Amazon reports disappointing holiday sales
Jan30

Amazon reports disappointing holiday sales

In the final quarter of 2012, the most important for retailers, the online shopping giant’s revenue grew by 22 percent to $21.3bn, about $1bn short of Wall Street forecasts. Reported holiday sales in the US were disappointing across the board, despite growth of 14 percent, according to ComScore, a research group. Amazon profits have diminished in recent years as the company has dedicated time and resources in longer-term growth, including the building of massive fulfilment centres, developing the Kindle Fire tablet business and developing its cloud services. Despite being lower than forecasts, analysts say that the end-of-year figures are promising, and that Amazon may be able to produce good returns after their investment. “We are now seeing the transition we’ve been expecting,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s CEO. “After five years ebooks is a multi-billion dollar category for us and growing fast- up approximately 70 percent last year. In contrast our physical book sales experienced the lowest December growth rate, up just five percent.” The internet retailer’s operating income grew 56 percent to $405m in the fourth quarter, up from $260m in the same period in 2011. However, the profitability of its international business has fallen, with oversees operating margins falling to 0.8 percent.

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Video Game Legend Atari files for Chapter 11 Protection
Jan28

Video Game Legend Atari files for Chapter 11 Protection

Atari, the company responsible for the widely popular video game “Pong” released in 1972, has officially filed for Chapter 11 Protection. Atari management has stated that they expect to “sell or restructure all [its] assets in the next 120 days.” The company has changed leadership several times since its inception, which, no doubt, meant multiple shifts in its business model. What started as an arcade and console focused gaming company has just recently jumped on the digital platform bandwagon. In December 2012, Atari launched a successful “Atari’s Greatest Hits” application in the AppStore and the Android Marketplace. This bold move suggests that the firm is ready to join its competitors in the digital revolution to attract a financer for the $5.25 million needed to continue operations. Could this late transition spell disaster for the legendary Atari? The Atari story is ominously similar to the once great photographic equipment company—Kodak. In January 2012, Kodak’s average closing price on the NYSE had been below $1.00 for 30 consecutive days after the NYSE had already warned the firm about raising stock prices lest it be removed. From being a strong member of the photography industry at $90 a stock in 1997, Kodak failed to innovate and fell from grace, closing at 76 cents on January 3rd 2012. Could Atari share the same fate as Kodak? Or has Atari saved itself by the skin of its teeth? We will find out over the next 120 days!

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Santa Tech: Digital Wish Lists to Santa’s Inbox
Jan24

Santa Tech: Digital Wish Lists to Santa’s Inbox

Technology has put a twist to the Holidays. The site www.EmailSanta.com allows more than 1 million kids to email Santa letters with their wish lists. Plus, guess what? Santa actually writes back with a customized letter! The site also allows kids to watch Santa checking out his map via a 24/7 Webcam and can be followed on the Twitter account. On the night before Christmas, kids can see in what part of the world Santa is delivering gifts at by looking at the live delivery world map. Kids go crazy with this site, during the Pre-Thanksgiving season, it received a letter every 30 seconds and the number of letters increases as it gets closer to Christmas day. The site has received a number of wish lists through PowerPoints presentations, videos of children, digital photos, and lists from Target’s gift registry. Kids don’t always send letters with wish lists, sometimes they just confess their problems to Santa, hoping he will solve their problems. These kids wait anxiously for Santa’s response letter, hoping he will respond with words of ease and that is exactly what the site does. This site is perfect for today’s tech savvy kids. What tech advancement do you think is next for Santa’s digital world?

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Apple stocks drop 10% after growth concerns
Jan24

Apple stocks drop 10% after growth concerns

The share drop came in the wake of Apple’s December results were announced. The company sold 47.8m iPhones in the three months to December, a year-on-year increase of 78 percent; revenues were up 18 percent to $54.4bn. However, the results fell significantly short of analysts’ expectations. Investors have expressed disappointment, in spite of reported net profits of $13.1bn and earnings per share exceeding Wall Street expectations and yielding $13.81 per share. Observers have suggested that Apple is losing its appeal with young consumers or even its ‘cool’ factor. “For Apple, of possibly more concern is the general perception that its overall brand is suffering,” says David Glance, director of the Centre for Software Practice at the University of Western Australia. “Samsung in particular has done a brilliant job of portraying Apple phones as the type of phone your parents would own. This has seemingly already turned the teen market against Apple, who no longer see the iPhone as being “cool” Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive has said Apple is in a prolific period of innovation. “We are very confident in our product pipeline. “We obviously could have sold more than this because we couldn’t build enough iPad minis to come into demand balance.” Analysts had expected revenues of $55bn, but supply constraints affected all of Apple’s flagship products during the festive season. Cook has said he expects revenues for the current quarter to go up 10 percent from this time last year, to between $41bn and $43bn, once again falling short of […]

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Britain’s big question: In or out?
Jan23

Britain’s big question: In or out?

In a long awaited speech, UK Prime Minister David Cameron has promised an in-out referendum on the country’s membership in the EU should his Conservative Party be returned to power following the next general election. Cameron said that the UK government will attempt to negotiate a new settlement with other European countries before putting the result to a vote by 2017. In the written version of the speech, the Prime Minister explicitly expressed his preference to remain in the EU but insisted that the institution should reform to ensure competitiveness and flexibility, as well as secure popular support from the British people. According to Cameron, the UK’s commitment to the European project had always been “more practical than emotional.” The speech is widely seen as an attempt by the prime minister to navigate between the interests of his increasingly eurosceptic party on the one hand, and other European governments and business interests on the other. Many Conservative parliamentarians expressed their support for Cameron’s European vision following the speech. Opposition figures and other governments were less impressed however. Chuka Umunna, shadow business secretary warned the Cameron would create “five years of uncertainty” for British companies, while Laurent Fabius, French foreign minister promised to “roll out the red carpet” for businesses should the UK leave the EU.

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