by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Commodity Market, Emerging Businesses, Investing, Markets, Technology
San Francisco : Playing a crucial role in future research and development (R&D) of a revolutionary aluminium smelting technology, Apple has committed investment in a joint venture that resonates the iPhone-maker’s take on environment-friendly technology innovations.
The joint venture could change global manufacturing. Aluminium is a key material in many of Apple’s most popular products and for more than 130 years, it’s been produced the same way. But that’s about to change, the company said in a blog post late on Thursday.
Aluminium giants Alcoa Corporation and Rio Tinto Aluminium announced the venture called “Elysis” to commercialise patented technology that eliminates direct greenhouse gas emissions from the traditional smelting process — a key step in aluminium production.
Apple has partnered with both aluminium companies and the governments of Canada and Quebec, to collectively invest a combined $144 million to future R&D.
“Apple is committed to advancing technologies that are good for the planet and help protect it for generations to come,” company CEO Tim Cook said.
“We are proud to be part of this ambitious new project, and look forward to one day being able to use aluminium produced without direct greenhouse gas emissions in the manufacturing of our products,” he added.
Aluminium smelting process involves applying a strong electrical current to alumina, which removes oxygen. Companies use a carbon material that burns during the process, producing greenhouse gases.
Alcoa Corporation designed a new process that replaces that carbon with an advanced conductive material and instead of carbon dioxide, it releases oxygen.
“Elysis” would work to further develop this technology for larger scale production and commercialisation, with a package planned for sale beginning in 2024.
The company would continue to provide technical support as well, Apple said.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Branding, Business, Markets, Sales, SMEs, Technology
San Francisco : As Apple posted a healthy revenue of $61.1 billion for its fiscal 2018 second quarter — defying global reports of a weakened demand for its iPhones — the company’s CEO Tim Cook said he will now put great energy into the growing Indian market.
During the company’s earnings call with media late Tuesday, Cook said: “Let me start with India, and then I’ll talk more about China. India, we set a new first-half record. So we continue to put great energy there… Our objective over time is to go in there with all of our different initiatives from retail and everything else.
“And so we’re working toward those things. It’s a huge market and it’s clear that many people will be moving into the middle class over time, as we’ve seen in other countries.”
The quarterly revenue of $61.1 billion was an increase of 16 per cent from the year-ago quarter and international sales accounted for 65 per cent of the quarter’s revenue.
“We’re thrilled to report our best March quarter ever, with strong revenue growth in iPhone, services and wearables,” Cook said in a statement.
“Customers chose iPhone X more than any other iPhone each week in the March quarter, just as they did following its launch in the December quarter.
“We also grew revenue in all of our geographic segments, with over 20 per cent growth in Greater China and Japan,” he informed.
Apple also announced $100 billion in additional stock buybacks.
“Given our confidence in Apple’s future, we are very happy to announce that our Board has approved a new $100 billion share repurchase authorization and a 16 per cent increase in our quarterly dividend,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO.
The iPhone maker reported $13 billion in revenue from Greater China.
“China, I continue to believe is a phenomenal country with lots of opportunity from a market point of view, but also lots of opportunity from an app developer’s point of view,” Cook said during the earnings call.
“We have almost two million application developers in China that are writing apps for iOS and the App Store, and they’re doing unbelievably creative work and innovative work. So we look at China holistically, not only as a market, he noted.
Apple will complete the execution of the previous $210 billion share repurchase authorisation during the third fiscal quarter.
“Our business performed extremely well during the March quarter, as we grew earnings per share by 30 per cent and generated over $15 billion in operating cash flow,” said Maestri.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Branding, Business, Markets, Medium Enterprise, SMEs, Technology
By Krishna SinhaChaudhury,
New Delhi : Wire-free listening has its own perks and Apple’s AirPods (Rs 15,400) and Bose SoundSport Free (Rs 18,990) cord-free earbuds have ruled the roost in the Indian market.
Not any more.
Denmark-based Jabra, a subsidiary of GN Netcom that makes in-ear and on-ear audio wearables, is now offering Jabra “Elite 65t” wireless in-ear headphones for just Rs 12,999.
Is it worth given the price? Let’s find out.
At first glance, the Elite 65t looks promising. The earbuds are all black with gunmetal gray accents to add some flash to an otherwise understated design.
A good thing about the buds is that these do not stick out from the ears. There are no “long stems” either that hang close to earlobes like the ones we see in the Apple AirPods.
The company has included silicone tips in three different sizes that offer a good amount of noise isolation and a secure fit.
The tips had no wings to hold the device in place but they stayed secure in our ears. Using the largest buds gives a tight fit which is crucial to maximising bass.
We also found the buds to be quite capable in handling sweat and dust.
A charging case is included in the package that is slightly bigger than the one provided with AirPods. A good thing is despite being slightly larger, it remains a pocketable case.
The charging case is durable despite being made of plastic and could handle rough usage. A clasp in the front secured the case and ensured the headphones do not come off easily.
The earbuds lasted close to five hours on a single charge and the case added close to 10 hours of battery life to Jabra Elite 65t.
A neat feature is that pulling out one of the earbuds stops the music automatically. It starts playing again once plugged back into the ear.
We also found it easy to toggle through tracks just by holding down the volume up and down buttons on the left eartip.
The earbuds delivered quality sound — clarity and volume in all conditions. Both the eartips feature a microphone area that stick slightly towards the mouth to pick up the sound.
The microphones built into each bud filtered out ambient noise, such as wind, during the test calls.
What does not work?
We found the noise-isolating fit too tight and some may find it uncomfortable.
The fit can also cause slight pain if worn for long periods.
Conclusion: The Jabra Elite 65t offers great audio packaged in a durable and good-looking in-ear device, offering good overall music and call quality. If you are looking for a cheaper alternative to AirPods, we would recommend this device that also beats the AirPods in many ways.
(Krishna SinhaChaudhury can be contacted at krishna.s@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Seoul : A total of 63,767 South Korean iPhone users have lodged the country’s biggest-ever class action lawsuit against Apple for damages worth millions, authorities said on Friday.
Hannuri, a local law firm which represents the users, filed the class action lawsuit with the Seoul Central District Court against Apple and Apple Korea, the local unit of the iPhone manufacturer, reports Xinhua news agency.
The iPhone customers demanded the damages worth 200,000 won ($188) per plaintiff, or 12.75 billion won ($12 million) in total.
It was the country’s biggest-ever class action suit in history.
Around 400,000 iPhone customers originally sought to join the legal action, but the number fell in the course of verifying identification and offering necessary documents, according to the report.
Apple was accused of slowing down old iPhones through software tweak to make users buy new ones once a new model is released.
The iPhone maker claimed that its software intentionally slowed some models under certain circumstances to protect them from automatically shutting down.
Hannuri said that though Apple recognized the underperformance of iPhones via iOS upgrade, it covered up the truth in offering the software to hide faulty battery, prevent customer secession and promote the sale of new models.
Civic group activists, which represent 122 and 401 iPhone users each, filed their respective class action suits against Apple and Apple Korea in mid-January and early March for damages worth 2.2 million won ($2,070) per person.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Markets, Medium Enterprise, Networking, Online Marketing, Social Media, Technology
New Delhi : In a bid to take on WhatsApp Business and Facebook Messenger, Apple is set to introduce “Business Chat” for its users to communicate directly with businesses right within its iMessage instant messaging service.
“Business Chat is a new way for users to communicate directly with businesses right within Messages. This feature will launch in Beta with the public availability of iOS 11.3 this spring,” Apple said in a statement late on Wednesday.
Announced last year at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference, the feature will debut with the support of select businesses including Discover, Hilton, Lowe’s and Wells Fargo.
“With ‘Business Chat’, it’s easy to have a conversation with a service representative, schedule an appointment or make purchases using Apple Pay in the Messages app,” Apple said.
Business Chat doesn’t share the user’s contact information with businesses and gives users the ability to stop chatting at any time, the Cupertino-based iPhone maker added.
Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) in the emerging markets like India need to connect with their consumers directly and demand for such apps is growing.
According to a recent Facebook-commissioned study by Nielsen, 63 per cent of the people said their messaging with businesses had increased over the past two years.
In fact, in 2017 alone, over 330 million people connected with a small business on Messenger for the first time.
More than 1.2 billion people on Facebook are connected to a small business in another country, out of which over 250 million people are connected to a business in India.
Also, 42 per cent of the people on Facebook in India are now connected to at least one small and medium business (SMB) in a foreign country and 65 per cent of Indians are connected to at least one domestic SMB.
To help businesses communicate better with their customers in India, WhatsApp also rolled out “WhatsApp Business” — a free-to-download Android app for small businesses — in the country.
In India, 84 per cent of SMBs think that WhatsApp helps them communicate with customers, and 80 per cent of SMBs think that WhatsApp helps them grow their business.
—IANS
