(CNN) -- Although Apple gadgets sat under many a Christmas tree this year, the computer company is receiving some unwanted holiday-season attention.
Two separate class-action lawsuits filed last week in federal court allege that Apple and as many as eight makers of popular applications for the iPhone facilitated the sharing of private information about their customers to advertisers.
Though a recent news report claimed that many apps are sharing this personal data, the lawsuits together target just eight: Dictionary.com, the Weather Channel, internet radio service Pandora, the messaging app textPlus 4, as well as the makers of entertainment or game apps Talking Tom Cat, Paper Toss, Pumpkin Maker and Pimple Popper Lite.
The plaintiff leading one of the suits, Los Angeles County resident Jonathan Lalo, has been using four of those apps on his iPhone, said Dave Stampley, a partner at KamberLaw, which is bringing the case in a San Jose, California, district court.
"Mr. Lalo has had some of these apps since they were first issued -- in some cases, years," Stampley told CNN.
A copy of Lalo's suit, obtained by CNN, claims many iPhone and iPad owners have been "the victims of privacy violations and unfair business practices."
Both cases are seeking class-action status in the hopes of covering all Americans that are allegedly affected. More app developers could be added to the suits, or sued separately, as more plaintiffs join the case, Stampley said.
Lawyers filed the suits in U.S. District Court on behalf of the named plaintiffs and an unspecified number of unnamed plaintiffs.
The other suit was filed Thursday on behalf of three Texas men and a California woman, all of them iPhone owners. It states that "their personal, private information was obtained without their knowledge or consent ... their personal property -- their computer -- was hijacked by Defendants and turned into a device capable of spying on their every online move."
The plaintiffs seek an unspecified amount in compensatory and punitive damages.
An Apple spokesperson could not be reached for comment because its press department is closed for the holidays, said a company message.
Apple recently launched an ad network of its own, though that does not seem to be a target in the suits. Apple has said app makers must obtain users' permission before transmitting data.
The suits follow a December 17 Wall Street Journal article highlighting dozens of apps that reportedly collect usage data and send personal info to advertisers without the user's consent or knowledge.
"I think it was through the Journal," that Lalo discovered the issue and decided to connect with KamberLaw, said Stampley. That investigation by the newspaper claimed that Android apps were also sharing personal info but that the Android platform was less intrusive.
Mobile app data-sharing differs from websites, which commonly use small files called cookies to track users, because smartphone apps can access a device's UDID, an unchangeable string that's embedded in each Apple device.
People can generally delete cookies on most browsers, but they can't change or hide a UDID. This allows advertisers to more reliably tie behaviors to a single iPhone user, for example.
Source: CNN
http://edition.cnn.com
December 30, 2010
December 29, 2010
Apple sued over iPad and iPhone app 'data leaks'
Two groups of iPhone and iPad users are suing Apple saying apps for the gadgets leak personally identifiable data.
The groups want to stop personal data being passed around without owners being notified or compensated.
Apple is just one of six application makers being pursued by the two groups of consumers.
The legal firm putting together one class action lawsuit said it might also take action against Google over data leaking from Android applications.
Backflip Studios, the Weather Channel, Dictionary.com and others were named in court papers supporting the lawsuits.
The papers allege that many applications collect so much personal data that users can be individually identified. This is despite Apple operating a policy that allows data to be shared with third parties only if an app requires the information to keep running.
The complainants said many firms, including advertisers, were managing to track and identify individuals via the unique device ID Apple assigns to every gadget. Apple does not do enough to enforce its privacy policy or restrict use of unique IDs, they allege.
Apple has yet to respond to requests for comment.
The law firm behind one of the class action lawsuits said it was considering whether to prepare a case against Google, saying that many Android applications leak personal data too.
Despite the filing of separate lawsuits, some experts suggest the court cases will not succeed.
"If this were a major issue, all web browsers would have to shut down and there would not be any advertising on the internet," Trip Chowdhry, Global Equities research analyst, told Reuters.
Source: BBC
www.bbc.co.uk
The groups want to stop personal data being passed around without owners being notified or compensated.
Apple is just one of six application makers being pursued by the two groups of consumers.
The legal firm putting together one class action lawsuit said it might also take action against Google over data leaking from Android applications.
Backflip Studios, the Weather Channel, Dictionary.com and others were named in court papers supporting the lawsuits.
The papers allege that many applications collect so much personal data that users can be individually identified. This is despite Apple operating a policy that allows data to be shared with third parties only if an app requires the information to keep running.
The complainants said many firms, including advertisers, were managing to track and identify individuals via the unique device ID Apple assigns to every gadget. Apple does not do enough to enforce its privacy policy or restrict use of unique IDs, they allege.
Apple has yet to respond to requests for comment.
The law firm behind one of the class action lawsuits said it was considering whether to prepare a case against Google, saying that many Android applications leak personal data too.
Despite the filing of separate lawsuits, some experts suggest the court cases will not succeed.
"If this were a major issue, all web browsers would have to shut down and there would not be any advertising on the internet," Trip Chowdhry, Global Equities research analyst, told Reuters.
Source: BBC
www.bbc.co.uk
December 28, 2010
U.K. Law on Bribes Has Firms in a Sweat
Multinational companies have spent millions of dollars beefing up their compliance programs amid a U.S. crackdown on foreign bribery. Now, they are facing a new British law they fear will force them to rethink their compliance strategies and upend their business practices.
The new law, called the Bribery Act, takes effect in April. It resembles the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bars companies that trade on U.S. exchanges from bribing foreign government officials to gain a business advantage.
The British law, however, is more sweeping than its American counterpart, and corporate legal advisers are uncertain how extensive the fallout might be.
"There are a lot of people saying this is the FCPA on steroids," says Mark Mendelsohn, a Washington lawyer who oversaw FCPA prosecutions at the U.S. Justice Department from 2005 until earlier this year. Mr. Mendelsohn is now a partner at corporate-defense firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP.
Legal experts say it isn't clear how vigorously the law will be enforced or what resources Britain will commit to investigating or prosecuting suspected violations. But that point has done little to reduce the trepidation among corporate counsels.
The British law, however, is more sweeping than its American counterpart, and corporate legal advisers are uncertain how extensive the fallout might be.
"There are a lot of people saying this is the FCPA on steroids," says Mark Mendelsohn, a Washington lawyer who oversaw FCPA prosecutions at the U.S. Justice Department from 2005 until earlier this year. Mr. Mendelsohn is now a partner at corporate-defense firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP.
Legal experts say it isn't clear how vigorously the law will be enforced or what resources Britain will commit to investigating or prosecuting suspected violations. But that point has done little to reduce the trepidation among corporate counsels.
Richard Alderman, head of Britain's Serious Fraud Office, the law's enforcer, recently told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper that "sensible and proportionate expenditure on hospitality will remain perfectly lawful."
Mr. Alderman has called the new law "a model of clarity," and said that it was carefully reviewed during the legislative process.
An SFO spokesman said Mr. Alderman was overseas for the holidays and couldn't be reached for comment.
SFO officials have publicly mentioned the pharmaceutical industry as a potential target of the law, citing U.S. Justice Department investigations into bribery allegations against drug and medical-device makers, but other industries that operate in regions where corruption is rampant will also face scrutiny.
The Bribery Act comes as more nations are taking a tougher stance against corruption. China, which some antibribery groups rank high on the corruption scale, has prosecuted corporate-bribery cases recently, and many European nations have bolstered anticorruption laws.
The moves follow tighter enforcement of the FCPA in recent years by the U.S. Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission. So far this year, the Justice Department alone has prosecuted 22 FCPA cases and collected hundreds of millions of dollars in fines.
Most multinational companies have put elaborate programs in place to avoid running afoul of the FCPA. These programs typically establish a channel through which employees can report suspected bribery and companies can investigate the complaints internally. Some companies also are hiring compliance consultants or offering books and seminars to help prepare employees for the ethical minefields they might face in some countries.
In the past few months, however, companies have started to worry that their compliance programs could be undermined by a U.S. law that entitles whistle-blowers to share in money collected by the SEC in fraud and corruption cases. They fear the measure, part of the Dodd-Frank financial-reform bill, gives employees little incentive to report suspected bribery internally when they could ultimately reap a windfall by taking their complaints directly to the SEC.
The Bribery Act is expected to further complicate compliance.
The law allows companies under scrutiny to avoid trouble by having an adequate compliance program. But British authorities haven't defined what constitutes an adequate program.
"The people who run compliance at all the major U.S. public companies have a lot more on their plate," says George Terwilliger III, a partner at White & Case LLP in Washington who works on FCPA cases. "It is sort of a double whammy."
The Bribery Act, which replaces a jumble of British bribery laws and rulings, boosts the maximum penalty for bribery to 10 years in prison from seven, and sets no limits on fines.
The law's scope is murky, legal experts say, leaving some companies to fear they may fall under its jurisdiction if they merely sell products in Britain. It says that a company can be liable if anyone associated with it pays a bribe. But it isn't clear whether that applies to agents, consultants, vendors, joint ventures and the like, attorneys say.
The law prohibits facilitation payments, or "grease payments," small bribes common in some countries to get mail service, phone hook-ups or other services that otherwise would be significantly delayed.
Those types of payments are legal under the FCPA as long as they are recorded. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has called the British law's criminalization of the payments "troubling."
"Lots of clients are very worried, confused, uncertain," said Tim Coleman, a Washington-based global investigations partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP. "Some are in denial."
Source: The Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com
The new law, called the Bribery Act, takes effect in April. It resembles the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bars companies that trade on U.S. exchanges from bribing foreign government officials to gain a business advantage.
The British law, however, is more sweeping than its American counterpart, and corporate legal advisers are uncertain how extensive the fallout might be.
"There are a lot of people saying this is the FCPA on steroids," says Mark Mendelsohn, a Washington lawyer who oversaw FCPA prosecutions at the U.S. Justice Department from 2005 until earlier this year. Mr. Mendelsohn is now a partner at corporate-defense firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP.
Legal experts say it isn't clear how vigorously the law will be enforced or what resources Britain will commit to investigating or prosecuting suspected violations. But that point has done little to reduce the trepidation among corporate counsels.
The British law, however, is more sweeping than its American counterpart, and corporate legal advisers are uncertain how extensive the fallout might be.
"There are a lot of people saying this is the FCPA on steroids," says Mark Mendelsohn, a Washington lawyer who oversaw FCPA prosecutions at the U.S. Justice Department from 2005 until earlier this year. Mr. Mendelsohn is now a partner at corporate-defense firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP.
Legal experts say it isn't clear how vigorously the law will be enforced or what resources Britain will commit to investigating or prosecuting suspected violations. But that point has done little to reduce the trepidation among corporate counsels.
Richard Alderman, head of Britain's Serious Fraud Office, the law's enforcer, recently told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper that "sensible and proportionate expenditure on hospitality will remain perfectly lawful."
Mr. Alderman has called the new law "a model of clarity," and said that it was carefully reviewed during the legislative process.
An SFO spokesman said Mr. Alderman was overseas for the holidays and couldn't be reached for comment.
SFO officials have publicly mentioned the pharmaceutical industry as a potential target of the law, citing U.S. Justice Department investigations into bribery allegations against drug and medical-device makers, but other industries that operate in regions where corruption is rampant will also face scrutiny.
The Bribery Act comes as more nations are taking a tougher stance against corruption. China, which some antibribery groups rank high on the corruption scale, has prosecuted corporate-bribery cases recently, and many European nations have bolstered anticorruption laws.
The moves follow tighter enforcement of the FCPA in recent years by the U.S. Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission. So far this year, the Justice Department alone has prosecuted 22 FCPA cases and collected hundreds of millions of dollars in fines.
Most multinational companies have put elaborate programs in place to avoid running afoul of the FCPA. These programs typically establish a channel through which employees can report suspected bribery and companies can investigate the complaints internally. Some companies also are hiring compliance consultants or offering books and seminars to help prepare employees for the ethical minefields they might face in some countries.
In the past few months, however, companies have started to worry that their compliance programs could be undermined by a U.S. law that entitles whistle-blowers to share in money collected by the SEC in fraud and corruption cases. They fear the measure, part of the Dodd-Frank financial-reform bill, gives employees little incentive to report suspected bribery internally when they could ultimately reap a windfall by taking their complaints directly to the SEC.
The Bribery Act is expected to further complicate compliance.
The law allows companies under scrutiny to avoid trouble by having an adequate compliance program. But British authorities haven't defined what constitutes an adequate program.
"The people who run compliance at all the major U.S. public companies have a lot more on their plate," says George Terwilliger III, a partner at White & Case LLP in Washington who works on FCPA cases. "It is sort of a double whammy."
The Bribery Act, which replaces a jumble of British bribery laws and rulings, boosts the maximum penalty for bribery to 10 years in prison from seven, and sets no limits on fines.
The law's scope is murky, legal experts say, leaving some companies to fear they may fall under its jurisdiction if they merely sell products in Britain. It says that a company can be liable if anyone associated with it pays a bribe. But it isn't clear whether that applies to agents, consultants, vendors, joint ventures and the like, attorneys say.
The law prohibits facilitation payments, or "grease payments," small bribes common in some countries to get mail service, phone hook-ups or other services that otherwise would be significantly delayed.
Those types of payments are legal under the FCPA as long as they are recorded. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has called the British law's criminalization of the payments "troubling."
"Lots of clients are very worried, confused, uncertain," said Tim Coleman, a Washington-based global investigations partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP. "Some are in denial."
Source: The Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com
December 27, 2010
Facebook world: What's missing from this picture?
Hong Kong, China (CNN) – There is something plainly fascinating about Paul Butler's map of the world. The Facebook intern used data from the social networking site to create a map of people's friendships across the globe and to see how they related to geographical and political boundaries. After experimenting with different techniques, he ended up using arced, weighted lines to connect cities based on the volume of the Facebook friendships between them.
In Butler's words, the result is "a surprisingly detailed map of the world. Not only were continents visible, certain international borders were apparent as well. What really struck me, though, was knowing that the lines didn't represent coasts or rivers or political borders, but real human relationships."
The lines also map out, to a large extent, Facebook's global penetration. One is struck by the fluorescent clusters in the United States and Europe, where Facebook is widely used; the clear contours of Indonesia, home of the most Facebook users in Asia; and the giant hole where China should be.
Blocked by the Great Firewall, Facebook can boast few active users in China. Local social networks like Renren, Xiaonei and Kaixin001 dominate the market. Instead of connecting through Facebook Chat, millions upon millions of users chat away their work days on Tencent's QQ and MSN Messenger.
The absence of China on Facebook's Visualizing Friends Map did not go unnoticed among China's microbloggers, as Wang Xiaojie and Jo Ling Kent from CNN's Beijing bureau found when they combed the Chinese web.
"At first sight I wonder why China is not on the map; but after seeing the Facebook logo at the bottom, I know why," says one user.
Another asks: "When can China shine on this map that includes 500 million other people?"
One savvy netizen even spots an additional reason for China's absence from the map. Chinese users who circumvent the country's internet restrictions by using a VPN server appear as users in foreign cities. "So even if we use Facebook in China, we still can not be seen on the map. Haha!, " he writes.
Also under discussion online: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's first visit to China. It may be a personal vacation, but he appears to be making the rounds at the country's top Internet companies. He toured Baidu headquarters with Robin Li, founder of China's dominant search engine, and has since been reportedly spotted at the offices of leading web portal Sina.com.
Employees at the Chinese companies have been snapping pictures of Zuckerberg and posting them online. It's the closest they'll get to the Internet Wunderkind.
After all, they can't friend him on Facebook.
Source: CNN
http://business.blogs.cnn.com/
In Butler's words, the result is "a surprisingly detailed map of the world. Not only were continents visible, certain international borders were apparent as well. What really struck me, though, was knowing that the lines didn't represent coasts or rivers or political borders, but real human relationships."
The lines also map out, to a large extent, Facebook's global penetration. One is struck by the fluorescent clusters in the United States and Europe, where Facebook is widely used; the clear contours of Indonesia, home of the most Facebook users in Asia; and the giant hole where China should be.
Blocked by the Great Firewall, Facebook can boast few active users in China. Local social networks like Renren, Xiaonei and Kaixin001 dominate the market. Instead of connecting through Facebook Chat, millions upon millions of users chat away their work days on Tencent's QQ and MSN Messenger.
The absence of China on Facebook's Visualizing Friends Map did not go unnoticed among China's microbloggers, as Wang Xiaojie and Jo Ling Kent from CNN's Beijing bureau found when they combed the Chinese web.
"At first sight I wonder why China is not on the map; but after seeing the Facebook logo at the bottom, I know why," says one user.
Another asks: "When can China shine on this map that includes 500 million other people?"
One savvy netizen even spots an additional reason for China's absence from the map. Chinese users who circumvent the country's internet restrictions by using a VPN server appear as users in foreign cities. "So even if we use Facebook in China, we still can not be seen on the map. Haha!, " he writes.
Also under discussion online: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's first visit to China. It may be a personal vacation, but he appears to be making the rounds at the country's top Internet companies. He toured Baidu headquarters with Robin Li, founder of China's dominant search engine, and has since been reportedly spotted at the offices of leading web portal Sina.com.
Employees at the Chinese companies have been snapping pictures of Zuckerberg and posting them online. It's the closest they'll get to the Internet Wunderkind.
After all, they can't friend him on Facebook.
Source: CNN
http://business.blogs.cnn.com/
December 24, 2010
KPPU: Multinational Companies More Compliant
TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:Tresna Soemardi, chief of the Business Competition Oversight Commission (KPPU), said he had received notification of six future acquisitions, four of which involved multinational companies.
“Multinational companies pay attention to acquisition reports because in advanced countries such reports are the norm,” Tresna said in a seminar on business competition in Jakarta yesterday.
The six reports included PT Komatsu Indonesia’s plans to acquire PT Pandu Dayatama Patria, the Meadown Asia Company Limited’s planned acquisition of PT Matahari, Prudential Plc’s plans to buy AIA Group Limited, and Unilever Indonesia’s plans to acquire BV Sara Lee Body Care.
Local companies that reported their acquisition plans included PT Tuah Turangga Agung in relation to PT Agung Bara Prima, and PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia’s plans to acquire PT Bank Agroniaga.
The KPPU said there were no problems with any of the acquisition plans.
Source: http://www.tempointeractive.com
“Multinational companies pay attention to acquisition reports because in advanced countries such reports are the norm,” Tresna said in a seminar on business competition in Jakarta yesterday.
The six reports included PT Komatsu Indonesia’s plans to acquire PT Pandu Dayatama Patria, the Meadown Asia Company Limited’s planned acquisition of PT Matahari, Prudential Plc’s plans to buy AIA Group Limited, and Unilever Indonesia’s plans to acquire BV Sara Lee Body Care.
Local companies that reported their acquisition plans included PT Tuah Turangga Agung in relation to PT Agung Bara Prima, and PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia’s plans to acquire PT Bank Agroniaga.
The KPPU said there were no problems with any of the acquisition plans.
Source: http://www.tempointeractive.com
December 23, 2010
Apple Shares Hit Life-Time High, What Next?
By Balasubramanyam Seshan
Shares of iPhone maker Apple Inc. (AAPL) reached an all-time high of $325.72 on Wednesday's regular trading session, after it said shipments of the second-generation version of Apple TV to exceed 1 million units this week.
Apple stock finished Wednesday up 0.29 percent at $325.16 with an average volume of 17.71 million shares. In the pre-market hours Thursday, Apple shares were trading down 0.05 percent to $325.00 on the NASDAQ stock market.
Apple's market cap hit $298.27 billion on Wednesday, leaving it ahead of rival Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), which has market cap of $241.16 billion, as the largest technology company in the world and second largest company in market capitalization.
In September, Apple overtook PetroChina Co. (PTR) to become the world's second largest company by market value. However, it still has to go a long way to surpass Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) in the market capitalization where oil giant retains the top spot with a whooping $367.10 billion.
On the other hand, Apple's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 21.46 is ahead of software giant Microsoft's 12.15, and Exxon's 12.89. P/E ratio is a valuation ratio of a company's current share price compared to its per-share earnings over the last twelve months.
In general, a high P/E suggests that investors are expecting higher earnings growth in the future compared to companies with a lower P/E. The P/E is sometimes referred to as the "multiple", because it shows how much investors are willing to pay per dollar of earnings.
On October 13, Apple shares blew past the $300-mark for the first time in the company's history on the back of growing popularity of the iPhone 4, the iPod and especially the iPad.
Jobs Doing Job For Apple
Apple's success has been largely credited to its co-founder Steve Jobs, who was named the world's best performing CEO last year, according to January 2010 issue of Harvard Business Review.
Recently, the U.S. President Barack Obama during a speech on Wednesday referred to Steve Jobs as an example of the "American dream" and one whose wealth should be celebrated, according to Cnet.
On Dec. 23, British international business paper the Financial Times named Steve Jobs as its "Person of the Year" this week.
Jobs also recently made in to Forbes magazine's annual list of the wealthiest Americans, climbing to 42nd place with net worth of $6.1 billion as on September 2010.
"Insanely creative Apple co-founder transforms multibillion-dollar industry every few years. First, personal computers with Apple II, Macintosh; then film with Pixar; music (iTunes), mobile (iPhone). Now iPad is treated as messiah tablet, savior for publishing industry. Apple still sells computers, but twice as much revenue now comes from music distribution and hand-held devices," Forbes stated in the profile of Steve Jobs.
Apple TV -- A Game Changer in TV Space
"We believe the Apple TV is now positioned to become a more material contributor and game changer in the TV space. But we believe a major catalyst for the set-top box would be the addition of an App Store, allowing users to download new applications for the Apple TV," said Shaw Wu, an analyst at Kaufman Bros said in a report to clients.
"While the new Apple TV has definitely generated greater consumer interest, it is still too small to really impact estimates. We view the Apple TV as part of AAPL's longer-term living room ambitions, of which its new North Carolina data center is also a part," said Peter Misek, an analyst at Jefferies in a note to clients.
Apple releaesd the second-generation version of Apple TV on September 1, 2010. The new Apple TV offers the simplest way to watch your favorite HD movies and TV shows, stream content from Netflix, YouTube, Flickr and MobileMe, for just $99. iTunes users are now renting and purchasing over 400,000 TV episodes and over 150,000 movies per day.
Apple TV has Apple's A4 (ARM Cortex-A8) chip processor and graphics processing of PowerVR SGX535 with a memory of 256 MB. The new version has no hard drive; however, it does have 8 gigabytes of flash storage for caching purposes. All content is drawn from online or locally connected sources.
The latest TV has connectivity port for Micro-USB, HDMI, infrared receiver, and optical audio with networking capacity of Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n), 10/100 Ethernet. About a quarter of the size and one-third of the price of the original Apple TV, the new device can stream rented content from iTunes and video from computers or iOS devices via AirPlay.
The second generation Apple TV runs a version of iOS (known as iPhone OS prior to June 2010), rather than the modified Mac OS X of the previous model. The interface is similar to that of the previous generation, with only slight modifications. The second generation sold 250,000 units in the first two weeks it was available.
Apple's operating system iOS 4.2.1 was released on November 22 with support for all Apple A4 devices, 3rd, and 2nd generation devices, with the exclusion of the Apple TV. It brings initial support of iOS 4.x to iPad, plus AirPlay and AirPrint to all compatible devices. It also contains minor changes to the YouTube app and alters the multitasking animation.
On December 14, Apple released a new version of Apple TV (version 4.1.1), with features such as enhanced TV resolution. As the second generation Apple TV is iOS based, developers have used the traditional Jailbreaking techniques to install additional software on the Apple TV.
Apple on Wednesday updated its Remote application for iOS devices, adding the ability to remotely stream a video from a computer's iTunes library to the new Apple TV via AirPlay. Remote version 2.1 (iTunes link) is now available on the App Store as a free download. It is compatible with the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, and requires iOS 3.1.2 or later.
Source: www.ibtimes.com
Shares of iPhone maker Apple Inc. (AAPL) reached an all-time high of $325.72 on Wednesday's regular trading session, after it said shipments of the second-generation version of Apple TV to exceed 1 million units this week.
Apple stock finished Wednesday up 0.29 percent at $325.16 with an average volume of 17.71 million shares. In the pre-market hours Thursday, Apple shares were trading down 0.05 percent to $325.00 on the NASDAQ stock market.
Apple's market cap hit $298.27 billion on Wednesday, leaving it ahead of rival Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), which has market cap of $241.16 billion, as the largest technology company in the world and second largest company in market capitalization.
In September, Apple overtook PetroChina Co. (PTR) to become the world's second largest company by market value. However, it still has to go a long way to surpass Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) in the market capitalization where oil giant retains the top spot with a whooping $367.10 billion.
On the other hand, Apple's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 21.46 is ahead of software giant Microsoft's 12.15, and Exxon's 12.89. P/E ratio is a valuation ratio of a company's current share price compared to its per-share earnings over the last twelve months.
In general, a high P/E suggests that investors are expecting higher earnings growth in the future compared to companies with a lower P/E. The P/E is sometimes referred to as the "multiple", because it shows how much investors are willing to pay per dollar of earnings.
On October 13, Apple shares blew past the $300-mark for the first time in the company's history on the back of growing popularity of the iPhone 4, the iPod and especially the iPad.
Jobs Doing Job For Apple
Apple's success has been largely credited to its co-founder Steve Jobs, who was named the world's best performing CEO last year, according to January 2010 issue of Harvard Business Review.
Recently, the U.S. President Barack Obama during a speech on Wednesday referred to Steve Jobs as an example of the "American dream" and one whose wealth should be celebrated, according to Cnet.
On Dec. 23, British international business paper the Financial Times named Steve Jobs as its "Person of the Year" this week.
Jobs also recently made in to Forbes magazine's annual list of the wealthiest Americans, climbing to 42nd place with net worth of $6.1 billion as on September 2010.
"Insanely creative Apple co-founder transforms multibillion-dollar industry every few years. First, personal computers with Apple II, Macintosh; then film with Pixar; music (iTunes), mobile (iPhone). Now iPad is treated as messiah tablet, savior for publishing industry. Apple still sells computers, but twice as much revenue now comes from music distribution and hand-held devices," Forbes stated in the profile of Steve Jobs.
Apple TV -- A Game Changer in TV Space
"We believe the Apple TV is now positioned to become a more material contributor and game changer in the TV space. But we believe a major catalyst for the set-top box would be the addition of an App Store, allowing users to download new applications for the Apple TV," said Shaw Wu, an analyst at Kaufman Bros said in a report to clients.
"While the new Apple TV has definitely generated greater consumer interest, it is still too small to really impact estimates. We view the Apple TV as part of AAPL's longer-term living room ambitions, of which its new North Carolina data center is also a part," said Peter Misek, an analyst at Jefferies in a note to clients.
Apple releaesd the second-generation version of Apple TV on September 1, 2010. The new Apple TV offers the simplest way to watch your favorite HD movies and TV shows, stream content from Netflix, YouTube, Flickr and MobileMe, for just $99. iTunes users are now renting and purchasing over 400,000 TV episodes and over 150,000 movies per day.
Apple TV has Apple's A4 (ARM Cortex-A8) chip processor and graphics processing of PowerVR SGX535 with a memory of 256 MB. The new version has no hard drive; however, it does have 8 gigabytes of flash storage for caching purposes. All content is drawn from online or locally connected sources.
The latest TV has connectivity port for Micro-USB, HDMI, infrared receiver, and optical audio with networking capacity of Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n), 10/100 Ethernet. About a quarter of the size and one-third of the price of the original Apple TV, the new device can stream rented content from iTunes and video from computers or iOS devices via AirPlay.
The second generation Apple TV runs a version of iOS (known as iPhone OS prior to June 2010), rather than the modified Mac OS X of the previous model. The interface is similar to that of the previous generation, with only slight modifications. The second generation sold 250,000 units in the first two weeks it was available.
Apple's operating system iOS 4.2.1 was released on November 22 with support for all Apple A4 devices, 3rd, and 2nd generation devices, with the exclusion of the Apple TV. It brings initial support of iOS 4.x to iPad, plus AirPlay and AirPrint to all compatible devices. It also contains minor changes to the YouTube app and alters the multitasking animation.
On December 14, Apple released a new version of Apple TV (version 4.1.1), with features such as enhanced TV resolution. As the second generation Apple TV is iOS based, developers have used the traditional Jailbreaking techniques to install additional software on the Apple TV.
Apple on Wednesday updated its Remote application for iOS devices, adding the ability to remotely stream a video from a computer's iTunes library to the new Apple TV via AirPlay. Remote version 2.1 (iTunes link) is now available on the App Store as a free download. It is compatible with the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, and requires iOS 3.1.2 or later.
Source: www.ibtimes.com
December 22, 2010
Skype apologises for losing half of daily call traffic
By Maggie Shiels
Millions of people around the globe have been hit by an outage at the popular internet phone service Skype.
Users as far afield as Japan, Europe and the US have all reported problems.
The company which prides itself on providing relatively reliable service last suffered a major outage in 2007.
"We take outages like this really seriously and apologise for the inconvenience users are having," Tony Bates, Skype chief executive officer told BBC News.
"Right now it looks like clients are coming on and offline and sometimes they are crashing in the middle of calls. We are deep in the middle of investigating the cause of the problem and have teams working hard to remedy the situation," Mr Bates said.
On Skype's Twitter account, the company said their "engineers and site operations team are working non-stop to get things back to normal".
The news blog ReadWriteWeb said they have monitored complaints from users who reported that they are unable to log into the service and that the programme is crashing across all platforms, whether on their mobile device or PC.
Mr Bates did not rule in or rule out the possibility of a malicious attack and said "all avenues" were being explored.
He estimated that as a result of the outage, Skype has lost around 10 million calls.
Mr Bates told the BBC that normal call volume for the time of day would be 20m.
Om Malik, an industry commentator and editor of the Gigaom.com website, is not impressed.
"Skype is one of the key applications of the modern web," he said.
"It is already a hit with consumers, and over the past few years it has become part of the economic fabric for startups and small businesses around the world. I am not sure we can comprehend the productivity cost of this outage.
"The outage comes at a time when Skype is starting to ask larger corporations for their business. If I am a big business, I would be extremely cautious about adopting Skype for business, especially in light of this current outage," added Mr Malik.
Source: BBC
www.bbc.co.uk
Millions of people around the globe have been hit by an outage at the popular internet phone service Skype.
Users as far afield as Japan, Europe and the US have all reported problems.
The company which prides itself on providing relatively reliable service last suffered a major outage in 2007.
"We take outages like this really seriously and apologise for the inconvenience users are having," Tony Bates, Skype chief executive officer told BBC News.
"Right now it looks like clients are coming on and offline and sometimes they are crashing in the middle of calls. We are deep in the middle of investigating the cause of the problem and have teams working hard to remedy the situation," Mr Bates said.
On Skype's Twitter account, the company said their "engineers and site operations team are working non-stop to get things back to normal".
The news blog ReadWriteWeb said they have monitored complaints from users who reported that they are unable to log into the service and that the programme is crashing across all platforms, whether on their mobile device or PC.
Mr Bates did not rule in or rule out the possibility of a malicious attack and said "all avenues" were being explored.
He estimated that as a result of the outage, Skype has lost around 10 million calls.
Mr Bates told the BBC that normal call volume for the time of day would be 20m.
Om Malik, an industry commentator and editor of the Gigaom.com website, is not impressed.
"Skype is one of the key applications of the modern web," he said.
"It is already a hit with consumers, and over the past few years it has become part of the economic fabric for startups and small businesses around the world. I am not sure we can comprehend the productivity cost of this outage.
"The outage comes at a time when Skype is starting to ask larger corporations for their business. If I am a big business, I would be extremely cautious about adopting Skype for business, especially in light of this current outage," added Mr Malik.
Source: BBC
www.bbc.co.uk
December 21, 2010
Report: Google TV devices delayed as Google tweaks software
(Mashable) -- We won't be seeing too many Google TV-powered devices at the next CES, which takes place in Las Vegas in January, because Google needs more time to work on the software, reports the New York Times citing unnamed sources.
Right now, Google's original partners for Google TV -- Sony and Logitech -- are the only ones actually selling the devices.
Samsung and Vizio are still supposed to reveal their Google TV devices at CES, but we'll have to wait a little longer for devices from Toshiba, Sharp and LG.
We can expect more Google TV devices after the software is updated, which will probably mean the addition of the Android Market. It should happen sometime next year, NYT's sources claim.
This is another in a series of obstacles for Google's foray into TV space; after receiving some lackluster initial reviews, Google TV suffered another blow when it got blocked by several U.S. major broadcast and cable networks.
By Stan Schroeder, Mashable
Source: CNN
http://edition.cnn.com
Right now, Google's original partners for Google TV -- Sony and Logitech -- are the only ones actually selling the devices.
Samsung and Vizio are still supposed to reveal their Google TV devices at CES, but we'll have to wait a little longer for devices from Toshiba, Sharp and LG.
We can expect more Google TV devices after the software is updated, which will probably mean the addition of the Android Market. It should happen sometime next year, NYT's sources claim.
This is another in a series of obstacles for Google's foray into TV space; after receiving some lackluster initial reviews, Google TV suffered another blow when it got blocked by several U.S. major broadcast and cable networks.
By Stan Schroeder, Mashable
Source: CNN
http://edition.cnn.com
December 20, 2010
Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook named Time's person of 2010
Time magazine has picked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg as its annual Person of the Year, the figure it believes had the most influence on events in 2010.
December 16, 2010
Yahoo cutting its workforce by 4%
Yahoo has confirmed that it is cutting its workforce by 4% or 600 people.
The internet firm has now announced redundancies four times in three years, as it cuts costs to try to lift profits that trail bigger rival Google.
The redundancies also follow after Google recently announced a 10% pay increase for every member of staff.
In 2008 Yahoo rejected a $47.5bn (£30bn) bid from Microsoft. Today its market capitalisation - the combined value of its shares - totals $21.68bn.
Yahoo said in a statement: "Today's personnel changes are part of our ongoing strategy to best position Yahoo for revenue growth and margin expansion, and to support our strategy to deliver differentiated products to the marketplace."
The company's revenues have risen by less than 2% so far this year, compared with growth of 23% at Google.
Maggie Shiels, the BBC's technology reporter in Silicon Valley, said: "The Yahoo job cuts come in stark contrast to what is happening in Silicon Valley as a whole, where companies like Google and Facebook have embarked on an aggressive hiring spree.
"Undoubtedly some of those employees who have been given pink slips are likely to see job offers landing in their email boxes amid a fierce battle for talent in the Valley.
"As for the prospects of Yahoo's CEO Carol Bartz, these cuts are only likely to intensify pressure on her and increase criticism of her role in failing to improve the fortunes of the once mighty internet company."
Yahoo had 14,100 employees at the end of September.
The internet firm has now announced redundancies four times in three years, as it cuts costs to try to lift profits that trail bigger rival Google.
The redundancies also follow after Google recently announced a 10% pay increase for every member of staff.
In 2008 Yahoo rejected a $47.5bn (£30bn) bid from Microsoft. Today its market capitalisation - the combined value of its shares - totals $21.68bn.
Yahoo said in a statement: "Today's personnel changes are part of our ongoing strategy to best position Yahoo for revenue growth and margin expansion, and to support our strategy to deliver differentiated products to the marketplace."
The company's revenues have risen by less than 2% so far this year, compared with growth of 23% at Google.
Maggie Shiels, the BBC's technology reporter in Silicon Valley, said: "The Yahoo job cuts come in stark contrast to what is happening in Silicon Valley as a whole, where companies like Google and Facebook have embarked on an aggressive hiring spree.
"Undoubtedly some of those employees who have been given pink slips are likely to see job offers landing in their email boxes amid a fierce battle for talent in the Valley.
"As for the prospects of Yahoo's CEO Carol Bartz, these cuts are only likely to intensify pressure on her and increase criticism of her role in failing to improve the fortunes of the once mighty internet company."
Yahoo had 14,100 employees at the end of September.
Was BP grossly negligent?
Robert Peston
The significance of the Obama administration's decision to sue BP and four other business over the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill is that the US Justice Department may try to prove gross negligence on the part of BP.
Because if BP were found to be grossly negligent, the costs for BP of the debacle could rise very significantly indeed, for two reasons.
First, it could potentially add almost $16bn or more than £10bn to the civil penalties BP would have to pay under the US Clean Water Act.
Second, it would make it much harder (perhaps impossible) for BP to recover costs it is incurring in the clean up and restitution from its co-owners of the Macondo Well, Anadarko and Mitsui.
BP says it remains confident that it was not guilty of gross negligence. But if it is wrong, the $39.9bn or £25bn it has set aside to cover the costs stemming from the disaster will prove to be too little.
A further source of uneasiness for BP's shareholders is the statement by the US Attorney General Eric Holder that under the Oil Pollution Act he is intending to prove "that these defendants are responsible for government removal costs, economic losses and environmental damages without limitation."
For once, the verdict of the market in a few minutes may be instructive.
Update 0838: Investors plainly believe that the nature of the Department of Justice's case against BP hasn't increased potential liabilities for the company in a fundamental way.
BP's shares have fallen 2.5% this morning to 465p - which takes the edge off a recent strong run in BP shares.
Source: BBC
www.bbc.co.uk
The significance of the Obama administration's decision to sue BP and four other business over the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill is that the US Justice Department may try to prove gross negligence on the part of BP.
Because if BP were found to be grossly negligent, the costs for BP of the debacle could rise very significantly indeed, for two reasons.
First, it could potentially add almost $16bn or more than £10bn to the civil penalties BP would have to pay under the US Clean Water Act.
Second, it would make it much harder (perhaps impossible) for BP to recover costs it is incurring in the clean up and restitution from its co-owners of the Macondo Well, Anadarko and Mitsui.
BP says it remains confident that it was not guilty of gross negligence. But if it is wrong, the $39.9bn or £25bn it has set aside to cover the costs stemming from the disaster will prove to be too little.
A further source of uneasiness for BP's shareholders is the statement by the US Attorney General Eric Holder that under the Oil Pollution Act he is intending to prove "that these defendants are responsible for government removal costs, economic losses and environmental damages without limitation."
For once, the verdict of the market in a few minutes may be instructive.
Update 0838: Investors plainly believe that the nature of the Department of Justice's case against BP hasn't increased potential liabilities for the company in a fundamental way.
BP's shares have fallen 2.5% this morning to 465p - which takes the edge off a recent strong run in BP shares.
Source: BBC
www.bbc.co.uk
December 11, 2010
Npower to raise gas and electricity prices by 5%
Customers of energy company Npower will see their gas and electricity bills rise by 5.1% from 4 January.
The change will mean the typical dual-fuel customer with Npower will see their annual bill rise by £54, the firm said.
The announcement comes on the day that British Gas customers started paying more for their energy.
Meanwhile, E.On said it was still monitoring the market but would not raise prices before January.
Wholesale costs
Npower, which said it would leave its social tariff for vulnerable customers unchanged until April 2011, blamed a 50% rise in wholesale prices in the past 12 months for the increase - its first for domestic customers in two years.
"When wholesale costs are driving prices up it is a good time to review the way you manage your energy," said Kevin Miles, chief executive of Npower retail.
The move is the latest in a string of price rise announcements made by the major energy suppliers in the UK.
In the last week of November, Scottish Power increased electricity bills by an average of 8.9% and prices for gas customers increased by an average of 2%.
Scottish and Southern Energy followed by putting up its domestic gas tariffs by 9.4% at the start of December. The 7% rise in gas and electricity bills for British Gas customers has now also kicked in.
EDF Energy said that it was keeping its prices on hold during the winter, with no change before March 2011.
E.On said it was monitoring the wholesale markets before making any decision, but would not raise prices before January.
Future
Earlier this week, the bosses of five of the big six energy companies told a committee of MPs that bills were likely to rise in years to come.
They told the Energy Committee that the "inevitable direction of wholesale prices" meant domestic bills would get more expensive over the next decade.
Prices quoted when bills are changed are an average for customers across the UK. However, issues such as transportation costs mean a different amount can be charged depending on where customers live.
Figures from watchdog Consumer Focus show that people in different parts of the UK - with the same energy supplier - have bills that vary by up to £59 a year.
Reacting to the latest price rises, Audrey Gallacher, head of energy at Consumer Focus, said: "Npower customers will have been bracing themselves for this bad news after the increases from other firms, but that will not make them any less worried about affording their bills this winter.
"With four of the big six suppliers having now announced price rises averaging 6%, the focus on [regulator] Ofgem's review of whether energy prices are justified will be even sharper."
In November, Ofgem announced that it would conduct a review into the domestic energy market after figures showed a sharp rise in suppliers' profit margins to £90 per typical customer.
The change will mean the typical dual-fuel customer with Npower will see their annual bill rise by £54, the firm said.
The announcement comes on the day that British Gas customers started paying more for their energy.
Meanwhile, E.On said it was still monitoring the market but would not raise prices before January.
Wholesale costs
Npower, which said it would leave its social tariff for vulnerable customers unchanged until April 2011, blamed a 50% rise in wholesale prices in the past 12 months for the increase - its first for domestic customers in two years.
"When wholesale costs are driving prices up it is a good time to review the way you manage your energy," said Kevin Miles, chief executive of Npower retail.
The move is the latest in a string of price rise announcements made by the major energy suppliers in the UK.
In the last week of November, Scottish Power increased electricity bills by an average of 8.9% and prices for gas customers increased by an average of 2%.
Scottish and Southern Energy followed by putting up its domestic gas tariffs by 9.4% at the start of December. The 7% rise in gas and electricity bills for British Gas customers has now also kicked in.
EDF Energy said that it was keeping its prices on hold during the winter, with no change before March 2011.
E.On said it was monitoring the wholesale markets before making any decision, but would not raise prices before January.
Future
Earlier this week, the bosses of five of the big six energy companies told a committee of MPs that bills were likely to rise in years to come.
They told the Energy Committee that the "inevitable direction of wholesale prices" meant domestic bills would get more expensive over the next decade.
Prices quoted when bills are changed are an average for customers across the UK. However, issues such as transportation costs mean a different amount can be charged depending on where customers live.
Figures from watchdog Consumer Focus show that people in different parts of the UK - with the same energy supplier - have bills that vary by up to £59 a year.
Reacting to the latest price rises, Audrey Gallacher, head of energy at Consumer Focus, said: "Npower customers will have been bracing themselves for this bad news after the increases from other firms, but that will not make them any less worried about affording their bills this winter.
"With four of the big six suppliers having now announced price rises averaging 6%, the focus on [regulator] Ofgem's review of whether energy prices are justified will be even sharper."
In November, Ofgem announced that it would conduct a review into the domestic energy market after figures showed a sharp rise in suppliers' profit margins to £90 per typical customer.
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