Apple losing innovative core?

Apple is in trouble on its own turf — innovative design paired with wow-inducing product releases — showing signs of critical weakness in the pending redesign of one of its signature devices, the iPad, with the iPhone in danger of following suit.

The new iPad due this fall is reportedly designed in the image of the iPad Mini. Not smaller, just with the screen filling more of the body, according to rumors that peg the announcement and release dates at sometime this fall, possibly September.

But here's the puzzling part: There is no indication that Apple has plans to add a major innovation to the fifth generation of its trailblazing tablet. An iPad without a gimmick is like a man without a country. We want something like Retina display, which the third generation tablet introduced. Or a front-facing camera, as was introduced with the second iteration.

And when the fifth generation of the iPad is unveiled, I'd like to see at least one of the following game-changers added to the mix:

• Instant iCloud: Microsoft helped pioneer the idea of instant cloud backup for consumers. When you save a document in Office 365, it's backed up automatically to the so-called SkyDrive cloud service. Apple should rip off this idea, as we know it's had no trouble doing in the past.

• Waterproofing: Taking a page from the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active, outfitting the iPad with a substance-fighting exterior would really help those of us who use our favorite tablet as a recipe card. Not to mention those of us with children who subject our household electronics to daily punishment. Or anyone who wants to work with it out in the weather. Or play with it on the boat.

• Wireless charging: Again, Apple could pretend it invented this technology that is being used in Nokia Lumias and devices in Japan. I truly wouldn't mind the shamelessness of such a move if it meant I could easily charge my iPad on-the-go.

But here's what I expect instead: lots of talk about how amazing the new iPad is because of its new operating system, iOS 7. I expect a similar price structure to today's iPad, and perhaps an iPad Mini with Retina display that will be announced simultaneously.

It's around that same time — just on the brink of the holiday season — that Tim Cook & Co. will release a new iPhone and the final version of iOS 7. They would be smart to follow through with long-rumored plans to introduce a cheaper iPhone. I think many of us are sick of dropping hundreds of dollars on a new smartphone that is guaranteed to be outdated in 18 months. If Apple stops making strides with its iPad, keeping current with the iPhone is the only way it will remain the world's most valuable company.

00.24 | 0 komentar | Read More

The Ticker

Time Warner, CBS in feud

Three million Time Warner Cable customers in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas and other cities remained without access to CBS for a third day yesterday, after the cable provider dropped the network in a spat over fees. Time Warner cut off CBS for viewers in select markets on Friday, saying the network is demanding retransmission fees that are out of line with what it pays other broadcasters. CBS said it had asked the cable provider to continue negotiating while its programming was still on the air.
IBT buying Newsweek

Newsweek is being sold for the second time in just a few years. The owner of the International Business Times said it's buying what is now an online-only brand for an undisclosed sum from InterActiveCorp. The publication ran its last print edition at the end of 2012.

TODAY

 Institute for Supply Management releases its service sector index for July.

TOMORROW

 Commerce Department releases international trade data for June.

 Labor Department releases job openings and labor turnover survey for June.

 CVS Caremark, Walt Disney and 21st Century Fox report quarterly earnings.

 Bristol County Savings Bank has appointed Stephen M. Hardy to the position of commercial lender. He is responsible for developing new business.

00.24 | 0 komentar | Read More

Mass. gas down by 2 cents per gallon

BOSTON — The cost of a gallon of gas in Massachusetts has dropped 2 cents in the past week, but remains well above where it was a month ago.

AAA Southern New England reports Monday self-serve, regular has dropped to an average of $3.69 per gallon.

That's 8 cents higher than the national average and still 21 cents higher than a month ago,

A year ago, the average price was 11 cents lower at $3.58 per gallon.

AAA found self-serve, regular selling as low as $3.56 and as high as $3.85 per gallon.

00.24 | 0 komentar | Read More

Growth at US service firms jumps on new orders

WASHINGTON — U.S. service firms expanded in July at the fastest pace since February, fueled by a brisker month of sales and a jump in new orders. The increase suggests economic growth could be picking up after a weak first half of the year.

The Institute for Supply Management said Monday that its index of service-sector growth rose in July to 56.0, up from 52.2 in June. Any reading above 50 indicates expansion.

The survey covers businesses that employ 90 percent of the workforce, such as retail, construction, health care and financial services.

A measure of business activity, which includes current sales, rose to 60.4. That's the highest since December and was driven in part by faster home construction. And a gauge of new orders, which indicates sales over the next few months, increased to 57.7 — a five-month high.

Jennifer Lee, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, noted that 16 of the 18 industries surveyed reported growth in July, "encouraging news for the broader U.S. economy."

Paul Dales, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics, said the July gains in the service sector, along with a solid month of manufacturing growth, suggest the economy is growing at an annual rate of 3 percent in the July-September quarter. That's nearly double the rate in the April-June quarter.

One concern is that a measure of employment at service companies fell in July. That echoed last week's government employment report that showed hiring has slowed.

Employers added 162,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department said Friday. That's down from 188,000 in June. Nearly all of the hiring took place at service firms. And most new jobs were in low-paying industries — half were at retail business or restaurants and bars.

Growth in the service industry depends largely on consumers, whose spending drives roughly 70 percent of economic activity. On Friday, the government said consumers increased their spending in June at the fastest pace in four month.

The economy grew at a tepid 1.7 percent annual rate from April through June. That's up only slightly from the 1.1 percent annual rate in the previous quarter and the third straight month of subpar economic growth.

Still, the rise in consumer spending and service activity follows other reports that point to stronger growth.

Home sales and prices continue to rise, and Americans' confidence in the economy stayed last month close to a 5 ½ -year high.

U.S. factories have begun to rebound after slumping at the start of the year. A separate ISM released last week showed manufacturing activity jumped in July to the highest level in two years, reflecting a surge in new orders, increasing hiring and rising factory output.

Businesses have ordered more industrial machinery and other equipment for four straight months. Steady gains in new-home sales and construction are supporting strong growth in industries such as wood products, furniture, and electrical equipment and appliances. And healthy auto sales are buoying growth in the production of metal parts and components.

.

00.24 | 0 komentar | Read More

'The Simpsons' to get a Lego series

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Want to build a new home for Homer or try out a new hairstyle for Marge?

Danish toy company Lego on Monday confirmed it will launch a special series themed on "The Simpsons" family globally in 2014.

Lego spokesman Roar Rude Trangbaek wouldn't give any details about what characters would be included, but said the company hopes the series will "appeal to fans of 'The Simpsons' family."

Lego, a privately held Danish company, has seen its sales soar in recent years after it started making series based on popular movies such as "Star Wars" and "Ninjago."

"The Simpsons" has been on the air for 22 years, becoming the longest-running American sitcom, the longest-running American animated program and a cultural phenomenon with colleges devoting courses to studying it.

00.24 | 0 komentar | Read More

Mass. banks accused of violating foreclosure laws

BOSTON — Many banks are still violating basic legal requirements when foreclosing on properties in Massachusetts, according to attorneys who represent homeowners fighting to save their homes.

Lenders do not always adhere to a 2007 state law, amended in 2010, that provides homeowners 150 days to catch up on missed mortgage payments before a foreclosure can begin, they say.

Under the law, banks and mortgage companies are required to send "right-to-cure" notices to delinquent borrowers that provide basic information about the foreclosure process, including whom to contact and who holds the mortgage.

Eloise Lawrence, an attorney at the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau in Cambridge, said she has helped more than two dozen homeowners overturn their foreclosures in Lynn alone based on problems with right-to-cure notices.

It is especially important that lenders follow the letter of the law in Massachusetts, a state where foreclosures do not go before a judge for final review, she told The Boston Globe (http://b.globe.com/185lUo8 ).

"The bank can take your house without ever going to court, and so properly notifying homeowners of their rights is a critical safeguard against wrongful foreclosures," she said.

Some courts interpret Massachusetts law differently than banks do, said Jon Skarin, senior vice president of the Massachusetts Bankers Association. Lenders send tens of thousands of such delinquency notices statewide annually without problems, he said.

"The number that have been successfully challenged is very small compared to the amount of notices that get sent out," Skarin said.

Housing attorneys seeking to overturn foreclosures have been bolstered by a May 2012 Suffolk Superior Court decision that supported their claims. Justice Elizabeth Fahey ruled in favor of a Revere homeowner who contested her foreclosure based on a faulty right-to-cure notice.

___

Information from: The Boston Globe, http://www.bostonglobe.com

00.24 | 0 komentar | Read More

LME, Goldman sued over aluminum storage

HONG KONG — The London Metal Exchange and Goldman Sachs are being sued in a U.S. court over alleged anti-competitive and monopolistic behavior in aluminum storage.

The metal exchange will fight the class-action lawsuit, which its management believes is without merit, the LME's owner, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd., said in a statement late Sunday.

Wall Street banks are facing increased scrutiny of their involvement in businesses that store and transport commodities such as oil and aluminum.

The LME and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are named as co-defendants in the suit alleging "anti-competitive and monopolistic behavior in the warehousing market in connection with aluminum prices."

The lawsuit was filed Aug. 1 by lead plaintiff Superior Extrusion Inc., a maker of aluminum tubing and beams, in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

A growing number of buyers have complained about rising metal prices stemming from long waiting times at warehouses.

To address those concerns, Goldman said last week that it is taking measures to make more aluminum immediately available to customers at its metal storage business, Metro International Trade Services, which operates under LME regulations.

The bank pointed out last week that "the overall delivered price of aluminum is down nearly 40 percent since its 2006 peak levels."

Hong Kong Exchanges, which operates the southern Chinese city's stock exchange, last year bought the LME, which approves and licenses a network of more than 700 metal storage facilities in 40 locations across the U.S., Europe and Asia.

Last month a U.S. Senate committee held a hearing into whether banks should be allowed to control power plants, warehouses and oil refineries.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. said last week that the possibility of new regulations was a factor behind its decision to consider selling some of its physical commodities business, which includes metals and energy. It has agreed to pay $410 million to settle accusations by U.S. regulators that it manipulated electricity prices.

_____

Online:

LME: www.lme.com

Follow Kelvin Chan at twitter.com/chanman

00.24 | 0 komentar | Read More

IDC: Tablet shipments slow with no new iPad

NEW YORK — Worldwide shipments of tablet computers slowed down in the second quarter because Apple didn't release a new model of its trend-setting iPad, research firm IDC said Monday.

Shipments totaled 45.1 million units in the April-June period, down nearly 10 percent from the first three months of the year. Still the second-quarter total is up nearly 60 percent from a year ago, a sign that the market continues to grow.

"A new iPad launch always piques consumer interest in the tablet category and traditionally that has helped both Apple and its competitors," said Tom Mainelli, a research director at IDC. "With no new iPads, the market slowed for many vendors."

Apple normally releases a new iPad in the spring, but it has moved to fall launches to take advantage of the lucrative holiday shopping season. That means people who want iPads may be holding out for a new model. Samsung and other rivals have released new tablet models this spring, but IDC says those launches didn't get the spillover boost that a new iPad would have provided.

Mainelli said he expects weakness to continue in the July-September period, but tablet shipments should pick up again in the holiday quarter, when Apple and others are expected to release new products.

Besides a new iPad, Amazon.com Inc. is likely to refresh its Kindle Fire line, while Google Inc. is expected to come out with a new 10-inch Nexus model. Google released a new 7-inch Nexus last week.

Apple remains the leading maker of tablets, with 14.6 million shipped in the April-June period. But as disclosed in the company's earnings report last month, shipments fell 14 percent from a year ago. IDC says Apple's market share fell to 32 percent in the second quarter, compared with 60 percent in the same period in 2012.

Samsung Electronics Co., maker of the Galaxy line of phones and tablets, saw shipments nearly quadruple to 8.1 million in the second quarter. That gave Samsung a market share of 18 percent, up from 7.6 percent a year earlier.

Mainelli said Samsung "is certainly gearing up to be Apple's biggest competitor in tablets, but I think it will still be some time before they catch them."

Meanwhile, makers of Android tablets, in general, are benefiting from the introduction of smaller, cheaper tablets with screen sizes of about 7 inches diagonally. Apple didn't come out with its iPad Mini until the fall. Mainelli said the smaller screens "made it possible to have a decent experience running Android smartphone apps on the tablets. This helped Android overcome the lack of tablet-specific apps in the market."

AsusTek Computer Inc., which makes the Nexus 7 for Google along with its own branded Android tablets, was No. 3 with 2 million tablets. It was followed by Lenovo Group with 1.5 million and Acer Inc. with 1.4 million. Microsoft Corp., maker of the Surface tablets, dropped out of the top five after coming in at No. 5 in the first quarter, according to IDC. Amazon also lost its top-five status. It had been No. 4 in the first quarter.

00.24 | 0 komentar | Read More

Global markets struggled despite strong US data

LONDON — Global stock markets retreated on Monday despite another strong U.S. economic report showing the service sector grew sharply last month.

The Institute for Supply Management's index of service-sector growth rose to 56.0 points from 52.2 in June, the highest reading since February and above market expectations. Any reading over 50 indicates expansion and the higher the number, the strong the growth.

The findings echoed big gains in a separate survey of the manufacturing sector and offset concerns about a weak jobs report last week.

But with U.S. indexes near record highs, investors were reluctant to buy into stocks any more at a time when the Federal Reserve is getting ready to rein in its monetary stimulus plan.

Economists expect the Fed to start cutting back in September or October on its monthly purchases of $85 billion in bonds. The Fed has been pumping money into the U.S. economy for more than four years in an effort to keep interest rates down and help boost lending. The program has been a boon to stocks, where investors have fled in search of higher returns.

By in Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 closed down 0.43 percent at 6,619.58 while Germany's DAX shed 0.1 to 8,398.38. France's CAC-40, however, was up slightly, 0.1 percent, at 4,049.97.

European stocks had traded higher earlier, supported by surveys of the eurozone and U.K. services sectors. The final estimates of the so-called purchasing managers' indexes were upbeat, particularly for Britain, which saw a sharper-than-expected increase.

But the mood was weighed down by a weak opening on Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrial traded 0.36 percent lower at 15,601.72 while the S&P 500 shed 0.19 percent to 1,706.43.

Earlier in Asia, stock indexes were mixed.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 1.4 percent to close at 14,258.04 as the dollar hovered below 100 yen. A stronger yen makes Japanese products more expensive overseas and can hurt companies whose survival hinges on exports.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.1 percent to 5,111.30 as traders waited for the Reserve Bank of Australia's monthly interest rate decision on Tuesday and the release of employment figures for July on Thursday. South Korea's Kospi fell 0.4 percent to 1,916.22.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.1 percent to 22,222.01. Benchmarks in mainland China, Taiwan and New Zealand rose. Singapore and the Philippines fell.

The dollar weakened, a sign that some investors are betting the Fed may keep its monetary stimulus program at the current level for a little longer than expected. The stimulus lowers market interest rates, reducing the appeal of some dollar-denominated investments, such as Treasurys. That in turn weakens appetite for the dollar.

The dollar fell 0.3 percent against the Japanese yen, to 98.54 yen, though the euro was down 0.12 percent to $1.3257.

Benchmark crude for September delivery was down 10 cents to $106.84 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 95 cents on Friday.

___

Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report.

00.24 | 0 komentar | Read More

Oil little changed near $107; US pump prices fall

NEW YORK — Oil was little changed Monday as the market searched for direction after last week's ups and downs.

Around midday, benchmark crude for September delivery was down 12 cents to $106.82 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

A week ago, oil jumped nearly $5 on Wednesday and Thursday as the global economic picture seemed to brighten, even as central bankers in the U.S. and Europe indicated they'd maintain programs that helped to keep interest rates low.

That changed Friday when the latest figures on employment in the U.S. showed a slowdown in the pace of hiring. Oil dropped 95 cents, though it still ended the week with a gain of more than $2 a barrel.

U.S. drivers saw a slight improvement at the gas pump over the weekend. The average price for a gallon of gasoline fell to $3.61 from $3.63 on Friday.

Brent crude, traded on the ICE Futures exchange in London, fell 24 cents to $108.71 per barrel.

In other energy futures trading on the Nymex, natural gas fell 3 cents to $3.32 per 1,000 cubic feet (28.32 cubic meters).

___

Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report.

00.24 | 0 komentar | Read More