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Fri April 26, 2013
Samsung Rings Up Sales
Originally published on Fri April 26, 2013 5:59 pm
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
NPR's business news starts with Samsung ringing up sales.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
INSKEEP: Samsung said this morning its first quarter profit is at a record high - net profit surged 42 percent. The company has now seen six straight quarters of growth, thanks to strong smartphone sales. Tomorrow, it's launching a new smartphone in the United States - the Galaxy S4 - which is aimed at taking on Apple's iPhone. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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Bus stops in a number of New York City metro areas have been equipped with Thinaire’s Tapp Store solution, enabling consumers to download Android mobile games via NFC, QR or SMS. “By thinking outside the box, we are turning media spaces into virtual marketplaces and delivering free game apps directly to the consumer at a time of receptivity, interest and perceived need,” says Jacob Katsof, director of mobile apps at Thinaire partner PCS Wireless.
- US banks told to improve cyber security
- Face recognition ticketing system unveiled
- Apple Pay arriving in Germany?
- Chicago mobile ticket app hits 1m downloads
- Dubai bus passengers to get hands-free smart ticketing

domain: news


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The general counsel for Masters Pharmaceutical had sharp criticism for the Food and Drug Administration today after the agency announced it quarantined millions in drugs from its Fairfield warehouse.
"The product seized by the FDA does not belong to Masters," he said. "We are a third-party logistics provider."
The products belong to Ascend Laboratories of Montvale, N.J., which rents warehouse space from Masters. The drugs include Pramoxine-HC Otic Drops, intended to treat infections of the external ear; Hydrocortisone Acetate Suppositories 25 mg, intended to treat inflammatory conditions; and Urea Cream 39%, Urea Cream 40% and Urea Lotion 40%, intended to treat conditions such as dermatitis and eczema.
A representative from Ascend Laboratories could not be reached for comment.
"We are being treated worse than the actual liable party here. It is the manufacturer who is ultimately responsible that they are manufucturing an approved product," Lauer said.
FDA spokesman Christopher Kelly refused to discuss the agency's statement.
“We stand by the press release," he said. "We don’t have anything further to comment on."
Lauer said the company has been flooded with calls from its bankers and customers after news organizations picked up the press release from the FDA, which prominently names Masters as involved in the seizure.
"We are not a target of the investigation," said Lauer. "We are not responsible for making sure (these kinds of drugs) in our warehouse are approved."
Lauer stressed that there is no financial impact to Masters as a result of the raid. The company is operating as normally, and the product in question has been quarantined.
"Our only issue with the FDA is that their press release was misleading. It implies the product is owned by us and was seized from us. That is not accurate. It is owned by Ascend and was seized from Ascend," he said.


text: This #BoFLIVE event was based on the ‘The Future of Fashion Resale Report — BoF Insights’ article. Click here to read our full analysis.Resale is on trend. The fast-growing market, boosted by the rise of online platforms, has attracted mounting interest from brands initially wary of the space, and a flurry of deal activity. Over the last year, Gucci-owner Kering invested in Paris-based resale platform Vestiaire Collective, second-hand retailers like Poshmark and Thredup went public and Etsy acquired Gen-Z-favourite resale platform Depop for $1.6 billion.Now the sector is at an inflection point, with resale looking likely to become a more entrenched part of the market. The opportunity is substantial. Only between 5 and 7 percent of resaleable fashion is currently being traded on resale platforms, resulting in an estimated $2.1 trillion of fashion sitting untapped in closets, according to The Future of Fashion Resale, a new report from the BoF Insights Lab.Meanwhile, post-pandemic consumer trends towards value and sustainability are likely to fuel further growth. The question of affordability is especially likely to attract new shoppers from the luxury market, said Charles Gorra, chief executive of luxury-focused resale platform Rebag. “At the core there is a change in fashion; fashion speed and trends are constantly accelerating,” said Gorra. “The items cost more and more and more, and they are worth less and less and less so [customers are] constantly priced out of the trends and that is how people get into secondhand.”In the latest BoF Live, BoF director of research and analysis Diana Lee and head of strategy Rahul Malik are joined by Rebag’s Gorra, chief executive of resale technology provider Reflaunt, Stephanie Crespin, and chief executive of resale platform Thredup, James Reinhart to discuss the future of fashion resale. The Future of Fashion Resale Report — BoF Insights BoF’s definitive guide to fashion resale, covering the evolution of the market, its growth and upside, consumer behaviours and recommendations for crafting a data-driven resale strategy. To explore the full report click here. The Future of Fashion Resale is the first in-depth analysis to be published by the BoF Insights Lab, a new data and analysis unit at The Business of Fashion providing business leaders with proprietary and data-driven research to navigate the fast-changing global fashion industry. Related Articles:What Fashion Resale Can Learn From Cars and Consumer ElectronicsThe Resale Gold Rush Rolls OnTo participate in #BoFLive, BoF’s digital events series offering insight, advice and inspiration, visit our calendar where you can find details of upcoming digital events.


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The Northern Irish band’s latest tour was in support of their 2018 album Wildness
The audio rental company has added Luminex GigaCore 26i network switches to its inventory, in order to become one of the largest providers of Milan AVB-compliant networking solutions
After essentially 80 years of disuse, the Alexandra Palace theatre has now been restored as of December 2018
L-Acoustics are to unveil X4i, showcase hyperreal L-ISA technology, and present new Crestron module at ISE 2019
15 Rat Sound crew members worked on implementing the sound system for three days, and the show required more than 100 wireless channels for microphones, backline and IEMs
Top pro audio exhibitors tell us why NAMM is essential to industry business and what's in store for this year's show
Neumann & Müller sound designer and engineer, Omar Samhoun, applied TiMax SpageSpace to the Waldbühne amphitheater, enabling object-based immersive spatialisation like never before
EartH, London, has the first permanent installation of L-ISA immersive hyperreal sound technology in a European live music venue. The venue recently hosted the closing show of former The Smith's guitarist Johnny Marr’s latest UK tour
After working on one of his tours earlier that year, Adlib was selected again to supply L-Acoustics
Marcus Ross and Vic Wagner join US and Canada application, touring, and Scott Sugden assumes product management role
Alt-J are the first rock band to use L-Acoustics’ L-ISA system, and the band and engineer Lance Reynolds give insight into the immense effect it had on their show...
The L-Acoustics founder sat down for an exclusive interview with PSNEurope...
The pro audio pioneer has spoken exclusively to PSNEurope about his life in audio in a new, in-depth interview
the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, in partnership with CineConcerts and Warner Bros. Consumer Products, performed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in Concert at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre
Britannia Row provided Childish Gambino's This Is America tour with L-Acoustics L-ISA system
The French company's K1 and K2 supported Celine Dion's longtime audio provider Solotech in achieving consistent sound throughout venues
The French company’s founder and president will be presented with the award at the November 22 ceremony at London’s Steel Yard.


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A.S. Watson Group Retail Academy Launching Ceremony cum Qualifications Framework Recognized Qualifications Presentation Ceremony was held in the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) today. Over 120 staff of A.S. Watson Group (the Group) completed the Level 4 and 5 courses under the Qualifications Framework (QF). It recognizes the effort made by staff and the achievement of learning and development programme under the Group. It also announced the launch of A.S. Watson Group Retail Academy (the Academy), which will run an institution to manage all talent development programme. It is the first local retail academy in the industry, driving the development of the new retail era.
CK Hutchison’s audited results for the year ended 31 December 2017 (in PDF)
Sorry, this article is only available in Chinese. You may switch to Chinese version to read it.
A.S. Watson Group (ASW) announces the appointment of Kulvinder Birring as Chief Executive Officer of Watsons China, effective from 1 January 2018.
A.S. Watson Group (ASW), the world’s largest international health and beauty retailer, announces the launch of its first ever Technology Partnership Programme to build a network of technology expert partners to support the acceleration of its digital transformation.
A.S. Watson Group organised the Elderly Visit, a highlighting volunteer activity under Project LOL philanthropy programme, with the support of 950 volunteers from the Group’s business units and 29 business partners to visit more than 1,800 singleton elderly in Hong Kong on 3 December 2017.


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Veeconomy, a plant protein company from Switzerland, has launched a campaign called Vegan United, where supporters order a voucher from one of the participating companies or make a donation. Veeconomy CEO Theo Favetto says vegans should stand together as a team against the damage of the coronavirus.
The current crisis has Switzerland in its grip and its economy is suffering. “Everyone is talking about vegan food,” says Veeconomy the CEO, “but the industry thrives on the idealism and passion of its entrepreneurs – market shares are still too small.” He adds, “We are promoting the vegan food industry, which is actually systemically important.”
On Veeconomy.com, supporters can help their favourite company by buying a voucher or making a donation. The company’s Facebook page states: “Now is the time we stand up for our ideals. For many years there have been countless small shops and entrepreneurs in Switzerland who are committed to the vegan lifestyle. These are now in danger. Ironically because of a virus that’s only in circulation because we are still exploiting animals. We at Veeconomy are launching the Vegan United action. On our platform, we offer Switzerland’s vegan community the opportunity to directly support their favorite businesses financially.”
Restaurants, caterers, producers, or shops, which make less or no more turnover due to COVID-19, or which are affected by personnel losses due to isolation, quarantine or infection, can register on veeconomy.com/vegan_united to become a member of Vegan United.


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Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro have announced the Magic Pro League, a new esports league for the 25-year-old collectible card game.
Category: Trading Cards Games
During the World Finals Of Clash Royale League, Tim Ebner, head of esports at Supercell, discusses the future of gaming in Esports and its place in the Asian market
Hearthstone hits the 100 million player mark and yes, it’s a lot of players…
A collaboration between the Pokemon Center and the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum are bringing Pokemon cards into the world of art
The popular Hearthstone player Disguised Toast breaks down how much money he and other top streamers make on Twitch
Blizzard takes stock of next updates on Hearthstone.


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Recent reports are proving something we've all been hoping for — new home construction numbers continue their upward climb. As evidenced by the groundbreaking happening around us, single-family housing starts are on a steady rise.
This is great news in my industry, as housing demand continues on an upward trend too. While the recovery in home building has been helped by record low mortgage rates and a decline in the inventory of unsold homes, I also credit the positive number to buyers who are smartly shopping for a wise investment.
If you're thinking about shopping for a new home, or ready to sell, I'd love to help. We have some beautiful properties available that feel like they're in the country, when they're just minutes away from shopping and schools.


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NEW DELHI: Tata Motors on Saturday said it has collaborated with HDFC Bank for financing of its passenger vehicles.
Through the partnership, the company said it has introduced two new schemes — ‘Gradual Step Up Scheme’ and ‘TML Flexi Drive Scheme’ with an eye on making its products more accessible and driving up sales in the festive season.
The schemes will be available till the end of November 2020 and can be redeemed on the entire new BS-VI range of cars and SUVs along with the company’s EV range, Tata Motors said in a statement.
Under the Gradual Step Up scheme, customers can avail EMI options as low as Rs 799 per lakh per month, depending on the product and variant. The EMI payments gradually increase over a period of 2 years depending on the payment convenience of the buyer, it added.
Flexi Drive scheme offers the option to the consumer to choose any three months every year, where s/he can pay a minimum EMI of Rs 789 per lakh per month, depending on the product and variant as per convenience.
This is aimed at helping customers map their EMI payment properly so that they can tide over the high outflow months easily, giving them the flexibility and power to choose, the company said.
Commenting on the collaboration, Tata Motors head – marketing, passenger vehicle business unit Vivek Srivatsa said, “This is in alignment with our constant endeavour to make safe personal mobility solutions more affordable and accessible to individuals and families, while contributing to the joy of this year’s festive season.”
HDFC Bank country head – retail lending Arvind Kapil said, “We believe this partnership offers affordable and viable financing solutions, in that, creating a valuable proposition for our customers, thereby facilitating the ownership of their dream car.”
Tata Motors said it is also providing up to 100 per cent ex-showroom financing on the entire PV product range under both schemes.


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Investing.com - The dollar remained mostly higher against the other major currencies on Friday, after U.S. industrial production data came in in line with expectations, while markets eyed a final report on U.S. consumer sentiment later in the session.
The dollar was steady against the yen, with USD/JPY down 0.01% to 104.33.
Official data showed that U.S. industrial production rose 0.3% in December, in line with expectations, after a 1% increase in November whose figure was revised down from a previously estimated 1.1% gain.
A separate report showed that U.S. building permits declined 3% to 0.986 million units in December, from 1.017 million units the previous month. Analysts had expected building permits to slip to 1.015 million units last month.
Data also showed that U.S. housing starts rose dropped 9.8% to 0.999 million units in December, from an upwardly revised 1.107 million units in November, compared to expectations for a decline to 0.990 million units.
The reports came after U.S. economic data on Thursday was viewed as too soft to prompt the Federal Reserve to speed up the pace at which it tapers monthly asset purchases.
The euro was lower against the dollar, with EUR/USD down 0.34% to 1.3573.
The pound was higher against the dollar, with GBP/USD advancing 0.54% to 1.6441.
Official data earlier showed that U.K. retail sales increased by 2.6% in December, far more than the expected 0.4% rise. Retail sales in November were revised down to a 0.1% rise from a previously estimated 0.3% gain.
The dollar was higher against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF gaining 0.42% to 0.9086.
In Switzerland, official data showed that producer price inflation was flat last month, confounding expectations for a 0.1% rise, after a 0.1% fall in November.
The greenback was broadly higher against the Australian, New Zealand and Canadian dollars, with AUD/USD sliding 0.36% to 0.8789, NZD/USD tumbling 1% to 0.8272 and USD/CAD adding 0.22% to 1.0955.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.19% to 81.17.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release the preliminary reading of the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index.


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While the neighbouring state West Bengal celebrated its one year of Rosogolla Day on November 14 after winning the three-year pitched geographical indication (GI) tag battle, Odisha is planning to get GI status for its local natural sweetener palm jaggery.
There are four palm jaggery selling points across the State at Khandagiri, Unit-II in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Salepur. Besides, the product is also sold at various exhibitions being organised in the State.
Considering these facts, a number of meetings have been held in this regard between Odisha State Palmgur Cooperative Federation (OSPCF) and Central Tool Room & Training Centre (CTTC).
As quoted by the Odisha Suntimes, a senior official in the palm jaggery federation said that the authorities will take initiative to provide training to the farmers for proper method to make palm jaggery.
Notably, the origin of palm jaggery in Odisha is beloved to be very ancient. Even, MK Gandhi had laid focus on the promotion of palm jaggery during his period. Although West Bengal is also a leading producer of palm jaggery in the country, its making process in Odisha differs from the neighbouring State.


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The evolution of social media from an entertainment tool to a powerful marketing weapon has rapidly transformed the relationship between industries and their unique consumers over the last few years. And in this past year alone, Instagram grew from 200,000 active monthly advertisers in 2016 to 1 million in 2017.
A few months ago, Mediakix ran an experiment by creating two new Instagram profiles, one using photos of a local model and one using stock photos. The company then filled both accounts with purchased followers, likes and comments. Before long, each account had secured paid influencer deals with brands, despite reaching a grand total of zero real people.
Anecdotally, a lot of people are noticing that Facebook seems to be almost psychic in its ability to target relevant ads.
Some have speculated that Facebook listens to your phone's microphone to pick up ambient conversations, which Facebook has repeatedly denied.
In fact, Facebook ads are targeted towards you in a variety of methods including your behavior and what you input on Facebook, what sites you visit while you are logged onto Facebook in the background of your device and information third-party companies can pull on you.


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Semiconductor design firm ARM has done something extremely out of character: it has announced a roadmap for its product timeline into 2020.
The chip designer is claiming that it is confident it can keep up with the pressure of always-connected 5G network demands and can beat Moore’s Law by breaking above the double-performance barrier in four year’s time. Furthermore, at a time when Intel’s position in the chip market appears to be unstable with Apple and traditional PC makers experimenting with different silicon for different form factors, ARM may be able to cement itself as the IP source for chipmakers into the next lucrative phase of computing — Windows on ARM through Qualcomm is a big example of that.
It will begin this year with plans to bring the Cortex-A76 design, announced in May, down from its current second-generation 10nm fabrication to 7nm with commercial products launching by the end of this year. ARM then moves into codename mode: “Deimos” will take over for 2019 based on the 7nm process, then “Hercules” will take a refined 7nm and then bring on 5nm in 2020. The company told us that Hercules will bring a 250 percent performance jump from 2016’s Cortex-A73.
All designs will run on a thermal design of 5 watts or less versus the 15W on standard Intel laptop products — realistically, that means phones will have to run with big.LITTLE arrangements of a few powerful cores and several efficiency cores. And unlike Intel’s offerings, workloads will still be on single threads. That said, the cores will be marketed to work with phone and tablet form factors. The watermarks that ARM expects us to be talking about in the next couple of years are streaming 8K video and high-quality mixed reality content.
Samsung has also announced its roadmap for silicon this year and it seems to be taking chips down to 4nm with new lithography technology and new transistor designs. Media were given an opportunity to ask questions about whether ARM’s fabricator partners were ready to take on challenges and costs associated with smaller dies. The company gave us assurances that it was lock step with said partners, but has yet to provide specifics.
Update: We asked a couple of questions relating to how ARM’s fabrication partners may be able to scale to new transistor technologies as die sizes shrink. Cost is a big issue in making these transitions and those costs eventually get passed along to consumers.
Here’s the response from ARM:
Arm IP is designed to be used on multiple generations of process nodes, and the IP itself is configurable to stay within area and power budgets.
For example, the Cortex-A76 is targeted at 10nm/7nm, and ‘Hercules’ at 7nm/5nm. Cortex-A76 also supports DynamIQ technology, which allows partners to scale the use from 1+3, 2+6 or 4+4 configurations. These configurations are examples used to serve entry, mid-range, and upper premium markets where process nodes vary.
This flexibility of process, and configuration options of the IP at implementation time, and DynamIQ technology, allow Arm partners to balance their needs across all the tiers in economically viable process nodes.


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Chinese duo take creative helm at Cacharel
French fashion house Cacharel, best known for colourful prints and breezy pret-a-porter styles, on Monday named a Paris-based Chinese design duo as its new artistic directors.
Liu Ling and Sun Dawei -- who succeed Cedric Charlier, who left the family-owned business in March after just four seasons -- will send out their first collection during the next Paris fashion week that opens September 27.
In a statement, Cacharel said Liu, 32, a native of Harbin in northeast China, and Sun, 29, from Dalian, would be in charge of womenswear, menswear, children's clothing and accessories.
Liu and Sun started their studies in China before coming to Paris to attend the prestigious Chambre Syndicale fashion institute, where they met. They started their own label, Belle Ninon, in 2009.
Liu's career has taken her to Balenciaga and Yves Saint Laurent, while Sun has honed his craft at Lolita Lempicka, Balenciaga and John Galliano.
© 2011 AFP


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Chipotle to give away $100,000 in bitcoin on April 1st
One of America's favorite fast-food chains is doling out more than burritos this week.
According to CNN, Chipotle giving away $100,000 worth of bitcoin on Thursday, April 1 to celebrate National Burrito Day.
The company says this contest marks the first time a US restaurant chain has given away bitcoin.
Chipotle's contest begins at noon on Thursday and ends at 9 p.m. (ET), and officials with the Mexican Grill confirmed that the contest is not an April Fools' Day stunt, even though it will take place on the same day.
To win, Chipotle fans can visit the website BurritosOrBitcoin.com, which will launch Thursday, to try to guess a valid six-digit code.
Each player is allowed ten tries during the contest, and correct guesses could allow fans to rack up to $25,000 in bitcoin- or a free burrito, seeing as Chipotle is also giving away $100,000 in food.
A total of 53 people could actually win the bitcoin: 50 fans will win $500 in the cryptocurrency, and 3 will win $25,000. In addition to this, 10,000 fans will win one burrito.
Throughout the campaign, Chipotle is partnering with Stefan Thomas, the San Francisco man who famously lost $220 million worth of bitcoin because he couldn't remember the password to his digital wallet. He says he's "made peace" with the monumental loss.
"If players are unsuccessful in their ten attempts and endure the same fate as Thomas, they may be surprised and delighted with a special offer from Chipotle," the company said in a press release.
In a February 2021 article, Business Report stated that the estimated number of global crypto users has passed 100 million - and that around 106 million people are now using cryptocurrencies around the world.
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"The password is still king," Hazlewood told CSO. "Until some other multi-factor authentication, like a debit card, can be used for online interaction, almost every single technology that's been invented has not been as widely adopted by the average consumer as the password."
However, businesses have made some headway in authentication in recent times. "In the last couple of years, we've seen a lot stronger acceptance of multi-factor authentication," Hazlewood noted.
"But the reason that works in the corporate environment is because you have top-down management that forces it on everyone in the company," he said. "That pressure doesn't exist in the consumer world, so you're not seeing adoption of that kind of technology there."
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Delhi govt to sell onion at Rs 23.90/kgtext_fields
New Delhi: The Delhi government on Friday announced the onions in the city will be sold at Rs 23.90 per kilogramme through mobile vans and at Ration shops from Saturday.
Making the announcement, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said onion prices are as high as Rs 60-80 per kg in the country.
"The Delhi government will provide onions at Rs 23.90 per kg in all 70 Vidhan sabhas through 70 mobile vans and at 400 Ration shops."
One individual can buy up to five kilogram of onion.
"The rate are for next five days," Kejriwal said adding there will be strict action against black marketing.
The government has made arrangements for 1 lakh kg of onions.
"We will decide on the further requisition based on the sale and consumption of onions in these five days. We will continue with this move till the prices of onions are stabilised."
Speaking on the number of fair price shops and mobile vans, the Chief Minister said that based on the demand of onions per constituency, the government will determine the requirement of positioning more fair price shops and mobile vans in the city.
"The onion sale points will operate between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. and no ID will be required for purchasing onion from these points. I hope that the people will be honest and only purchase onions for family use."


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Expect more Harley-Davidsons.
Other U.S.-based companies are going to go overseas as a result of escalating trade disputes with other countries, and more companies are going to take abuse from President Trump on Twitter for doing so, analysts said Tuesday.
"The president's trade policies hit Harley-Davidson two ways," by raising the price of steel and inviting new tariffs, said Philip Levy, an adjunct professor of strategy at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. That combination makes the U.S. "look relatively less attractive as a place to produce," said Levy, who expects more companies to move production overseas.
The U.S.-based motorcycle manufacturing company, announced in an SEC filing Monday that it will shift some of its production to international locations because of tariffs that the European Union placed on the company's products.
The company didn't disclose any specifics of where production could be shifted or how it could affect U.S. plants. Harley has a plant in York, Pa., and operations elsewhere in the United States, and has foreign plants, including in Brazil, India, and Thailand, but not in Europe.
Harley-Davidson said the EU's tariffs on its motorcycles jumped from 6 percent to 31 percent, raising the average cost of a "hog" exported to Europe by about $2,200. The EU is the largest market for Harley after the United States, so the production relocation is part of an effort to avoid the higher tariff without substantially raising costs for consumers, the company said in the filing.
Harley-Davidson is hardly the only company doing this. There are more companies in the U.S. that use steel rather than produce it, Levy said, which means these businesses will look for other ways to reduce production costs — including relocating production.
Levy said Trump's reaction to Harley-Davidson's announcement suggests that he has faith in his negotiating ability, but Levy sees "essentially no evidence that the president's strategies are going to pay off" in the form of tariff-free access to Europe.
Trump tweeted Tuesday morning that "employees and customers are already very angry" at the company for surrendering to higher tariffs and promised that the company would be "taxed like never before." His criticism of Harley-Davidson marked a change in his relationship with the company after he welcomed Harley-Davidson representatives to the White House in 2017.
Timothy Calkins, a professor of marketing at the Kellogg School, said this is an example of why a company has to be prepared to respond if the president attacks on Twitter.
"Every once in a while, a company will receive a lot of attention from Donald Trump, and when it happens it is very difficult for a company to manage," he said.
Apple, he said, outsources production to Asia, but its products are designed in California, enabling the firm to emphasize its American roots.
Harley-Davidson is an "iconic American brand," Calkins said, but it now needs to balance its image as a U.S. brand with its need to produce in other countries to remain afloat. The company's popularity has been falling in recent years, with 2017 marking its fourth-straight year of declining sales.
Calkins said the company had thought about transferring some production overseas in the past, but the higher tariffs "increase the urgency quite significantly."


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For the second month in a row, sales of electric vehicles (EVs) were the vehicle segment to grow, but data shows the government’s ambitions for the EV transition does not go far enough, according to the latest data from New AutoMotive.
The company’s most recent figures show that during June 2022, 20,837 pure EVs were sold, with EVs now representing one in six of all new vehicle registrations.
Meanwhile, sales of hybrid vehicles decreased to 31,531 in June 2022, from 40,265 the same month last year.
With sales of EVs already at 16%, up from 10% year-on-year, the government’s request to manufacturers to achieve 22% of sales from EVs by end of 2024 is “lagging behind consumer demand,” according to NewAutomtive.
This echo’s the Climate Change Committee’s findings in its recent progress report, which suggested that the adoption of EVs is already ahead of both its own and government growth projections, highlighting that consumers and households are willing to adopt low-carbon options when cost-effective products are offered.
Despite the increased sale of EVs in June, overall car sales decreased by a quarter and even with the rising prices of petrol and diesel driving consumers towards electric cars, supply is currently not keeping pace with demand, according to Ben Nelmes, head of policy and research at New AutoMotive.
Read more: Current+


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Chennai, India – 28 November 2022: SWITCH Mobility Ltd (‘SWITCH’), the next-generation carbon neutral electric bus and light commercial vehicle company, has partnered with JSW to introduce electric buses for employee transportation in India. This is the first significant and largest electric bus order in the country for employee transportation, with 71 buses being delivered to JSW Steel, for their Vijayanagar plant. SWITCH Mobility will own and oversee entire operations including setting-up of charging infrastructure and requisite maintenance efficacy, over a 12-year contract period. The first set of electric buses were flagged-off by Sajjan Jindal, Chairman and Managing Director - JSW Group of companies and Mahesh Babu, Global CEO – SWITCH Mobility Ltd.
Mahesh Babu, Global CEO – SWITCH Mobility Ltd, said, “The private bus market in India, is one of the key transportation markets in the country constituting 70% market share, of which the private electric bus market is expected to be valued at ₹60 billion in the next five years. With the positive reception to SWITCH EiV 12, we are pleased to enter the employee transportation space and be a part of the sustainability journey with JSW Steel. This partnership with JSW is an important milestone for SWITCH Mobility, as we deliver our first and largest private bus order in the country. I would like to thank the management of JSW for their trust in our SWITCH products. We are in talks with more corporates across the country who are showing keen interest to join hands in this sustainable journey’’.
The air-conditioned buses include SWITCH EiV 12 which features customer-centric offerings on technology and employee comfort, while being contemporary and futuristic. SWITCH EiV 12 is embedded with proprietary, connected technology solutions, ‘SWITCH iON’, enabling remote, real-time diagnostics and monitoring services, as well as world-class digital battery management tools. The EV architecture of the EiV platform is common with the European SWITCH e1 bus.
The buses are also equipped with a new generation of highly efficient, modular batteries with advanced lithium-ion NMC chemistry, specially formulated for the Indian market and climatic conditions. The electric drivetrains and batteries are calibrated to ensure superior efficiency with long battery life, delivering lower total cost of ownership in the market.
To ensure effective operations and services of these electric buses, SWITCH is expanding its team and recruiting 200 personnel, in line with its growth plans of increasing its workforce by 30% over the next five years.


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The huge growth of sales on the internet has been staggering and should continue this year. Last year between November 1 and December 31, online sales hit $91.7 billion, up 11% from $82.5 billion in 2015. The 2016 holiday season also broke a major the e-commerce record, as Cyber Monday became the largest online shopping day in U.S. history, generating $3.45 billion in online sales, up 12% from 2015. Black Friday wasn’t far behind, with sales jumping nearly 22% year over year to $3.34 billion. While this year’s numbers aren’t all in yet, they are expected to be gigantic.
Clearly the companies that dominate the internet are poised to do well, but there are some old-school brick-and-mortar stocks that also have a big internet presence and look poised to post gigantic sales as well. Jefferies has focused on what is expected to be another banner year during the holiday season, and the firm likes two top retail stocks.
We also screened our Wall Street research database for other internet and retail companies that will be the big winners.
This top retailer has traded sideways for almost all of 2017 but is Jefferies favorite specialty retailer for the holidays. Kohl’s Corp. (NYSE: KSS) operates department stores in the United States that offer private label, exclusive and national brand apparel, footwear, accessories, beauty and home products to children, men and women customers. The company also sells its products online at Kohls.com and through mobile devices.
While retail chains have suffered from internet pressure, Kohl’s has held its own as consumers see the company as a solid discount retailer. In addition, Amazon is growing its partnership with the department store chain. Last summer, the two companies announced that Kohl’s would begin selling Amazon devices, such as the Echo and Fire tablets, at 10 of its stores. Kohl’s also will be accepting Amazon.com returns at certain U.S. locations.
Jefferies is very bullish on the company’s prospects for the season and noted this:
45% of respondents from our survey intend to increase spending at Kohls this holiday season. The analyst thinks that the company is a share gainer as their initiatives to drive traffic appears to take hold and will benefit from peer store closings, new brand additions and omni-channel initiatives. Margins are on the upswing, driven by growth in regular priced sales, while cost savings and efforts to right size select boxes are also helping.
Investors receive a 4.88% dividend. The Jefferies price target for the stock is $48, and the Wall Street consensus target is $43.11. But the stock was trading at $45.15 early Monday.
The giant retailer posted huge quarterly results and also is Jefferies favorite stock for the holidays. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) is the world’s largest retailer, operating retail stores in various formats, including Sam’s Club, in the United States as well as a growing e-commerce business (including Jet.com). Internationally Walmart also operates locations in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Japan, Mexico and the United Kingdom.
Each week, nearly 260 million customers and members visit the company’s 11,535 stores under 72 banners in 28 countries and e-commerce websites in 11 countries. With fiscal year 2016 revenue of $482.1 billion, Walmart employs approximately 2.2 million associates worldwide.
The Jefferies report had this to say:
The company’s big earnings-per share beat last week reflected strong +2.7% U.S. comparisons and the 1 & 2-yr comparison trends accelerated with the best performance in 8 years. Wal-Mart’s omni-channel momentum continued in the quarter with healthy gross merchandise volume and owned e commerce growth plus broad-based strength in stores.
The company announced earlier this year a massive $20 billion stock repurchase plan that was met with open arms by Wall Street. Many think it is in an effort to ward off potential activist investors. Most shareholders could care less.
Shareholders receive a 2.24% dividend. Jefferies has a $110 price target, while the consensus target is $99.94. The shares traded recently at $97.50.
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Deciding it can better serve the industry by breaking off from Worldwide Food Expo, the International Dairy Foods Association Board of Directors has accepted the recommendation of its Executive Committee that the association’s dairy trade show become an annual event.
“The launch of a new annual International Dairy Show in 2010 gives the dairy industry a great opportunity to focus on industry trends and to keep up with a rapidly changing marketplace,” said Gary Vanic, president and CEO of Great Lakes Cheese Co. and IDFA board chairman.
Research indicated that IDFA’s trade show could provide greater value for the dairy community and IDFA members by offering an event focused on trends and innovations in the dairy industry. Exhibitors and attendees who participate in Worldwide Food Expo indicated through interviews and surveys that an annual event would create more opportunity to showcase product and packaging innovation as well as provide more frequent interaction between suppliers and processors.
“With the new show, we will be able to focus on the topics, issues and products dairy professionals care about most,” said Connie Tipton, IDFA president and CEO. “It will provide the learning, networking and trade show experience the dairy industry depends on to stay on top of the latest trends and issues.”
The first International Dairy Show will be held Sept. 13-15, 2010, in Dallas. The location of future shows will be based on competitive pricing and access for exhibitors and attendees.
For the past 10 years, IDFA has co-located its biennial trade show with the American Meat Institute in Chicago.
Washington, D.C.-based IDFA represents 530 companies in a $110 billion-a-year industry, including 220 dairy processing members with more than 600 plant operations. More information is at www.idfa.org.


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Microsoft to produce tablet PCs
As this years CES show approaches this week in Las Vegas, Microsoft appears ready to announce tablets again. News reports are beginning to crop up that show Windows 7 running on tablet devices and some tech observers believe the new tablet devices will take a bite out of Microsoft's Windows sales. Will tablets replace the PC in the coming years? That seems to be the big question.
Steve Ballmer expected to debut tablets during keynote address at this years CES


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Among other items: Lockheed Martin said yesterday that fourth-quarter earnings rose 8 percent on higher sales in its electronic systems and space businesses; Verizon earned $3.04 billion in the fourth quarter, posting a 6 percent revenue gain; and UPS said it is implementing a management hiring freeze and will work harder on reducing costs as...
United Airlines reported a $664 million loss for the fourth quarter yesterday and a $1.6 billion loss for 2004.
In reporting the loss, the world’s No. 2 airline said continuing financial pressure will force it to scale back its capacity by 3 percent this year, though the company did not provide specifics on where or how those cuts will be made.
CEO Glenn Tilton called the fourth-quarter performance “unsustainable.”
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United’s results mark the company’s 18th straight quarterly loss. United, which has been in bankruptcy for 26 months, has lost $9.7 billion in the four years since it last turned a profit, in 2000.
United’s net loss for the final three months of 2004, including special items, was $5.73 per share, larger than the loss of $4.33 per share, or $476 million, for the same period a year earlier. Revenues for the fourth quarter rose 5 percent to $4 billion, from $3.8 billion.
United’s $1.6 billion loss for the year was its smallest of the past four years. The company last made money in 2000, when it had net income of $322 million.
Electronic systems, space boost Lockheed earnings
Lockheed Martin, the nation’s largest defense company, said yesterday that fourth-quarter earnings rose 8 percent on higher sales in its electronic systems and space businesses, beating Wall Street predictions. Its shares rose nearly 3 percent.
The defense contractor said it earned $372 million, or 83 cents per share, in the fourth quarter of 2004. That was higher than the $344 million, or 77 cents per share, that Lockheed posted a year ago. The company also raised its outlook for 2005.
For all of 2004, Lockheed had earnings of $1.27 billion, or $2.83 per share, up from 2003 earnings of $1.05 billion, or $2.34 per share. Revenue for the year was $35.5 billion compared with $31.8 billion in 2003.
Lockheed shares rose $1.17, to close at $56.40 yesterday.
Cellular business drives Verizon revenue gain
Verizon earned $3.04 billion in the fourth quarter, posting a 6 percent revenue gain as another powerful showing by the cellular business more than compensated for the continuing decline of traditional local phone service.
The profit reported yesterday, which included about $1.2 billion in one-time gains and related tax benefits from the sale of some Canadian assets, amounted to $1.08 per share, matching most Wall Street forecasts.
Fourth-quarter revenues totaled $18.26 billion, up from $17.20 billion a year earlier.
Verizon Wireless, owned in partnership with Vodafone of Britain, contributed more than 40 percent of the company’s revenues, compared with 35 percent in the final months of 2003. The unit’s revenue total of $7.34 billion was up 22.7 percent from the year-ago period.
For all of 2004, Verizon earned $7.83 billion, or $2.79 per share. In 2003, the company earned $3.08 billion, or $1.12 per share.
Shares of Verizon fell 65 cents to close at $35.87 yesterday.
Sears posts 86 percent decline in net earnings
Sears is limping into its proposed merger with Kmart.
The department-store giant reported an 86 percent drop in fourth-quarter net earnings yesterday after shedding its profitable credit-card unit a year earlier, its results now dependent on sagging retail sales.
The $378 million quarterly profit, which outpaced Wall Street’s estimates, ended a year of lower sales that CEO Alan Lacy acknowledged was another “disappointing financial performance.”
Net income for the last three months of 2004 was $378 million, or $1.76 per share, down 86 percent from the record $2.7 billion, or $10.84 per share, of a year earlier when Sears sold its credit-card unit to Citigroup. Analysts interviewed by Thomson First Call had estimated earnings at $1.66 per share.
Revenues declined 4.6 percent to $11.1 billion from $11.6 billion, with comparable-store sales flat in the quarter after a decline last month.
For the year, the company had a net loss of $489 million, or $2.26 per share, compared with net income of $3.4 billion, or $11.86 per share, a year earlier. Revenues were $35.7 billion, down 1.8 percent from $36.4 billion.
Sears shares rose 18 cents to close at $50.08 yesterday — up about 11 percent since the Kmart merger was announced Nov. 17.
Disappointing results spur UPS cost-cutting plan
UPS, the world’s largest shipping carrier, said it is implementing a management hiring freeze and will work harder on reducing costs as it reported disappointing fourth-quarter results that included weaker than expected domestic ground volume.
The company also said yesterday that while it expects strong earnings and overall growth in 2005, its U.S. ground volume is only expected to rise 2 percent to 3 percent, which would be below the 3.5 percent the economy is projected to grow this year.
UPS shares fell $1.49, or 2 percent, to close at $74.01 yesterday.
UPS said it earned $866 million, or 76 cents a share, for the three months ended Dec. 31, a slim 1.2 percent increase compared with its profit of $856 million, or 75 cents a share, for the same period a year ago.
Excluding one-time items, UPS said it earned $933 million, or 82 cents a share, in the quarter. Analysts were expecting earnings of 76 cents a share.
Revenue in the October-December period was $9.84 billion, a 10.2 percent increase from the $8.93 billion a year ago.
For all of 2004, UPS said it earned $3.33 billion, or $2.93 a share, compared with a profit of $2.90 billion, or $2.55 a share, for the previous year.
Caterpillar forecast isn’t met, shares decline
Caterpillar, the heavy equipment manufacturer, reported a 58 percent surge in fourth quarter net income yesterday on sharply higher sales but still fell short of Wall Street’s profit expectations. Its shares tumbled more than 5 percent.
The company said it earned $551 million, or $1.55 a share, for the October-December period, up from $349 million, or 97 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts had expected a profit of $1.63 a share.
Sales rose 33 percent to $8.57 billion from $6.47 billion a year ago and surpassed analysts’ estimates of $7.6 billion in sales.
Its shares fell $4.60, or 5.1 percent, to close at $86.52 yesterday — down more than 12 percent from the 52-week high of $98.72 reached last month.
For the year, its profits climbed 85 percent to $2.04 billion, or $5.75 a share, from $1.01 billion, or $3.13 a share, a year ago. Revenue rose to $30.3 billion, topping the $30 billion mark for the first time and up from $22.76 billion a year ago.
Compiled from The Associated Press. Information on United Airlines reducing capacity and CEO Glenn Tilton’s comment provided by USA Today.


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eGaming Curaçao has entered into a partnership with Oddsgate, a new sports betting website platform created in Portugal and which intends to be a reference platform in the iGaming industry. Through this agreement, eGaming Curaçao will indicate Oddsgate’s services to its customers, streamlining the entire process of contracting the gaming platform and making its services even more attractive for those who want to enter the online gaming market.
“This partnership was made with the objective of serving our customers in an even more complete way. Creating a licensed betting site in less than 90 days is now within the reach of any operator”, commented the Head of Marketing at eGaming Curaçao, Daniel Santos.
eGaming Curaçao: A turnkey solution for your project
With this new partnership, eGaming Curaçao complements its “All Inclusive” package with the development service for sports betting, casino or e-sports sites, which will allow it to expand its business. “There is a great demand for gaming platforms from our customers, who are interested in migrating their operations or launching new products on the market. This agreement will streamline the entire process of identifying the technological solution, in addition to technical and commercial discussions, drastically reducing time to market.” said Daniel Santos.
eGaming Curaçao takes care of the entire process of licensing gambling sites, creating an international corporate structure and agreements with payment gateways.
Oddsgate: the first Portuguese sports betting platform
Oddsgatewas founded in October 2021 with the aim of being the first Portuguese platform dedicated to the online gaming industry. With a team with over 15 years of experience, the company enters the iGaming industry offering a state-of-the-art platform aimed at regulated markets.
Developing sports betting, casino or e-sports sites, Oddsgate managed to have its platform certified a month after it was launched and aims to have its first projects in the first quarter of 2022.
eGaming Curaçao: What services are provided?
In early 2022, we can expect eGaming Curaçao’s services to become even more complete, being the perfect solution for customers who want to start an online venture. The services currently provided are:
- Obtaining the Game License;
- Opening of an Offshore Company;
- Opening of a Subsidiary in Europe;
- Opening a Bank Account in Europe;
- Agreements with Payment Gateways;
Contactus for more information on how you too can be part of this multi-million dollar market simply and quickly.


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Car enthusiasts will be delighted to know that the world’s first commercially available flying cars are now on sale. PAL-V, a Dutch company, had started selling the flying cars. The company will take orders for the aerial vehicle and will make one at the cost of more than $390,000.
PAL-V’s flying cars are called Liberty
PAL-V demonstrated its first successful test flight five years ago. The company’s offering will be the first flying car that will hit the commercial market. The company has dubbed the aerial vehicle as Liberty. The model is fully regulated and approved by safety authorities. PAL-V stated that the Liberty will comply with all safety regulations set by the government. The company revealed that the delivery for the cars will start in 2018.
PAL-V teased about the flying cars for years. The testing for the concept cars started in 2009. In 2016, the company opened the first flying car school in North America. The first batch of the Liberty will be around 90 units. The company deemed the first 90 units as Pioneer Editions. The car will have a special exterior, as well as the specially formulated interior designs and functions.
The consumers who are looking to have a personalized touch will be given the opportunity to customize the power heating as well as other features. However, customers will have to pay additional fees if they want to customize the car. Moreover, the Pioneer Edition is sold for a higher price.
The Liberty will take the form of an enclosed three-wheeler, tightly packing a propeller on its roof during its land driving mode. In order to go airborne, the propeller and tail blades will expand. This will transform the vehicle into a gyrocopter.
The aerial vehicle will take 10 minutes to transform from a land car to a copter. It has a maximum speed of 100 mph while on ground. Its top speed while in flight is 112 mph. In land, the car has a range of 817 miles on a full tank. When in flight, the Liberty’s top range will be at 310 miles.
Flying cars now on sale: The Liberty will have two variants
Robert Dingemanse, CEO of PAL-V, stated that it took years of hard work while trying to overcome technical challenges before they succeeded in creating the flying car. He also stated that the car complies with the existing safety standards determined by safety officials.
PAL-V is taking pre-orders for the Sport base model which will cost $400,000. The Pioneer model will cost $600,000. The extra $200,000 will include special detailing and electronic flight instrument display. This will allow the car to have a futuristic design. To know more about PAL-V head on to their official website.


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Sharks reveal 2014 Super Rugby jersey
- 20 Dec 2013
The Sharks have unveiled the home and away jersey for the 2014 Super Rugby tournament.
The new jersey is made by BLK, who design jerseys for the Queensland Reds, Samoa, Fiji, and league side Melbourne Storm.
The new garments offer the Sharks signature black and white outfits of previous seasons, with a subtle geometric carbonfibre print.
The new jerseys will be obtainable through major online stores and South African retailers in January.
What do you think of the jersey? Let us know in the comments below.
What we’ve learned
Five lessons from the Rugby Championship and Currie Cup this past weekend, according to CRAIG LEWIS.
Bank on Boks to stand up in Salta
THE MONEY MAN is putting R2,000 on the Springboks to beat Argentina comfortably in Salta on Saturday.
‘Canes defence pressured Lions’
What former Bok coach NICK MALLETT had to say on SuperSport about the Super Rugby final and the Springbok squad.


text: The Tony Elumelu Foundation opened applications for the seventh edition of its $100 million entrepreneurship programme last week. According to the foundation, this year’s intervention will among others prioritise the economic recovery of young African entrepreneurs following the severe impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. “To address the unique challenges arising from the pandemic, lift millions out of poverty and create sustainable employment across the continent, the Foundation’s Entrepreneurship Programme will empower over 3,500 young African entrepreneurs,” a statement from the foundation reads in part. Rwandans with innovative ideas and businesses can apply for the programme. Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme is arguably Africa’s leading entrepreneurship programme that seeks to empower African entrepreneurs. It is a brainchild of Tony Elumelu, Nigeria’s billionaire and Chairman of United Bank for Africa. The programme is a 10-year, $100 million commitment to identify, train, mentor and fund 10,000 African entrepreneurs with an aim of generating at least a million new jobs and create at least $10 billion in new business revenue across Africa. Each year, the Foundation selects about 1,000 entrepreneurs from different parts of Africa to under-go a 12-week intensive online training. Other benefits include a non-refundable seed capital up to $5,000, and global networking opportunities. Now its 7th year, the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme has empowered over 9,000 young African entrepreneurs, including Rwandans. Inspired by Tony Elumelu’s economic philosophy of ‘Africapitalism’ and his vision to institutionalise luck and democratise opportunity for a new generation of African entrepreneurs, the foundation has implemented one of the most ambitious entrepreneurship programmes globally. According to the Foundation, selected entrepreneurs from previous years have transformed their businesses and their communities. “The Tony Elumelu Foundation now more than ever is demonstrating our commitment to unleashing the potential of young African entrepreneurs, the key to Africa’s long-term economic transformation.” He added, “The pandemic has created challenges across the continent, but we know that with the Tony Elumelu Foundation’s tried and tested Programme, we can execute the largest Covid-19 economic recovery plan for African SMEs and break the cycle of poverty in Africa.” Applications will be judged based on criteria including feasibility, scalability and potential for growth of the product or service, market opportunity for the idea or business, financial understanding, leadership potential and entrepreneurial skills, according to the foundation. Applicants can apply on TEFConnect – www.tefconnect.com.


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There’s a funny thing about the way we often discuss solar power compared to other household goods. We don’t often refer to cars as “investments.” We also don’t tend to do so with TVs, game consoles, refrigerators, ovens, etc.
Granted, when we’re very attentive to energy efficiency, we may do so with some electronics and appliances. However, I don’t think that’s the norm.
But do so obsessively with solar power. It’s all about “investment” and return on investment (ROI). There are clear arguments as to why solar is different from some of the above, but there are also arguments for why it’s in the same boat.
For example, we need refrigerators, ovens, and electricity. Our choice is simply between which is the best option. Looking at solar vs other electricity options overall, solar is clearly the best option. People know this. Or, at least, they think they know this (but haven’t done an in-depth comparison) — which is just as good. Yet, solar is still on a tiny percentage of our roofs, and the decision to put it on one’s roof is almost always looked at from an investment or financial comparison point of view.
Transportation is also in the boat above, but if one were to compare the value or “payback” of cars versus other modes of transport, and make one’s decision to buy a car or not based on that decision, most of us wouldn’t own cars.
Clearly, there’s a double standard at play here.
Anyway, to the story of the day: homeowners do at least realize that going solar is a much better investment than buying a new car.
Kathleen Zipp of Solar Power World has more:
Seven out of 10 Massachusetts solar-owners believe solar energy is a better investment than a major property renovation or buying a car, according to a recent survey by New England Clean Energy. When asked which of the three was the best investment, 70 percent said solar, 29 percent said a property renovation, and 1 percent said buying a car.
In write-in comments, survey-takers expounded on their choices:
“Solar yields immediate, no-maintenance dividends, and boosts the home’s value. Renovations can be hit-or-miss.” (Eric Fix, Marlborough)
“It is a great investment that reduces your monthly expenses. The other two only raise your monthly expenses.” (Tom Aciukewicz, Harvard)
“It’s like putting money away for retirement” (Paul and Patricia Peavey, Pepperell)
The survey found that the 30 percent federal tax credit for solar electric systems is a strong motivator for going solar, seven years after its introduction, with 70 percent of respondents selecting it as one of their reasons for installing solar. And 95 percent of solar-owners are happy they installed solar, with a full 54 percent saying they “couldn’t be happier” with their solar energy systems.
The question is, why aren’t more people going solar instead of buying new cars? I think that’s a question solar marketers need to spend a lot of time considering.
One thing I always thing marketers need to focus on more is the coolness factor. Cool sells. Sexy sells. So sell solar as cool and sexy!
Strong facts in support of a product also sell. The survey above certainly provides some facts that solar marketers could make more use of.
“Not many products or services boast a 95 percent approval rate, especially a relatively new product like solar. I attribute this high favorability to the fact that solar electric systems are reliable and virtually maintenance-free. As one customer told us, she forgets her system is even there until she opens her monthly electric bill,” said Mark Durrenberger, president of New England Clean Energy. “Plus, solar pays you back. How many purchases do that?”


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The daily articles on Roulette.be do not only refer to the big winners of jackpots on games of chance such as lotteries or even online slot machine-style games. We also take a rather attentive look at what is going on behind the scenes, and more particularly on the side of the developers and publishers of these games which are the delight of land and online casino players.
But if you like stories of big winnings that sometimes turn out of the ordinary, we invite you to come tomorrow morning on our blog to discover this little and new story of two players who won £ 4 million in the lottery… but no ‘have almost no chance of getting the money back… In the meantime, spotlight on a partnership that will bring fun to online gamers in the months to come!
Today, we are interested in this news that has just fallen in the ear of our editorial staff. InBet Games and Wazdan have just signed a partnership, and it’s still interesting enough to have the right to an article on your favoriteblog …
InBet Games and Wazdan
You have therefore already understood it: a partnership has just been signed between the publisher Wazdan and the distribution platform Inbet Games.
Much more than a simple collaboration between the two firms, this partnership will allow the two protagonists to take full advantage of this agreement since Wazdan will be able to broaden its field of action, while InBet Games will benefit from a impressive catalog of high-billed and long-awaited games from Wazdan.
InBet Games is a very good support since it offers its new partner Wazdan a space of more than 47 countries!
InBet Games will take advantage of Wazdan…
If the publisher Wazdan enters into collaboration with the distribution platform InBet Games, the fact remains that you may not be aware of what these companies are. It is therefore for this reason that we are going to come back to these two companies.
If you do not know Inbet Games, you simply have to take into account that it is a distributor of games of chance and betting which remains particularly well established in the world of gambling given that it has to its credit more than 15,000 retail outlets. But that’s not all, since it actually represents no less than 140,000 computer systems, 100 Internet installations in more than 47 countries around the world and across 20,000 gaming terminals.
It must be said that InBet Games has not been awarded several times for nothing; knowing that it has accumulated up to 10 awards, including the famous SCB Awards, just over the past two years … But better still, it is important to note that InBet Gaming is also recognized in the profession, particularly for the quality of its offer of game.
The developer benefits from 18 years of experience in product development and knows how to stand out in a good way by respecting the standards, but also demonstrating a very great engineering in its products. In short, InBet Games is a publisher which succeeds in offering a remarkable gaming experience to players and which positions itself as a partner of choice for the firm Wazdan. And it is not those responsible for the latter who will say the opposite …


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How Much Money Did George Lucas Make Selling ‘Star Wars’ to Disney?
When Disney bought Lucasfilm in 2012, Star Wars creator George Lucas pocketed $4 billion. To put that into perspective, $1 billion could buy you a family vacation to space.
Basically, Disney spent $4 billion to buy them multiple trips to a galaxy far, far away. So in a sense, they’re actually saving money. And with only one major misstep so far (the underperforming Solo), that $4 billion has turned out to be money well spent. To paraphrase the knight in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, “They have chosen wisely.”
We’ll take a look at how much of a bonanza Star Wars has been for the Mouse House, what Lucasfilm and Disney have in their pipeline, and find out whatever happened to Lucas himself.
How much money has Disney made from Star Wars?
The $4 billion that Disney paid for Lucasfilm was more than the $3.6 billion they paid for Marvel in 2009. And it was less than the $7.4 billion they spent to purchase Pixar in 2006. So the entity Disney paid the least for, Marvel, has actually brought them the most heat lately. Last year, Disney’s movies brought in $7 billion, half of which was from Marvel movies.
And that was before Avengers: Endgame broke every box office record in sight.
That said, Star Wars hasn’t exactly been a slouch. As of October 2018, the Disney Star Wars movies had grossed $4.8 billion worldwide, so they’ve already made their money back from the movies alone. According to Box Office Mojo, The Force Awakens made $2 billion worldwide, Rogue One $1.06 billion, The Last Jedi made $1.3 billion, and Solo made $392 million worldwide. So even with Solo’s disappointment, the other movies have more than paid for themselves.
That doesn’t include all the money made from toys and other merchandise, and soon Disney will have a new Star Wars outlet with the Galaxy’s Edge lands at their Florida and California theme parks.
What Lucasfilm projects are coming up?
The Rise of Skywalker: You may have heard about this one. The concluding installment of the Skywalker story comes out Dec. 20.
The Mandalorian: This live-action Star Wars series, about the adventures of a gunfighter, will appear on Disney+, the company’s new streaming service. It premieres on Nov. 12, with Jon Favreau (Iron Man) as the showrunner.
The Benioff-Weiss trilogy: The Game of Thrones showrunners get their crack at Lucas’ world, although some fans are less than thrilled with that given the divided response to the GoT finale. Few details are known about this set of movies, but the release date of the first is known: Dec. 16, 2022. Disney had also announced a trilogy to be headed by Last Jedi director Rian Johnson, but the status of that is unclear at this time.
Indiana Jones 5: With all the noise generated by Star Wars, the guy with the whip tends to get lost in the shuffle, but he’s a Lucasfilm property too. The fifth entry was originally supposed to come out this year, but Steven Spielberg is working on his West Side Story remake now, so this has been pushed back to July 2021.
What is George Lucas doing after selling Star Wars?
As for the creator himself, he has kept a relatively low profile since selling his valuable property to Disney. One of his few appearances was in the sing-along finale of The Colbert Report on Comedy Central.
Doubtlessly, he prefers to ignore criticism over the Star Wars prequel trilogy, and over everything that was wrong with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
According to Forbes, Lucas has primarily been working on the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, scheduled to open in Los Angeles next year. He has a net worth of $6.2 billion.
“For the past 35 years, one of my greatest pleasures has been to see Star Wars passed from one generation to the next,” Lucas said at the time of the sale. “It’s now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers.”


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TOKYO -- Toyota Motor Corp. posted its steepest domestic output drop for November in 30 years, with sales and exports tumbling to decade lows while local rivals cut production to counter dwindling auto demand world-wide.
Toyota said Wednesday that its domestic production dropped 27.2% in November from a year earlier to 288,138 vehicles -- the firm's sharpest November fall since 1978 from when its historical output data are available.
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The connected world is driving our experience of entertainment. That entertainment needs to be more exciting and engaging than ever before and is typically curated and linked to social media. The pervasiveness of digital is the mega trend shaping the way consumers live and includes how they want to be entertained. The onus is on the provider – museum, theatre, festival, shop, game, app – to make the attraction or activity high quality, personalised and shareable.
Inspired by British astronaut Tim Peake’s recent International Space Station voyage, NASA’s current mission to Jupiter and an intergalactic style revival in the fashion sphere, the Space Age is in vogue.
Alton Towers launched the world’s first virtual reality roller coaster earlier this year. The ride, Galactica is billed as a combination of physical flight and an emotional journey into space. The visuals have been designed to be synchronised to the thrilling twists, turns and loops of the rollercoaster and to recreate the sensation of hurtling through space. Visitors ride in a prone position along the 840-metre long track, to recreate the feeling of flying.
“For two minutes, our guests will be transported into space and we believe Galactica showcases the future for theme parks around the world – it’s a complete game changer,” said Alton Towers Resorts marketing director Gill Riley, at the time of launch. “Galactica uses ground breaking technology to give riders a breathtaking and completely unique rollercoaster experience.”
Museums and theatres are also using virtual reality technology in innovative ways that draw in the crowds and keep their brand front of mind. The British Museum recently partnered with Samsung and its Samsung Gear VR devices in a recreation of a Bronze Age site complete with 3D scans of items from the museum’s collection. At Somerset House, an exhibition centred on music artist Björk, Björk Digital, uses VR headsets in an attempt to forge greater emotional engagement between the audience and the work.
And The National Theatre, which sees virtual reality as an opportunity to engage existing audiences in different ways, has opened an Immersive Storytelling Studio to design and create richer and deeper visitor experiences.
Immersive gaming apps
A recent PWC report underlines how media is evolving to a direct-to-consumer world and the importance of the smartphone where it says “users spend two out of every three minutes of their digital media time and where apps dominate.” AR gaming apps include elements of both reality and fantasy. They leverage a smartphone’s GPS and camera functionality to provide a rich and engaging experience.
Based on the iconic Pokémon franchise designed for Nintendo Game Boy in the 1990s, Pokémon Go is an extremely successful augmented reality game built around the idea of inviting users to find and catch Pokémon characters in their real world surroundings. Pokémon Go is a multiplayer app, which uses geolocation technology. The game’s design encourages exploration, outdoor exercise and real world social connections and has had over 500 million downloads globally since it launched in July 2016.
Players explore their neighbourhoods and surrounding communities to “discover” Pokémon alongside friends and other players. They do this via an augmented reality map that tracks their movements in the real world. The craze has resulted in news headlines including drivers falling off cliffs trying to catch the characters and a new trend in babies being named after them: Roselia, Eevee and Onyx to name a few.
Using emerging technologies, museums and cultural events are designing experiences that blend the senses to take audiences to new places – both enriching and refreshing traditional cultural experiences. Our senses are intertwined. Vision does not function independently from touch, taste or smell. Combining it with other senses can heighten a primarily visual entertainment experience.
In London, the new year of 2014 was ushered in by a multi-sensory fireworks display, including explosives people could touch and feel as well as see and hear. As red pyrotechnics exploded at the city’s Southbank area that night, the spectators were engulfed in a strawberry-flavoured cloud. There were also thousands of enormous bubbles filled with Seville orange flavoured smoke and edible banana confetti.
At last year’s art and music Merge Festival, also on London’s Southbank, visitors could enter an installation titled ‘The Chamber of Wishes’ where bioluminescence, one of the ocean’s great mysteries, was presented through a series of glass wishing bells filled with water containing the bioluminescent algae. They also experienced a mist-like atmosphere and the scents of the sea.
Novel and exciting experiences motivate people to share with their friends via social media and the “shareability” of immersive design content is built into each cultural experience.
The value of experience is now widely acknowledged as a key pillar of design for retail. As part of drive by the retail sphere to engage consumers in the physical store environment, shops are exploring new identities as places that deliver events, exhibitions, gigs and other happenings. It is also a place where the digital and the real world fuse. Retail specialist Mintel in its recent Fashion: Technology and Innovation report finds that 35% of consumers agree that new technology such as virtual reality headsets and iPads in-store would make the shopping experience more fun. This rises to 58% of young males aged 16-24 and 47% of men aged 25-44.
Aiming to serve a local community of tech fans, Apple’s new San Francisco flagship combines education, entertainment and community. A store that, in the words of the tech giant’s VP of retail Angela Ahrendts “Becomes one with the community.” Seeking to wow younger consumers, toyshop Hamley’s’ Moscow store opened in a blaze of glory last year with exciting hands-on features. These include a Go-Kart track, a full-scale replica of the Star Wars Millennium Falcon and a huge castle for children to explore.
Meanwhile, a Victorian-themed pub located at the end of the London Dungeon Museum attraction provides merchandise alongside authentic tipples, while music hall favourites are belted out on a piano and actors interact with the public.
Located in Westfield Shopping Centre, London, Kidzania is billed as “a child-size city where the kids are in charge”. At this mini theme park adults can kick back while children get the chance to take part in more than 60 real-life role plays including the jobs of a dentist, surgeon or airline pilot.
Personalised entertainment services
Personalisation arguably offers a guiding light within the noisy world of choice consumers inhabit now. The wealth of consumer data now available to brands is helping to shape new products and services tailored to the individual. In this ilk, personalised entertainment services are revolutionising the way we consume music, film and more.
Within the digital music stratosphere there is a profusion of streaming services with more content than we can listen to in a lifetime. Relying on algorithms – to recommend the right tunes to the right people – results in perfectly tailored playlists and maximum consumer engagement for the audiophile. For example, with its user-friendly desktop and smartphone apps, music streaming service Spotify seeks to woo users with daily and weekly playlists.
Each month brings new television shows and films to the Netflix site. Whether an individual has a penchant for the highly addictive Narcos crime drama; political intrigue in powerhouse series House of Cards or a taste for cooking documentary Chef’s Table, Netflix’s clever collaborative filtering techniques can give them more of what they like. Netflix – the world’s leading internet television network with over 86 million members in over 190 countries – leverages algorithms to recommend additional content and keep users tuning in.


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Fashion designer Phoebe Philo received her OBE at Buckingham Palace this weekend. The honour was presented to the British creative director of Céline by Prince Charles.
The designer was awarded the OBE as part of the Queen's New Year's Honours List for her services to fashion.
Philo was born in Paris to British parents and began her career assisting Stella McCartney who was Creative Director at Chloe at the time, before taking the helm in 2001 where she stayed for five years.
It was in 2008 that she took on her where she has made it one of the most coveted fashion brands.


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TikTok Might Let Users Charge Subscription Fees
TikTok is testing support for paid subscriptions in an effort to give creators the opportunity to make money out of their videos. If TikTok proceeds with paid subscriptions, this will be the latest move by TikTok to help users monetize their content. Having that said, you might be wondering, how will creators fuel the algorithm and reach users, if their best content is only available to subscribers?
As Position Mobile has learned from The Verge, “This is not a problem unique to TikTok, of course; all digital platforms trying to help content creators and influencers monetize their content are trying to balance engagement vs. letting creators monetize directly. And the creators themselves have to be able to predict what content subscribers will be willing to pay for, and what content will help them best promote their own work.”
TikTok is not the only platform that has announced paid subscriptions. As Position Mobile has found out, Meta-owned Instagram stated that it’s launching a test of paid subscriptions through which users will be paying a monthly fee that will range from $0.99 to $99.99 to access exclusive content.


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A Spotlight on Cybersecurity: 2022 Trends and 2023 Predictions
Get on-demand insights and strategic advice on how to prioritize and improve your security stance as we look toward the challenges and opportunities of the coming year. Recorded session available now.
By John E. Dunn
In the history of computing platforms, it’s hard to think of a more chaotic security situation than that unleashed upon consumers and businesses in the years after Android’s introduction in 2008.
Things have improved dramatically in recent times after overdue reforms by Google. Nonetheless, the sense that mobile devices remain an opaque risk still lingers. But how far should organizations probe into the security state of more recent mobile devices, and should this go as far as pen testing? They don’t after all, pen test, most other devices.
The short answer is that mobile devices are an order of magnitude more complex and revealing than other types of endpoints. They constantly move in and out of networks, they include a raft of sensors not found on other devices, and they can of course track location. Apps are constantly installed and uninstalled.
Despite this promiscuity, they are increasingly touted as an authentication token in zero trust environments. That central role in security could quickly turn today’s occasional targeting of mobiles into something more sustained.
The corporate answer to the mobile device security riddle is mobile device management (MDM), basically an extension of client server security to mobile devices. For any organization that wants to secure devices by policy across multiple operating systems and device types, MDM offers a much-needed route to sanity.
What MDM can’t always help with is the underlying security of the device at day one, that is vulnerabilities that might be lurking at its lowest levels. This used to be a largely theoretical worry but half a decade of sustained nation state attacks on mobile devices have made people think again.
For example, in 2021, Google's Project Zero recorded 58 Android zero-day vulnerabilities that had been exploited in the wild, a record number and double the figure for the previous year. The half year report to June 202 reported another 18, a slowing of the trend but still far from a non-trivial number.
This underlines how mobile devices are now under attack. Unfortunately, because many of these events are relatively small-scale or go unrecorded, there is an understandable tendency to assume mobile devices are less of an issue than desktop and laptops.
Peeling Back the Issues
In terms of software vulnerabilities, mobile devices are really like the layers of an onion, each governed by a different security and assurance process. This is why mobile device risk management is hard work.
- The apps installed by the operating system vendor, for example Google’s application suite.
- Any additional apps installed by the device manufacturer and/or carrier, for example the copious bloatware comes with every Samsung smartphone.
- The apps installed by the enterprise itself plus additional apps (WhatsApp, Signal) that are considered part of modern communications.
- The operating system itself.
- The low-level chip firmware which these days will be patched and updated by the platform maker (Google, Apple) under direction from the relevant hardware maker.
In addition, both Android and Apple are found to have UX design flaws or logic oversights that also have a bearing on security. These tend to be discovered and publicized by independent researchers or vendors under rules of disclosure that mean they will be fixed by the time they enter the public domain.
Most enterprises will mandate a list of models approved for use. Some might even have a smaller list of devices that are not allowed, even in a supposedly patched state. Increasingly, and often confusingly, some of this led by official example, for example U.S. Government bans (in some cases later reversed) on some Chinese smartphones.
Follow The Apps
According to Lukáš Štefanko, a mobile malware researcher for security company ESET, while the frequency and commitment to long-term OS updates matters (Google, Samsung and Apple have or are migrating to at least five years of support for their devices), the vulnerability of ordinary apps is always the biggest risk, especially those bundled with the device. This isn’t about rogue apps but legitimate ones with lurking flaws.
“Take into consideration whether the device has a stock OS or includes custom overlays with additional vendor apps. This extra layer could contain vulnerabilities and become an entry point for potential attackers,” he said.
These apps could contain flaws that might put at risk any apps that are subsequently deployed for company use, said Štefanko. When pen testing apps, this is always the first layer to look closely at.
“Security flaws could be escalated or chained from vendor to company apps and result in security problems affecting either the devices or maker.”
The advantage of more advanced device pen testing is that an organization will get an assessment of the vulnerabilities across all layers of the mobile stack from lower levels to user apps.
According to Štefanko, for BYOD devices, stalkerware seems to be on the rise while for corporate devices the biggest threat is remote access Trojans (RATs) allowing complete device takeover.
“These can monitor users via the microphone, camera, or GPS. On top of that, they can remotely control devices by misusing remote access while using a keylogger they can monitor all user input email and other internal systems.”
What’s clear is that turning today’s smartphones into a device that forms a fundamental layer of zero trust authentication will require a new scrutiny of devices CISO are still inclined to take on trust.


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Online auction site eBay (EBAY -2.33%) may have been first to the e-commerce scene, but it's been lapped -- in spades -- by behemoth Amazon.com (AMZN -1.57%) in the meantime. eBay focused on small-time sellers listing individual items, but Amazon "won" by catering to mass market merchants. The performance disparity of each company's stock tells the story. eBay is up on the order of 480% since the beginning of the century, while Amazon shares have gained more than 2000%.
The next twenty years don't necessarily have to look like the past twenty have, however. eBay could push back against Amazon's dominance in a way that plays into the edge it holds on its bigger rival. Indeed, it's Amazon's growth that could be setting this stage for eBay, should it pursue the opportunity it has in selling unwanted merchandise returned to retailers.
The prospect of eBay's dive into the business of already-purchased items was floated last week when unnamed "sources" suggested the organization was interested in making an investment in Optoro, which helps companies process returned merchandise and then remarket those goods that can't be put back into inventory.
Neither eBay nor Optoro was willing to comment on the prospect, and as such the whisper of the possibility went no further. It's noteworthy, however, that Optoro already lists items on eBay (though it also works with Amazon). Enhancing the relationship wouldn't take a monumental amount of groundwork. In fact, stepping up its returns-management game would possibly make eBay the go-to solution for a surprisingly big problem -- doing something constructive with the estimated $309 billion worth of merchandise Appriss Retail believes was returned to retailers in 2019.
Nobody seems to know the exact figure, for the record. That's one of the indications of just how fragmented the reselling industry is. Regardless, the ballpark estimate is still very big, and Appriss's figure is on the low end of the estimate scale.
The grand irony? Amazon may be the biggest reason the reverse logistics market has grown to its massive size. Whereas about a tenth of all items consumers buy in a store are eventually brought back for a refund, roughly one-third of goods bought online are returned. As is the case with brick-and-mortar store returns, many online purchase returns can't be resold as regular stock.
Retailers have come up with an inelegant solution. Big names like Amazon and Walmart (WMT -1.93%) dispose of unsellable merchandise by collecting stacks of it on pallets, and selling the entire pallet for pennies on the dollar. They don't mind, as there's little else they can do with those goods. The process is far from optimized though, leaving the door wide open to anyone willing and able to scale up and extract efficiencies.
One of those streamliners is (ironically) former eBay executive Howard Rosenberg, who now runs B-Stock Solutions as an answer to the growing problem of leftover merchandise. The company -- one of the biggest in the liquidation market -- generated revenue of around $150 million last year by selling $2 billion worth of goods, but that's still only about 2% of the liquidation arena that overlaps with the returns reselling market.
As for the estimated $309 billion worth of merchandise returned to merchants last year, most of what can't be sold in stores will end up being sold by the pallet. It's anyone's guess as to what sort of wholesale or retail prices they'll command their second time around. Colorado State University business school professor Zac Rogers, however, suggested the salvage dealers, flea markets, and charities within the secondary/reselling market somehow did around $300 billion worth of business themselves reselling these goods in 2016.
The wide range of numbers again points to just how disorganized the space is, leaving it ripe for consolidation.
eBay is ideally suited
Certainly anyone could consolidate the reverse logistics market into something not just sizable, but profitable. It's eBay, however, that may be best suited to make it happen for one overarching reason. That is, the business is built on the idea of "one-off" listings, meaning each and every item is the only one of its kind available.
That's not to suggest eBay only sells individual items. Lots of sellers use the platform to sell the same product over and over again, just as they would at Amazon.com. By and large though, eBay lends itself to listings that allow sellers to note scratches, dents, or oddball finds not sold in numbers. eBay's shoppers are also accustomed to seeing packages that may have already been opened or banged around, or goods that were even used for a short period of time.
That being said, the opportunity isn't just in selling merchandise a retailer or wholesaler can't. The opportunity goes hand in hand with the simple service of getting piles of returned goods out of warehouses and store rooms. Many consumer-facing names are glad to pay for that service alone, and care little about making money on resales.
But alas, it's only a possibility. eBay isn't making a publicized play on Optoro (or any other reverse logistics name) and Optoro is mum on the matter as well. It's not a development investors can count on, or bet on.
Whispers sometimes have a funny way of coming to fruition later on though, even if not in the way or with the companies first suggested. If nothing else, it's an idea eBay and its shareholders may want to put on their radars.


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Over the past five years, the exports of Ukrainian goods to the European Union have grown by 60% and are expected to reach EUR 20 billion this year. “Over the past five years, the exports of Ukrainian goods to the EU have increased by 60%. Already this year, the exports of Ukrainian products to the…Details
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The Economy Ministry is working on bringing the draft law on reforming the corporate governance of state-owned enterprises in line with international best practices, Deputy Economy Minister Kristina Holubytska has said at the round table discussion “Corporate Governance of SOEs in Ukraine: A Review of Ukraine’s position against the OECD SOE Guidelines”. “Today, we work…Details
The market price of electricity will come to fluctuate to a greater degree as countries switch to renewable energy and close coal and oil shale power plants. Kalev Kallemets, CEO of nuclear plant project company Fermi Energia, predicts that prices will continue to rise, while Estonian transmission network operator Elering disagrees. The past week saw…Details
Uzbekistan’s foreign trade during the first five months of 2021 expanded to $14.6 billion, or by 13.2% YoY. Exports of goods increased by 45.9%, while gold exports dipped by 27.2%. The export of services amounted to $5.7 billion. In the reporting period, the country imported $8.8 billion worth of goods, up by $1 billion YoY.…Details
According to the forecast of Tajikistan’s main macroeconomic indicators for 2021-2023, the republic plans to increase imports of mineral fertilizers. For example, this year, Tajikistan will import about 170.5 thousand tons of mineral fertilizers, up by 2.9% YoY. The volume of imports of these products will annually grow due to the lack of own production…Details
This year municipal company Riga Forests plans to participate in a youth employment program organized by the State Employment Agency (NVA). The company intends to offer summer jobs to 136 youngsters, as confirmed by Riga Forests. In June, July and August youngsters aged 15 to 19 years will be able to work in gardens and…Details
An agreement was signed with KAMAZ company on study of bus production in Kyrgyzstan, the Ministry of Energy and Industry reported. The document was signed by the Minister of Energy and Industry Doskul Bekmurzaev, General Director of Shydyr Zhol KG LLC Toktobubu Orgalchi and the General Director of KAMAZ enterprise Sergey Kogogin. According to the…Details


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Wow, take a look at all the photos of the 2010 Ford Taurus, and it looks like Ford might have a big hit on its hands. Here’s Autoblog’s take:
Ford’s marketers and PR types have a tremendous task ahead of them: Educating the American consumer on what company’s new Taurus is all about. It’s a Herculean task that amounts to nothing more than rebuilding a brand that was once broadly considered an icon – not just of the auto industry – but of American business at large.
Fortunately for the Blue Oval team, they may have an ace-in-the-hole. As we learned driving the 2010 Ford Taurus through Tennessee and North Carolina’s Smoky Mountain roads, this new bull shows promise and takes the marque upscale like never before. But be under no illusions – this is a risky move. The Taurus name has never been extended upmarket like this before (let alone in such a waterlogged economy), and it isn’t immediately clear who the model’s competitors are – a detail that could prove problematic when trying to target customers.
I don’t agree. The car looks great, and as they say, it lives up to the hype. When you have a great product, the marketing should be easy, and the resurrection of the Taurus nameplate gives them a great story to tell.


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ARE CELEBRITY INFLUENCERS GOING OUT OF STYLE?
Today, Givenchy released the first campaign under new Artistic Director Clare Waight Keller, and to everyone's surprise, there was not a celebrity (or celebrity child) to be seen. Unlike CWK's predecessor Riccardo Tisci - who was one of the first in the business to give Kendall Jenner her start back in 2014 - this set of ads opted for decidedly newer faces, arguably shifting the focus from the models back to the clothes.
At a time when just about every headline on Vogue.com references a Jenner, Kardashian, or Hadid, there is something refreshing (and even rebellious) about bringing fashion back to its roots. Since the genesis of social media models, and then the subsequent rise of celebrity models, most major brands have cashed in on the opportunity to grab consumers' attention by swapping anonymous faces for more recognizable ones. And who can really blame them? In 2016, Puma saw it's sales rise 11% (cresting over $1B) thanks to the starpower of ambassadors like Rihanna and Kylie Jenner, and Calvin Klein has consistently used its #MyCalvins ads to exhibit celebrity faces from Justin Bieber to Bella Hadid, to Frank Ocean, Kendall Jenner, Abbey Lee Kershaw, and others, and has caught a considerable number of headlines while doing so. The opportunity is a win-win for both parties - celebrities increase their visibility and their credibility (oh, and make bank) while brands raise their profile by capitalizing on their models' fanbases and increasing their "it" factor.
But fashion is cyclical, and the time for widespread celebrity visibility might soon be coming to an end, ushered in by a combination of overuse and PR disasters. Kendall Jenner, for one, has had a comparatively slower year than normal; after booking more than a dozen major campaigns in 2015 and 2016, Jenner has only leant her image to 3 fashion brands in 2017 so far - La Perla, Penshoppe, and Fendi. Also considering her starring role in the disastrous Pepsi ad (you know, the one where she stops police brutality by being good-looking?), the discontinuing of The Estée Edit (for which Jenner was the main ambassador), and most recently, the controversy over the line of t-shirts in which she and her sister had their faces superimposed over beloved rap icons like Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G.; these blunders could indicate that whatever clout Jenner offered to clients in her earlier modelling days may now have been tainted by a sour taste in audiences' mouths. Much of this may not be her fault directly, nor can we assume that she isn't just taking a temporary break from modelling, but maybe - just maybe - it means that, like skinny jeans and flower crowns, Kendall Jenner and her cohorts just aren't "in" anymore.
The shift is about more than just a matter of tastes changing, though, and more accurately, is a reflection of how buyers are more savvy than ever these days. Thanks to social media and the Internet, consumers - especially those belonging to Generation-Z - are far more media literate and better at decoding which endorsements are authentic and which ones are not. While celebrity influencers can still be successful at raising a brand's profile, they may also now risk associating that brand with inauthenticity. If we can learn something from this era of star-studded marketing, it is that although fashion will always be profit motivated, brands are at their best when they interest consumers with artistry, originality, and innovation, first and foremost.
Main image via @kendalljenner