCs in areas such as governments and educational institutions.

"It takes time for company to diversify into higher margin business, but it can't be achieved at once, the R&D and learning curve all takes time," she said.

"The PC business right now is a stable and regular business that generates only slower growth, so they can't just forgo the business."

Compal has already announced a push into software and tablets to move up the value chain, though it faces stiff competition in both sectors.

Sony is joining a host of companies launching tablet computers, while HP is buying UK-based Autonomy Corp to push further into software.

"In this post-PC era, companies that make tablets or are competitive in cloud computing are the future," said Bevan Yeh, a senior fund manager of Prudential Financial Securities Investment Trust, citing the low valuations of traditional PC vendors which make them unattractive.

Yeh also said he is more bullish on the PC contract makers than PC vendors, especially those in Apple's supply chain, such as Quanta which manufactures the MacBook Air.

Shares of Quanta have fallen 4.3 percent so far this year, outperforming Compal's 19.5 percent slide. The broader market has dropped 13.7 percent in the same period. (Additional reporting by Argin Chang in Taipei and Lee Chyen Yee in Hong Kong; Writing by Jonathan Standing; Editing by Lincoln Feast)


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Tuesday, June 5, 2012

PRESS DIGEST - CANADA - Aug 31

n">Aug 31 (Reuters) - The following are top stories from selected Canadian newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

THE GLOBE AND MAIL:

-- The apparent overthrow of Moammar Gadhafi's regime may not signal an end to Canada's military involvement in Libya, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird says.

Canada's role in NATO's close support of the rebels-turned-rulers is due to end on Sept. 27, when Parliament's mandate for involvement expires. But Baird is not ruling out continuing that mission into October and beyond.

-- The push for a merger between the Liberal Party and the NDP has quickly become a major issue among the growing field of candidates to replace Jack Layton, threatening the steely discipline and tight focus that propelled the New Democrats to unprecedented standing in Ottawa.

Without Layton, the NDP establishment has been unable to put a lid on speculation about greater unity among parties that oppose the Conservative government in Parliament.

The top contenders for the NDP leadership - party president Brian Topp and House Leader Thomas Mulcair - are being forced to deal with the thorny issue after maverick MP Pat Martin said he will run if no one else takes a pro-merger position.

Report on Business Section:

-- At the stroke of midnight on Wednesday night, the switch from analog to digital signals will be completed in most major markets across Canada - and the country's private TV broadcasters will have spent more than $70 million to free up space on the airwaves at the government's command.

-- Canadian banks are no longer hoarding capital as they did during the economic crisis, but the country's major lenders are still reluctant to return cash to shareholders and deliver regular dividend increases that investors have long counted on.

Analysts expected Bank of Nova Scotia would boost its dividend while reporting third-quarter earnings on Tuesday, but the bank held back on a payout hike even as it reported a 21 percent increase in net earnings, or 18 per cent excluding one-time items.

NATIONAL POST

-- Vancouver police are launching a website dedicated to serving justice on those who were involved in the riots that followed Game 7 of the Stanley Cup playoffs in June.

At a news conference Tuesday, Inspector Les Yeo said the website initially will contain 40 photographs of people suspected of taking part in the riots, taken from pictures and video that were shot that night. People can submit additional pictures through the website, he added.

-- The European Union had no interest in negotiating a freetrade agreement with Canada nine years ago, despite heavy lobbying from the federal government, according to a newly leaked diplomatic cable.

The cable from the U.S. embassy in Ottawa and posted on the whistleblower website WikiLeaks, says the EU did not see any sound economic argument for the two parties to enter into a free-trade agreement.

Financial Post section:

-- Research In Motion Ltd has a problem with Apple Inc trademarking its WebKit software in Canada.

RIM has formally opposed Apple's application in documents filed with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) this month. Apple first asked to trademark its open-source Web browser software in May, 2010, and received preliminary approval in June, 2011.

-- CNN is moving deeper into mobile news delivery, announcing the acquisition Tuesday of Vancouver tech startup Zite, the developer of a personalized magazine iPad app. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, though online reports indicate the Atlantabased media outlet paid between $20-$25 million.


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Monday, May 28, 2012

UPDATE 2-Sony, Toshiba, Hitachi to merge LCD operations

* Govt fund to take 70 pct stake, invest Y200 bln

* Investment biggest for fund, could come under fire

* New firm asset-heavy, needs restructuring -analyst

* Industry headed for oversupply-analysts (Adds comments from South Korea, background)

By Mayumi Negishi

TOKYO, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Japan's Sony Corp , Toshiba Corp and Hitachi Ltd will merge their liquid-crystal display operations using $2.6 billion of government-backed funds to fend off growing competition from rivals in South Korea and Taiwan.

The merger will create the world's largest maker of small panels used in smartphones and tablet PCs, leapfrogging global leaders Sharp Corp of Japan and Samsung Electronics of South Korea.

The move would help the firms focus on their main operations. However, the 90-percent government-owned fund could come under fire for using public money to prop up a volatile business in its biggest investment to date.

The Innovation Network Corp of Japan (INCJ) will invest about 200 billion yen ($2.6 billion) in the merged unit, taking a 70 percent stake. Sony, Toshiba and Hitachi will each take a 10 percent stake, the three firms said on Wednesday.

They aim to complete the merger by the spring of 2012. A shakeup has been long overdue because falling panel prices and advances in technology have placed ever increasing demands on producers.

The three firms together controlled 21.5 percent of the market for small and medium-sized displays last year, larger than Sharp with 14.8 percent or Samsung Mobile with 11.9 percent, research firm DisplaySearch estimates.

All three had hesitated about investing in a new line to compete against Sharp, which is due to receive a $1 billion investment from Apple Inc , or South Korean rivals LG Display and Samsung Mobile Display, which have supply agreements with key clients.

Sony has been weighed down by chronic losses in its TVs, Toshiba is speeding up plans to shrink its chip business, while Hitachi has been looking to distance itself from the volatile panel business to focus on infrastructure operations.

"Sharp is especially aggressive, and those who don't have a strong customer base may struggle, given that only a handful of smartphone and tablet makers are doing well," said Nam Dae-jong, an analyst at HI Investment & Securities.

With more panel makers shifting focus to small-sized markets to meet demand from smartphone and tablet PC makers, he and other analysts predicted the industry would be oversupplied next year.

"It's not a business that will likely provide stable profits in the mid- to long term," said Shigeo Sugawara, a senior investment manager at Sompo Japan NipponKoa Asset Management.

The INCJ is supervised by Japan's trade ministry, which had been criticised for not supporting Japan's chip and display industries in the early 1990s, a failure critics say allowed U.S. and South Korean firms to take the lead.

"The decision reflects a growing sense of crisis in Japan in light of its falling market share in the global chip and display markets," said a South Korean government official, who declined to be named.

How the three firms, which use two different types of display technology, will merge operations is unclear. The announcement did not include details of how they intended to deal with business overlaps either.

"The parent companies have found a most convenient buyer for their factories and staff," said Yoshihisa Toyosaki, head of Japanese research firm and consultancy Architect Grand Design.

"The assets of the merged entity will be huge. Without restructuring, there is no way that this company will win against Sharp, or rivals from South Korea, Taiwan, and eventually China."

Past investments by the INCJ, which can invest up to 900 billion yen with mostly government-guaranteed funds, includes a 40 percent stake in Swiss meter maker Landis+Gyr to support Toshiba's $2.3 billion acquisition.

The new display company will focus on developing next-generation displays, including thinner organic light-emitting diode displays with higher resolution, the three firms said.

Hitachi has been in separate talks with Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry , better known as Foxconn Electronics Inc, about a joint venture in LCD panels, sources have said.

Talks with the parent of Chimei Innolux Corp broke down when Hitachi failed to grab a key contract with Apple, an industry source said.

Ahead of the announcement, well-flagged by media, shares in Sony closed down 1.8 percent, Toshiba fell 2.4 percent and Hitachi rose 0.5 percent. The market benchmark Nikkei average ended flat. ($1 = 76.735 Japanese Yen) (Additional reporting by Isabel Reynolds in Tokyo and Miyoung Kim in Seoul, graphic by Christine Chan; Editing by Michael Watson and Neil Fullick)


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Monday, May 21, 2012

UPDATE 2-Russia's Mail.ru raises 2011 growth forecasts

* Internet investment group sees 50 pct sales growth in 2011

* Previous forecast for 40 pct sales growth - analysts

* EBITDA margin seen in the high 40s percent

* Shares trading 7 pct higher at $34 (Adds share price, more detail)

By John Bowker

MOSCOW, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Russian internet investment group Mail.ru (MAILRq.L) raised its full-year revenue growth forecast to 50 percent from 40 percent on Wednesday after sales and profit rose at its social network, online gaming and e-mail activities in the first half.

The company, which owns a little over 2 percent in Facebook, also said in a statement its full-year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin would be in the high 40s in percentage terms, compared with previous forecasts for mid-40s.

"For the first six months of 2011, Mail.Ru Group has significantly exceeded all key performance indicators compared to the prior period, delivering strong growth across all strategic sectors - communications, social networks and online gaming," Chief Executive and co-founder Dmitry Grishin said in the statement.

Mail.ru shares were trading 7 percent higher at $34 by 0722 GMT, up from an opening price of $31.

The company raised around $1 billion in a blockbuster initial public offering (IPO) in London last November, enjoying a share price rise of more than 30 percent on the opening day of trading.

But sluggish trading since then and a stake sale by founding shareholders have seen the stock slip back from around $37 at its peak.

That price values the firm at a discount of 54 percent to fellow Russian internet firm and search engine Yandex , according to analysts at Renaissance Capital, and 30 percent below China's Tencent .

Yandex, Russia's most-used search engine ahead of Google raised $1.4 billion in a New York IPO in May.

Mail.ru net income grew 115.5 percent in the first half to $85.6 million, while first half organic revenue growth was 59.3 percent.

The company's assets include the e-mail service that gives the company its name, Russian social network site VKontakte and several multi-player online games. (Reporting By John Bowker; editing by Maria Kiselyova and Helen Massy-Beresford)


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Tuesday, May 15, 2012

China's Shanda Interactive profit plunges 95 pct in Q2

SHANGHAI | Wed Aug 31, 2011 5:40am EDT

SHANGHAI Aug 31 (Reuters) - Chinese Internet firm Shanda Interactive said on Wednesday its second-quarter net profit fell 95 percent on increased costs.

The firm, which has an online gaming unit, Shanda Games , said its second quarter profit fell to 8.8 million yuan ($1.38 million) from 169.9 million yuan from a year ago.

Operating expenses rose to 858.6 million yuan in the quarter, up 44 percent while cost of services also rose 44 percent in the quarter.

Revenue rose 26 percent to 1.71 billion yuan.

"We believe our strategic initiatives and investments in new products and services will help us better capture the tremendous opportunities in the fast-evolving internet industry," said Chen Tianqiao, Shanda's chief executive, in a statement.

The firm's plan to list its e-book subsidiary, Cloudary Corp, was stalled in July due to unfavourable market conditions. ($1 = 6.381 Chinese Yuan) (Reporting by Melanie Lee; Editing by Kazunori Takada)


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Monday, May 7, 2012

China PV firm sets IPO price at 53 times earnings, raises $395 mln

SHANGHAI | Wed Aug 31, 2011 5:08am EDT

SHANGHAI Aug 31 (Reuters) - Beijing Jingyuntong Technology will raise 2.52 billion yuan ($395 million) from an initial public offering in Shanghai after setting the price at over 50 times its historic earnings.

The IPO size was nearly three times Jingyuntong's initial target of about 900 million yuan.

Jingyuntong will sell up to 60 million shares at 42 yuan a share, at the top of an indicative range, the company said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange late on Tuesday.

The offer price valued the company at 53.47 times 2010 earnings, it added.

The Chinese photovoltaic equipment maker and rivals such as Shenzhen-listed Zhejiang Jinggong Science and Technology Co Ltd and Jiangsu Huasheng Tianlong Photoelectric Co Ltd are beneficiaries of China's drive to develop its solar power sector.

The money raised will be used to finance the first phase development of a silicon industrial park in Beijing, according to its IPO prospectus.

Citic Securities is the underwriter of the IPO. ($1 = 6.381 yuan) (Reporting by Soo Ai Peng; Editing by Kazunori Takada)


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Sunday, April 29, 2012

Compal sees Q3, Q4 shipments flat from Q2

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

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Saturday, April 21, 2012

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