Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) face a $3.9 billion challenge as they prepare to sell new marquee phones in the world’s biggest wireless market. China’s state-run wireless operators are slashing subsidies they pay to make devices more affordable for consumers just as the biggest phone-makers are set to introduce upgraded products. After China Mobile Ltd. (941) said it will cut subsidies by $2 billion, its competitors will lower payments by $1.9 billion, according to analysts’ estimates. China Telecom Corp. said yesterday it will cut spending without giving a figure. All three carriers rose in Hong Kong trading.
Updated 6 Years ago

Egomaniacs, listen up, because when it comes to the war for attention, the BMW (BMW) i8 wins. Yes, you’ll get plenty of looks in a Bugatti or Aston Martin. A Tesla will earn you many questions from curious bystanders. But Bayerische Motoren Werke AG’s brand-new space car, er, sports car, garners more iPhone photos and shout-outs than any other I’ve tested in recent memory.
Updated 6 Years ago

India’s Air One Aviation Pvt. is seeking $2 billion of jets to take on Singapore Airlines Ltd. (SIA)’s venture in the South Asian nation, stoking competition in a market where carriers lost almost $10 billion in seven years. Air One, among six companies that last month got initial approval to start airlines in India, is looking atAirbus Group NV (AIR)’s A320s and Boeing Co. (BA)’s 737s, its director Alok Sharma said in an interview yesterday. At list prices, 20 Boeing 737-900 ERs cost $1.98 billion, though airlines typically get discounts.
Updated 6 Years ago

Gold-backed funds that heralded record prices in 2011 and last year’s biggest sell-off in three decades are becoming less useful as market predictors. After a decade of changing mostly in tandem, gold prices and holdings in exchange-traded products backed by bullion have the most-negative correlation since 2004. Investment in ETPs are headed for a fifth straight week of moving in the opposite direction of New York futures, data compiled by Bloomberg show. That would be the longest stretch since 2012, before investors began dumping gold.
Updated 6 Years ago

French spirits maker Pernod Ricard reported full-year underlying profit growth of 2 percent on Thursday, broadly in line with analysts' expectations, amid persistent weakness in China. The world's second-biggest spirits group behind Britain's Diageo said full-year 2013/14 sales fell a reported 7 percent, hit by unfavourable currency effects and a 23 percent slump in China. Like-for-like sales were stable.
Updated 6 Years ago

The Qualcomm Tricorder X Prize, launched last year, challenges anyone to develop a wireless device capable of detecting a range of diseases. The technology employs sensors and imaging to measure vital signs and diagnose conditions non-invasively.
Updated 6 Years ago

The move follows complaints about photos showing severed heads taken in a part of Syria controlled by the jihadist group Islamic State (IS). The firm initially refused to delete the images, saying they did not contravene its guidelines. It later blocked the material after being contacted by the BBC.
Updated 6 Years ago

Stagecoach chairman Sir Brian Souter and Clyde Blowers boss Jim McColl are among signatories who say independence is in Scotland's economic interest. It comes a day after a similar letter from 130 pro-UK business leaders said the case for independence had not been made.
Updated 6 Years ago

Most analysts had forecast growth for the period to come in at 6.1%, and the figure was up on the growth of 5.6% seen in the first quarter of the year. Growth was boosted by consumer spending and the manufacturing sector. Overall, the data showed the nation's economy growing up at its fastest pace in more than a year.
Updated 6 Years ago

Russia’s Finance Ministry is ready to extend by two months the deadline for international payment systems Visa and MasterCard to set up domestic processing for Russian card holders, according to Deputy Minister Alexei Moiseev. "We will follow the schedule. We will analyze the situation, and if we see that they are not making it on time even though they have done everything possible – then we will consider this possibility (of extending the deadline),” Moiseev told a news conference on Wednesday.
Updated 6 Years ago