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MAN OF THE MOMENT
Byline: Samantha Conti
MILAN — Prada’s former public relations chief Leslie Johnson remembers clearly how her boss Patrizio Bertelli felt about the first Miu Miu show she organized in New York. The year was 1994, the venue was the Josephine Pavilion at Bryant Park, and Bertelli had watched the show with the rest of the audience, except that, as usual, he refused to take a seat. When it was over, he wove through the crowded backstage to find Johnson — and to smack her.
“He just walked up to me, and hit me on the forehead with the palm of his hand. I had no idea what he was trying to say — until later when someone explained the gesture means ‘good job’ to the Tuscans,” said Johnson, chuckling.
Bertelli, in addition to riding atop Prada’s $1 billion enterprise, has a majority stake in Helmut Lang’s business, and only last week bought a 75 percent stake in Jil Sander AG. In doing so, Bertelli has created Italy’s largest, private luxury goods group, solidifying his reputation as a man of action, not words. “I do things — and then talk about them,” he told WWD last March. “In this business there needs to be less chatter and more work.”
Whether or not he wants to talk about it, Bertelli, a college dropout who got his start selling leather belts, is reconstructing the face of Europe’s fashion industry. “He is a revolutionary: He is redefining the fashion game,” said Alex Magona, an equities analyst for Flemings in London.
Together with his wife Miuccia Prada, the 53-year-old Tuscan has transformed a prestigious but dusty accessories house founded by Prada’s grandfather into a design powerhouse with sales this year expected to hit $909 million. Add in Jil Sander and Bertelli’s controlling stakes in joint ventures with Helmut Lang and eyewear manufacturer De Rigo, and the figure swells to more than $1.2 billion — that’s bigger than Gucci Group and Giorgio Armani.
Bertelli, who declined to be interviewed for this article, is showing no signs of fatigue: Sources say he’s hard at work on another round of deals. “What we’ve seen so far is the antipasto,” said one source close to Bertelli. “Over the next few months, he will be moving on to the first and second courses of the meal.” As reported (WWD, Sept. 1), Bertelli may already have taken a 9.5 percent stake in Fendi; both companies, however, have declined to comment on the reports. Last month, he also took an 8.5 percent stake in the traditional English footwear firm Church and Co., although the move appears to be for financial rather than strategic reasons.
Magona said Bertelli’s vision of the fashion industry is futuristic: “He is moving in a new direction: The products in his stable are both avant-garde — and commercially successful. And unlike most Italian fashion entrepreneurs, he has found a way to grow without licenses. He grows by buying other brands — and therefore never runs the risk of diluting the Prada name,” Magona added.
Carlo Pambianco, who owns a consulting firm here, said Bertelli has understood perfectly the way business will be conducted over the next decades: “A large market share, innovative products, direct distribution, alternative means of advertising — like taking part in the America’s Cup race — are the keys to success,” Pambianco said. “Bertelli has understood this, and he’s very sure of himself. In this sense, he feels superior to his counterparts in the business.”
Friends, colleagues and former employees describe Bertelli alternately as a genius, an instinctive animal, a loving husband and father, and — when he gets angry or worked up — a holy terror. His temper tantrums are notorius in the industry here, and his screaming is not for the weak-kneed. “Yelling is just the way he expresses himself,” said a friend. “He yells at everybody, no matter who they are. He’s very democratic in that sense.” Bertelli has always thrived on a good challenge, whether that means taking part in the America’s Cup 2000 race, tooling around the countryside in his silver 1956 Porsche Speedster — one of his eight vintage cars — or staking his claim on chunks of the luxury goods market. “I’m not crazy about ownership. But I love gambling, mapping strategies, and doing good business,” he told WWD last year.
There’s no doubt that control is a fundamental part of his work ethic. There’s an old Italian expression that says no leaf on the planet moves without permission from God; Prada employees say the same goes for their company, where Bertelli is almighty. It’s no surprise then, that Bertelli has always steered clear of licenses and franchises, opting instead to take stakes in Prada’s smaller production companies, and monitor the cash registers and display windows in Prada’s more than 120 wholly-owned stores worldwide. A former employee said he oversees “everything from the toilet paper supply to the ad campaigns” at the company’s headquarters here. Bertelli, who is also a wizard in the kitchen, has even been known to decide the menu at the employee cafeteria. His control over information within the company is as tight as a nylon glove. “He is reluctant for his employees to share information with one another. He keeps them in the dark about all kinds of projects, including new product lines,” said a former employee. “We had to read the papers to find out about his stake in Gucci.”
Bertelli’s lucrative, but ill-fated, investment in Gucci signaled his debut into the society of mergers and acquisitions: Italy rose one Sunday morning in June 1998 to learn that Bertelli had taken a 5 percent stake in archrival Gucci. And, in a one-two jab that jolted the industry, and Gucci management, he raised that stake to 9.5 percent just a few days later. The goal, he said, wasn’t to take over the company but to cooperate with Gucci on strategy: “I’m not like a lot of people in the fashion sector whose mentality is ‘mors tua, vita mea’ — if you lose, I win,” he told WWD at the time. “I believe in a less cutthroat, less hysterical way of doing business. If the sector as a whole is successful, then everyone is successful.”
After months of communicating through lawyers, Bertelli failed to convince Gucci chairman and ceo Domenico De Sole that cooperating in such fields as advertising, distribution and real estate would benefit both houses. He later sold his stake to LVMH, which was attempting a hostile takeover of Gucci, and pocketed a capital gain of $140 million. With his enigmatic, Mona Lisa smile, he said he was happy about the “nice” profit he made, and vowed to put the Gucci saga behind him: “Opportunities were lost for both sides, but what are you going to do? You say ‘Amen’ and get on with things.”
It didn’t take long for the Gucci wounds to heal. Two months after cashing out, he announced the Helmut Lang deal — a joint venture and 51 percent stake, to promote the designer’s brand worldwide, open stores and launch a Lang accessories line — and six months later he captured Jil Sander, the prize he’d been after for years. “Owning Jil Sander,” says a friend, “was Bertelli’s personal obsession.”
Andrea Ciccoli, a consultant for Milan-based Bain, Cuneo & Associati, said Sander sent a powerful signal to the industry when she chose Bertelli as a partner. “Her message was that fashion entrepreneurs can now challenge big financial investors like banks or conglomerates such as Italy’s Holding di Partecipazioni Industriali (HdP), and compete with them for acquisitions….It was clear that Jil Sander was courted by everyone…and in the end she chose a fashion company,” Ciccoli said. Sander told WWD that she sold to Bertelli because he understands her: “Jil Sander and Prada share a common understanding of fashion. Both are driven by the objective to design and market contemporary fashion.”
Bertelli, who was born in the ancient Tuscan city of Arezzo, 90 minutes’ drive south of Florence, grew up living and breathing leather, and nurturing the Tuscans’ trademark pride and independence. “Tuscany is full of independent artisans, the Tuscans have real trouble working under someone else,” said Pambianco. Bertelli also inherited the Tuscan temperament: “They’re passionate, and if they have something to say, they’ll say it right to your face. Bertelli isn’t someone who’ll talk behind your back,” Pambianco added.
Indeed, Bertelli isn’t one to hide his feelings. In a 1997 interview he talked openly about his ‘personality conflict’ with Bergdorf Goodman president Dawn Mello, accusing her of copying Prada’s designs while she was creative director at Gucci. In the same interview, he took a swipe at Gucci, whose shares he was already stockpiling, for painting its outlet store Prada green.
When he was younger, Bertelli worked in small accessories workshops, sold belts, and eventually produced and marketed his own lines of leather accessories — Sir Robert, Pitti and Granello — in Italy and abroad. He met his wife at a trade fair where she discovered he was selling bags that looked suspiciously like hers. One year later, in 1978, his company I Pellettieri d’Italia, began producing Prada’s leather accessories collection and the two began their lucrative and magical partnership.
Over the years, Bertelli trained his hands and sharpened his eyes, becoming a master of detail: “He knows exactly how a buttonhole should be made, how the vamp on a shoe should be formed. And he has the incredible ability to talk to you while he’s at his sketchpad designing a shoe,” said one friend.
Prada launched footwear in 1983, women’s ready-to-wear in 1989 and men’s clothing in 1994. In recent years, annual sales growth accelerated to a stunning 60 percent, slowing down to the more modest 15 percent Bertelli is projecting this year and for the next three years.
The Bertelli-Prada team has always been formidable: Both are driven, self-confident and have a strong sense of mission. As fearless as Bertelli is — and friends say nothing scares him — Prada is just as sure of herself. “I have always been sure about fashion, even in the beginning when buyers told me they didn’t like my designs and that an accessories house had no business designing clothes,” she said, in an interview last year. “For years they said awful things, but the criticism never got to me because I was always sure about what I was doing.”
Friends say their partnership, alternately loving and combative, is the fountainhead of their creativity. “They totally complement one another: It’s a yin-yang relationship,” said Karla Otto, the Milan-based public relations agent and a longtime friend of the couple. “Their success is due to their relationship: They’ve learned a lot from one another. It’s because of Miuccia that Patrizio is not just a businessman, but a businessman who knows fashion.”
Friends say they are also model parents. As a result of their chaotic work life and limited free time, their two sons Lorenzo, 11 and Giulio, nine, eat dinner with their parents every night, guests or no guests. “They’re a beautiful family: They’re always talking, talking, talking,” said one friend. “Bertelli is an extremely affectionate father, and always manages to find time to play soccer with the boys. Frankly, I don’t know when he sleeps,” said Otto.
Janet Brown, a fashion retailer in Port Washington, N.Y., and one of the first stores to introduce Prada to the U.S., said Bertelli is a cross between Gianni Agnelli and Federico Fellini. “He has done for Prada what Agnelli has done for Fiat, and there’s always been a lot of theatrics, a lot of drama involved,” Brown said. “He has great taste, and a frightening business acumen: He’s moved mountains in a country where it is not easy to do so. There’s no stopping him.”


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Back in September, fiscal prudence was the mantra for many elected or hoping-to-be-elected politicians. It was then President-elect Obama who said that, when in a hole, the most prudent course of action is to stop digging. In Canada, too, politicians on both sides of the floor were promising never to run a deficit. That tune has changed radically. Now it’s all about economic stimulus and running justified budget deficits.
Justifying Budget Deficits
It appears that if and when the new U.S. president pushes through his economic stimulus, it will be the first budget deficit measured in trillions of dollars. How can a thousand billion of dollars in the red be justified? Does anyone get scared of these numbers anymore? It also affects the system of Money Exchange in Brisbane as the budget directly links to the economy of country.
Apparently not! It seems the bigger the bailout proposal, the better it is for one’s political status. The promises now revolve around infrastructure spending programs not seen in the U.S. since the 1950s. Money is expected to pour into highways, bridges, commuter train systems, cheap Internet access, waste management, solar energy, etc. The total cost hasn’t been yet estimated, but there is the sum of a trillion-dollar budget deficit being bandied about, which, while it hasn’t been confirmed, hasn’t been denied either.
This is far from saying that economic stimulus isn’t needed. This is not to say that running a deficit is necessarily a bad thing. Government spending usually works. It usually manages to jumpstart the economy. But there is nothing usual about the current economic situation. At the center of the storm is the factor of time, or lack thereof, rather.
The Fast-Decaying Time Value of Bailout Dollars
Let’s follow the cause-and-effect line of reasoning. Consumer spending in the U.S. has not just declined, it has caved in. And consumer and investment confidence is not just low, it is more or less non-existent. Both of these categories are driven to oblivion by skyrocketing unemployment.
Just in October of last year half a million Americans lost their jobs. So perhaps investing in infrastructure is a good idea to bring new jobs online. But the problem is that even if thousands of new jobs are created right now, the benefits of those jobs and personal incomes would take years to filter back into the economy.
Obviously, the time value of bailout dollars at this point is negligible. Mailing checks to consumers, as an instant spending incentive, has also failed miserably. To alter the consumers’ current state of mind, a different kind of incentive is needed; one that will result in people wanting to open their wallets.
What Might Work
For example, only people spending money should receive tax relief. Sure, government will pull in less revenue, but tax reduction is a way of government spending, so an expansionary economic policy in a way. Additionally, cutting one to two percent on sales tax is not likely to do the trick. But what might help could be deep cuts or, better yet, complete removal of sales taxes on a temporary basis. Cutting retail sales taxes would not be felt greatly at a grocery store, true, but the impact on bigger ticket items, such as cars, machinery, home appliances, etc., could be substantial.
Also, instead of bettering the unemployment situation years down this long and treacherous road, how about bettering it right now and giving employers tax relief on payrolls? Again, less tax revenues, but at the prospect of a current potential consumer with a job not having to fear losing it.


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Now that Fall Guys has gone free and reached 20 million players, the famous battle royale of Mediatonic is enjoying a second youth and preparing to become richer in the near future with new content and collaborations with other famous brands.
In this regard it seems that a crossover between Fall Guys and Sonic The Hedgehog is actually planned, at least according to some images that have emerged on the net that would confirm the arrival of content inspired by the SEGA series in the title of Mediatonic. Not only will alternative skins based on Sonic’s characters arrive, but there is also a brand new map always based on the franchise starring the blue hedgehog, titled Bean Hill.
Clearly, what emerged must be taken with a grain of salt until official confirmations from the developers or from SEGA itself arrive, in any case this would be further confirmation of how much the developers want to focus ever stronger on Fall Guys now that it has become free-to-playand similar collaborations could attract the attention of an audience even more than the current catchment area which has already grown considerably.
After all, the popularity of the game has reached such a point that Fall Guys has come to undermine Fortnite, becoming one of the most played titles ever on Xbox in the United States and even surpassing COD Warzone.


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(WXYZ) — For people who are bored with strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla ice cream this summer, French's has something a little more daring.
The company is introducing mustard ice cream for National Mustard Day this Saturday.
French's is partnering with ice cream company Coolhaus to create the unique flavor.
People who have tried the mustard ice cream already say it tastes like cotton candy and bubble gum – before the mustard flavor kicks in.
The ice cream will be served with a pretzel cookie, but will only be available for a few days in Los Angeles and New York City.


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Ben & Jerry’s, the “politically correct” American ice cream company, is talking to advertising agencies about strategies for the brand.
The company, which practises what it describes as “caring capitalism”, built its business in the US without advertising, but sources suggest it is considering boosting sales of the brand in the UK with an above-the-line budget.
The company has previously relied on public relations to increase its profile.
One source says: “In the US, it has never needed to advertise because its founders, Ben and Jerry, are such well-known personalities.
“But that is not the case in the UK. It is looking at what it can do with the brand here and that may or may not include an advertising campaign.”
With flavours that include Rainforest Crunch and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Ben & Jerry’s is a premium brand rivalling HaÃ¤gen Dazs.
It claims to be the world’s first politically and socially aware manufacturer of ice cream and gives seven and a half per cent of its profits to charity through the Ben & Jerry Foundation.
Nobody from the company was available to comment.


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Ford's Hau Thai-Tang: 70 percent of the value of a Ford vehicle is purchased from suppliers.
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. -- Ford Motor Co.’s purchasing chief today highlighted some of the innovations created with suppliers on the all-new Mustang sports car and F-150 pickup.
Ford is in the midst of a year with 23 global product launches, including 16 in North America.
Like other automakers, Ford’s relationship with its supply chain varies year-to-year. Ford this year ranked fourth out of six North American automakers in the annual Planning Perspectives Inc. survey of how auto suppliers view their customers.
The survey rated Ford’s supplier relationships as “adequate,” behind Toyota, Honda, and Nissan. Ford ranked ahead of Chrysler and General Motors.
Hau Thai-Tang, group vice president for Ford global purchasing, appearing in front of the supplier community at the 2014 Management Briefing Seminars here, showcased these technologies appearing on the 2015 vehicles:
Quarter windows, 2015 Mustang 50 Year Limited Edition: Ford and Magna International Inc. created quarter windows consisting of louvered glass.
Hydroformed A-pillar and roof rails, 2015 Mustang: Schuler Inc. and Midway Products worked with Ford on the heaviest-gauge steel hydroformed A-pillar and roof rails. Torsional stiffness increased 28 percent for the new car while the body-in-white was lighter than the previous model, Ford said.
High-strength steel frame, 2015 F-150: Although the vehicle is the first pickup with an aluminum body, Ford worked with Metalsa S.A. on its steel frame. The result was a frame that is 60 pounds lighter with improved rigidity, Ford said.
LED headlamps, 2015 F-150: Suppliers Osram GmbH and Flex-n-Gate Corp. worked with Ford to design a headlamp design that “saves energy, is designed for longevity, and casts a much brighter and clearer light down the road than halogen or incandescent lamps,” Ford said.
“Considering the impact suppliers have on our business, with 70 percent of the value of the vehicle being purchased from our supplier partners, our suppliers are critical to our ability to offer attractive solutions to our customers,” Thai-Tang said in a statement.
Ford said it has relationships with more than 1,100 production suppliers operating at more than 4,600 manufacturing sites. Those operations make 130,000 parts for inclusion in Ford vehicles, the company said.


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From a boot perspective, the 2018 Ballon d’Or was won by Nike. Three of the top four finishers in voting sport the Swoosh, and Luka Modric (Mercurial Vapor XII) scooped the ultimate prize while Kylian Mbappe (Mercurial Superfly VI) nabbed the inaugural Kopa Trophy. To honor the achievements of its footballers, Nike has released a limited edition “Golden Touch” version of both boots.
The limited edition boots dropped Tuesday on Nike.com and only 1,500 pairs of each are available for purchase. The chromed-out cleats feature a thumb-print design and a black Swoosh outlined in gold — you could certainly wear these to a gala event such as the one held in Paris last night.


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"During nutrition month, a food and nutrition quiz will be organized on MyGov portal and there will be a meme competition. You should participate in it and motivate others to take part," he added. Prime Minister said that there is a need to increase awareness regarding nutrition.
"We have a maxim - 'Yatha Annam Tatha Mannam' which means our mental and intellectual development is directly related to the quality of our food intake. There is a need to increase awareness of Nutrition. The schools must introduce 'nutrition monitor' like the class monitor to raise awareness," he added. He also talked about the importance of a nutritious diet for pregnant women.
"Experts say that better the nutrition for the child in the womb and during childhood, the better will be their mental development and they will stay healthy. To ensure nutrition for children, the mother must also get complete nourishment. Proper nutrition is important," the Prime Minister said. He said that people's participation is also very crucial in this movement of nutrition.
"In this movement pertaining to nutrition, people's participation is also very crucial. It is public participation that makes it successful. In our country during the past few years, a lot of effort has been made in this direction. Especially in our villages, it is being converted into a mass movement with public participation," he said.
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- Indices hit Fresh Highs on Strong Liquidity Flows
Indian equities surged to fresh records on Wednesday as a spurt in the last half hour of trade helped the Sensex surpass 63,000 for the first time.Vi in Talks with SBI for up to ₹16,000-Cr Loan
Cash-strapped Vodafone Idea (Vi) has dialled State Bank of India (SBI) for a ₹15,000-16,000 crore loan to meet its immediate 4G capex needs, fund gear supply contracts for its pending 5G rollout and to clear some sizeable vendor dues, three people aware of the matter said.China Stir may Infect Key Sectors in India
The widespread protests in China against the strict restrictions under its zero Covid policy and the spreading pandemic could impact India’s consumer electronics, gold, diamonds, and engineering goods sectors, industry executives said.
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by Alissa Marchat/staff writer
The grocery industry is a tough one to succeed in, particularly when your store is located thousands of miles away from your wholesaler. That’s the challenge faced by those retailers in Alaska and Guam, which are served by Unified Grocers out of Seattle and California.
Grocers and consumers alike face their own sets of challenges in each of these regions, but Unified, which has been serving retailers in those areas for years, has adapted to the challenge, helping its customers plan ahead and stay stocked up on items that, in some cases, shoppers can’t get anywhere else. Mike Koens, executive director of sales-Seattle, and Larry Barton, account executive, recently spoke with The Shelby Report to share some of their insights about what it takes for retailers operating stores in remote areas to be successful.
Community types vary dramatically
Guam, a U.S. island territory in the Western Pacific—about 5,600 miles from Seattle—is only about 30 miles long and four to 12 miles wide, with a population of about 162,000. The island’s dominant supermarket chain, Pay-Less Supermarkets, has eight full-size, conventional grocery stores, six gas stations and a distribution center.
Community and store size in Alaska are more varied. Unified serves stores from 60,000 s.f. all the way down to small local markets. The larger stores are found in more developed areas, such as Anchorage. In more remote areas, such as those along the Bering Sea, stores can be as small as 5,000 s.f., and they may be the only shopping destination for residents.
Logistics, logistics, logistics
Shipping products to far-off locations comes with a unique set of challenges that retailers in the lower 48 don’t have to face. Some of the biggest hurdles to supplying retailers in places like Alaska and Guam are the shipping times, cost and weather.
From the time retailers in Guam order product to the time it arrives on the island is two weeks, said Koens. Most products are shipped on a barge, although highly perishable goods, like yogurt, are sent via plane.
“They get one load a week,” he said. “When one order is being written, another is on the water, and a third is being fulfilled and shipped. The retailers do a great job of managing their business and making sure their stores are in stock despite the fact that they have very long lead times. Unified’s Interactive Ordering System allows everyone to see order status—what’s being picked and what’s on its way.”
Alaskan retailers, who receive their goods through third-party carriers, also deal with long lead times and a variety of shipping methods. Products going out to more remote parts of the state, referred to as the bush, can change hands several times before reaching their destination.
“The logistics involved with getting product out to the bush are some of the most complicated and interesting I’ve experienced in my 30 years in the industry,” Barton said. “Product is typically shipped on a barge out of Seattle to Anchorage and brought to the Anchorage postal service, where it is staged for later shipment. The postal service then sets up appointments for delivery via plane to the outlying areas. This is called bypass mail. Large orders of a couple thousand cases may be transported all at once, or product may be sent from the postal service in smaller quantities, depending on demand. From the time it leaves Seattle to the time it arrives at the store could be up to two weeks.”
Weather also a factor
The rivers in Alaska also are a cost-effective means of transporting product, but timing is critical. In April the ice begins to melt, and retailers take advantage of the mild weather conditions to ship large quantities of product and extensive tonnage via “summer barges.”
Pulled by tugboats, the summer barges depart from Tacoma and Seattle ports to visit locations up and down the west coast of Alaska.
“Costs are significantly reduced by this shipping method to approximately 25 to 35 cents per pound,” Barton said. “The barges reach their destinations in about four to five weeks. The retailers then store the product in warehouses. The cost savings resulting from this seasonal shipping opportunity more than makes up for storing the inventory. In more accessible Alaska areas, typical shipments can range between 12 to 50 cents per pound, but in remote areas, those costs can reach as high as a $1 to $1.25 per pound.”
Price fluctuations make budgeting a challenge
Because shipping costs to remote areas of Alaska are very high and can fluctuate so dramatically, some of the retail prices consumers see at the store can be pretty astounding. Some examples of expensive items Barton has seen during his years serving Alaska include a 24-pack of bottled water that retailed for $19.99; bananas as costly as $4 per pound; and a gallon of milk marked at more than $10.
“Because the cost of the freight can be so high, those costs are often reflected in prices at the checkstand,” he said.
Timing can be tricky
Due to long shipping times, especially to the remote parts of Alaska, retailers in some cases need to plan their purchases months in advance of shipping those products.
“Sometimes we’re buying Christmas as early as August, so holiday products can be sent up on the summer barges,” said Barton. Barton works closely with Unified’s procurement team to get promotional pricing on Thanksgiving and Christmas items that ship to Alaska in August.
Another unique factor about working with Alaskan retailers is planning for the dollars that every Alaskan resident (children and adults) receives each October from the state as a result of the “Alaska Permanent Fund.” The Permanent Fund was established to set aside a certain share of oil revenues from the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System to benefit current and future generations of Alaskans.
“Every person receives a check, ranging from $500 to $2,200,” Barton said. “This money provides a significant boost to the Alaska economy each year. Many people use the money to buy electronics, cars and stock up their food supplies.”
Knowing your shoppers
Every retailer and supplier knows how important it is to understand the consumers purchasing their goods, but it’s especially important when product orders have to be so carefully planned, like in Alaska and Guam—and consumers in those regions have their own unique shopping habits.
One thing shoppers in both areas have in common is their tendency to prepare a lot of meals at home, which is, of course, a plus for grocers.
“…The stores in those areas generally have higher sales per transaction size and larger basket sizes,” Koens said.
But that doesn’t mean consumers never eat out. Parts of Alaska, like Anchorage, boast plenty of restaurants. And as a tourist destination for Australia, Russia, Japan, China and the Philippines, Guam has no shortage of food sources, from fast food restaurants to convenience stores.
Koens noted that retailers in Guam also must stock a variety of unique items—those that appeal to the locals as well as some familiar foods for travelers, including a variety of Japanese, Chinese and Filipino foods, especially produce, seafood and center store items.
“There’s a lot of unique itemization in the center store that caters to tourists and shoppers of various ethnicities,” said Koens.
Alaskan shoppers have their own unique habits as well. In addition to doing a lot of at-home cooking, they are fiercely loyal to the products and brands they know and love.
“For example, 48 oz. Hills Bros. coffee is very popular and it can be difficult to get shoppers to try other brands,” Barton said. “They’re very loyal to certain products and tend to buy larger sizes.”
Unique challenges don’t end with shipping
In Alaska, it’s not just the retailers and suppliers that have to deal with tricky logistics. For consumers, just a trip to the grocery store requires careful planning and unique modes of transportation. In the remote areas it’s not unusual to see the locals driving snowmobiles in the winter and boats in the summer to do their shopping.
“In the warmer months, when the rivers are not frozen, consumers living in villages along rivers travel to the store via boat—often with one boat to transport themselves and another tied behind to transport their groceries,” said Barton. “Along the Kuskokwim River near Bethel, Alaska, there is a store that serves about 50 villages. During the summer months it’s not unusual to see 30 to 40 small boats parked nearby. Behind each boat is another boat for hauling groceries and supplies. Entire families will be in the first boat—parents, babies, strollers, everything—and then the second boat will be used to transport a two- to four-week supply of groceries. ”
Barton added, “Large families and the infrequency of shopping trips means that bulk items are a big deal in Alaska. A lot of stores up there buy large containers of product and buy in bulk.”
Travel in Alaska can be challenging
More troubling than the need to plan out a month’s worth of groceries at a time are the treacherous travel conditions Alaskans face when traveling to and from the stores. Snowmobile travel on frozen rivers can be dangerous.
“Every year there are reports of snowmobiles falling through the ice,” said Barton.
Another, more common, concern when traveling on the remote roads and highways are accidents caused by wildlife.
“There are stores located on the eastern side of Alaska close to the Canadian border, that when you’re traveling to them you’ll see signs on the roadsides noting the number of accidents and fatalities caused by moose. It’s not unusual to see moose, deer and bear. When you’re driving they’ll suddenly appear out of nowhere. You always have to be on the lookout for them. Avoiding accidents due to wildlife on the roads is taken very seriously in Alaska.”
Despite these challenges and the distance from Unified’s warehouses to Alaska and Guam, the company stands out as the wholesaler of choice, even if it might not be the closest wholesaler, because of its assortment and hands-on approach, explained Koens.
“It’s our wide assortment of product and the people we have working with our retailers that set us apart,” he said of Unified’s success serving retailers in Alaska and Guam. “We have a number of specialists working with them at different department levels. Our procurement teams and category managers are very engaged with their buyers. And it’s a winning combination for both sides.”
Highlights of the job
“Working with the retailers to overcome their unique challenges so they can be successful is very fulfilling,” said Koens. “It is a great opportunity to engage at every level of management, working with all the people from senior management to the buyers to the department heads and store managers—that’s my favorite part of the job.”
For Barton, the best aspects of his job are similar.
“You get to work with some very unique retail situations in some of the most beautiful places on earth. I’ve seen a lot of beautiful landscapes, and the retailers treat you as one their own—they’re very friendly and appreciative. Alaskans are truly a unique and talented group of retailers.”
*Editor’s note: Find many more photos in the March 2017 print edition of The Shelby Report of the West, where this regional feature originally appeared.


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Cathay Pacific Airways: Hong Kong-based international airline.
Risk to Small Business: Severe: Customers are not soon to forget the company that failed to secure their data and waited several months to acknowledge their breach.
Individual Risk: Severe: Individuals affected by this breach are at a higher risk of credit card fraud and should contact their card issuer, cancel their cards immediately, and enroll in a credit monitoring service, if provided.
Customers Impacted: 9.4 million.
How it Could Affect You:For any organization, a breach where the hacker obtained payment information is a customer relations disaster. A breach where almost 9.5 million customers were affected would scale this disaster up to match.
In Other News:
Repair Your Phone Yourself:
It is now legal to break Digital Rights Management in order to repair your phone, following a ruling at the US Copyright Office. This is big news for third-party phone repair shops, as well as the repair businesses of many other products such as cars, tablets, refrigerators and even tractors. Go ahead and crack that old broken iPhone open to fix it yourself! Well… try to fix it at your own risk, but now you have the option.


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Walmart has entered into a partnership with grocery delivery platform Instacart to bring same-day delivery to four markets in California and Oklahoma.
CNBC first reported Tuesday afternoon that the Bentonville, Ark.-based retail giant will start delivering items through Instacart ranging from groceries to home decor and more in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and Tulsa, Okla. The pilot marks Walmart stores’ first venture with Instacart, although Walmart-owned Sam’s Club currently has a delivery partnership with Instacart.
“We’re always looking for partners to help us better serve our customers,” a Walmart spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Supermarket News. “Customers love the value we bring with pickup and delivery. They’ve turned to us during the pandemic to bring them their goods safely and easily. As we continue to expand our own delivery from nearly 3,000 stores reaching nearly two-thirds of American households, we’re excited to test and learn in four markets reaching new customers with Instacart.”
"The new partnership brings thousands of items — from groceries, alcohol and pantry staples to home decor and improvement, personal care, electronics and more — at everyday low prices from Walmart stores to customers’ doors in as fast as an hour," said a statement from an Instacart spokesperson.
For Walmart, teaming with Instacart boosts its growing e-commerce business and bolsters its strength against retail rival Amazon. The largest retailer in the nation, with close to 3,000 stores, Walmart has been building its digital offerings, which recently include rolling out Express Delivery this summer, an online service offering home delivery of a wide range of groceries and other products from the store in less than two hours. Walmart expects to have Express Delivery in 2,000 stores, an expedited timeline in response to demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
San Francisco-based Instacart continues to expand its delivery and pickup services beyond groceries, where the company partners with more than 400 retailers and 30,000 stores. This year, the company has expanded its roster of retailer partners outside traditional grocers, bringing same-day delivery to Big Lots, Staples U.S. and Rite Aid and branching into new categories such as alcohol delivery and prescription delivery with Costco Wholesale. A partnership announced earlier this summer with C&S Wholesale Grocers also stands to bring Instacart services to thousands of independent supermarkets.
For both Walmart and Instacart, the surge in demand for online grocery caused by the pandemic has called for unprecedented growth.
Before the COVID-19 crisis, Instacart had about 130,000 full-service shoppers and 12,000 in-store shoppers to fulfill online grocery orders for same-day delivery or pickup. In late April, Instacart said it aims to hire 250,000 more full-service personal shoppers over the coming months to help meet skyrocketing demand for grocery delivery. A month earlier, the company announced plans to hire 300,000 new full-service shoppers and met that goal just weeks later, which expanded its shopper community to more than 500,000 people. At the time, Instacart reported that order volume had jumped more than 500% year over year, with the average customer basket size growing 35%.
Walmart’s online business has also been booming. The company reported U.S. e-commerce sales in the first quarter soared 74% year over year at the top line and grew 3.9% on a comparable basis.
“Before this crisis, we were already seeing robust adoption of online pickup and delivery,” said Doug McMillon, Walmart CEO, in a call with analysts in May. “As this crisis created a need for social distancing and required people to stay at home, customers embraced pickup and delivery even more. Pickup and delivery are attracting greater numbers of new customers. The number of new customers trying pickup and delivery has increased four times since mid-March.“
For our most up-to-date coverage, visit the coronavirus homepage.


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Vapes have been under an increasingly fierce spotlight over the past few years as concerns over young people taking up the habit grow.
The Health Minister Mark Butler has recently argued that what were once passed off as smoking cessation devices are now plaguing children with their addictive flavours and bright colours.
As such, the government is set to crack down on vaping and make them illegal… uh, again.
The new rules, which are yet to be finalised, will be brought into the country soon, likely before the end of the year.
Already, people who vape, those who sell the products, and health experts who advocate for their use are panicking. At the same time, other health experts and top medical bodies have praised the changes, saying it will prevent a new generation of nicotine addicts.
However, the rules around vaping are already slightly confusing, owing to multiple layers of government regulation and regional variation.
So, in plain and simple terms, here’s what you need to know about vaping in Australia.
Is Vaping Illegal in Australia?
In general terms, yes, it is illegal to vape in Australia.
However, there are a number of caveats to that statement.
Vapes containing nicotine are illegal to import, buy, or sell unless they have been prescribed by a doctor, in accordance with the Therapeutic Goods Administration ruling of 2021.
Nicotine itself is considered a “dangerous poison” and a Schedule 7 drug. In much the same way it would be illegal to possess, for example, arsenic, it is also illegal to have nicotine.
Anyone caught importing, attempting to import, or possessing nicotine vaping products without a prescription can be charged with a maximum penalty of $222,000 by Federal Police.
Of course, if you have a prescription, then it’s perfectly legal to vape. It is however illegal to buy nicotine or a nicotine-containing product even with a prescription unless you import it from overseas or buy it from a pharmacy.
Rules around the use of vaping devices vary from state to state, and it’s worth checking yours, but in general terms, they fall under public cigarette rules.
This means, like cigarettes, no one under the age of 18 can buy a vape and vapes can’t be used in places where you wouldn’t smoke a cigarette.
Those enforcing public vaping laws would typically be state and territory police. Fines and penalties for the possession of a vape containing nicotine vary across each jurisdiction. The maximum limit of these fines ranges from $1,817 in Victoria to $68,925 in Queensland.
However, one of the key issues with vaping is that the laws are often misunderstood and rarely enforced, despite repeated attempts at ‘cracking down’ on their usage and sale. As such, The Latch could find no evidence of a person being penalised for simply using a vape in public.
Health Minister Mark Bulter has said that even after the new laws come into place, people who vape in public will not be targeted by police. He told ABC Radio Adelaide that there are no laws currently in place that penalise people using vapes.
“The laws focus on vendors, not on people, not on customers, certainly not on kids, and that’s what we want to see enforced,” he said.
So, while it is technically illegal to have and to use a vape containing nicotine without a prescription in Australia, it’s highly unlikely that you will ever get in trouble for it. At least, not with the police.


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After a successful beta trial, Amazon has officially launched its Prime Wardrobe "try before you buy" service designed to give the e-commerce giant a competitive edge against Stitch Fix and other wardrobe services.
LCF and the Centre for Fashion Enterprise have welcomed six new start-ups to their Fashion Tech Pioneer Programme, which offers mentorship, tailored business support and investment opportunities to visionary businesses.
The American beauty company has announced an upcoming flagship for its relaunched cosmetics brand, Covergirl, projecting an interactive experiential concept store slated to open in NYC’s Times Square later this year.
A partnership between Microsoft and London College of Fashion has seen students embrace cutting-edge technologies like mixed reality, the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence to explore the future of fashion.
The Swiss watchmaker has announced the launch of its digital boutique. The service, designed to complement the brand’s in-store experience, will first be offered in the United States before being rolled out worldwide.
Amazon has launched its first ever style-focused Echo in the US. The Alexa-powered Echo Look can take photos and videos without the use of a smartphone camera or mirror, tapping into Amazon's growing fashion community.
Marc Jacobs is expanding its wearables category with the launch of its first touchscreen smartwatch, The Riley. Previously the round-faced model was available as both an analog watch and a hybrid smartwatch.
Microsoft Corp said on Monday it would buy privately held coding website GitHub Inc for $7.5 billion in an all-stock deal to beef up its cloud computing business and challenge market leader Amazon.com Inc.


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5. Car maker
Mission: Make China the world leader in electric cars
China has set a big goal for its car industry: by 2020, it wants to be a global leader in electric vehicle technology and have five million hybrid and electric cars on its roads.
Chery, the largest state-backed carmaker, is now seeking to reposition itself from a successful producer of low-cost minis to China’s electric car king. Progress has come swiftly for the company, which only started making cars 14 years ago. Chery’s first battery-powered vehicle, the Riich M1-EV, hit the market in November, with a reported top speed of 120 km/h and a single-charge driving range of 150km. The company recently completed a €365m R&D centre in Wuhu, its headquarters, which it envisions being an electric vehicle technology hub.
Since Chery is a state-owned enterprise, none of this would be possible without substantial financial support from the government. As part of its next five-year economic plan, Beijing has pledged €12.4bn to support research into electric cars, build charging stations and provide subsidies of up to €6,700 to electric car buyers.
“The government hoped to see the Chinese auto industry catch up in combustion engine models, but it’s fallen way behind,” says Boni Sa, an analyst with IHS Automotive in Shanghai. “So they don’t want to fall too far behind with electric vehicles.”
Chances of success:
So long as government investment stays strong, Chery has a chance.


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Atlus has released the Persona 5 Royal “Morgana’s Phantom Thief Crash Course” trailer.
The new trailer covers a lot of ground. You’ll find out about new foes, new locations, new confidants, new puzzles, and the new grappling hook feature. You’ll also learn what a Phantom Thief does.
Persona 5 Royal is coming to PS4 on March 31, 2020. The launch edition comes with a steelbook. You can pre-order it now at Amazon.
Meanwhile, the Phantom Thieves Premium Edition includes a Joker Mask with stand, steelbook, art book, soundtrack, and collector’s box. Unfortunately, it’s currently out of stock.


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After nearly three years of forced absence due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Colombo Giovanni e Figli Srl is pleased to present its latest investments in machinery and technology at the Fastener Fair Italy in Milan.
With two new full CNC multispindles machines, 8 and 6 spindles, capable of producing very complicated parts with tight tolerances and in hard materials, Colombo Giovanni points out it has never stopped making investments to optimise the services available to its customers to increase satisfaction. As well as this, an investment in infrastructure has also recently taken place with the installation of a 130kw/h photovoltaic system on the roof of the production area in order to reduce
The next step for the company is to obtain the ISO 14001 certification to further enhance its offering to
“We know that Fastener Fair Italy will be a great opportunity to finally see our customers and suppliers again after such a long time of emails, phone calls and web meetings. It is going to be great to be able to have face-to-face conversations again,” comments Colombo Giovanni.
Having spent a decade in the fastener industry experiencing every facet – from steel mills, fastener manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, as well as machinery builders and plating + coating companies, Claire has developed an in-depth knowledge of all things fasteners.
Alongside visiting numerous companies, exhibitions and conferences around the world, Claire has also interviewed high profile figures – focusing on key topics impacting the sector and making sure readers stay up to date with the latest developments within the industry.


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A diplomat who played a key role in negotiations for Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement will likely take the post of an executive director at Samsung Electronics.
Kim Won-kyoung, a councilor of the Korean Embassy in the United States, tendered his resignation last weekend, according to diplomatic sources.
The 45-year-old figure has reportedly been scouted by Samsung Electronics to hold the post of an executive director at the chipmaker’s U.S. sales corporation.
Kim worked as the general director of the nation’s preparation committee for the Korea-U.S. trade pact in 2004. He also has been in charge of commerce issues including FTA renegotiations at the embassy since 2009.
This was the third time that Samsung Electronics has hired figures from the Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry.
The company’s scouting of former trade minister drew wide interest in the market.
In 2009, Samsung Electronics had named Kim Hyun-chong, former trade minister and former ambassador to the United Nations, to head the company’s legal office. He had been responsible for legal strategies on intellectual property, patent and anti-dumping issues in the company.
But Kim, who had played as the chief negotiator for Korea-U.S. FTA, quit the Samsung post at the end of 2011.
By Kim Yon-se


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Airbnb has appointed Text100 Malaysia to manage PR duties for the market until the end of the year, following a pitch held during the first week of May this year.
The agency will be responsible for developing and executing Airbnb’s consumer public relations strategies in Malaysia, in addition to providing oversight on public affairs matters. It will also be in charge of generating coverage with key media outlets, driving influencer relationships, and articulating the company’s vision for home sharing in Malaysia.
In a statement to A+M, Airbnb’s spokesperson said both are people-driven companies and Airbnb saw the shared passion that Text100 has for the brand and felt confident in the agency’s keen insight into the local market. The spokesperson added that work for Airbnb will roll out soon.
“Now that we’ve added them to our clientele, we’re energised to work with Airbnb to articulate those experiences to others. Our priority will also be in ensuring that people are engaged with the transformative value Airbnb brings to the travel industry and the community,” Tiam Siang Lee, managing consultant, Text100 Malaysia, said.
Malaysia has been a market that has brought growth for Airbnb. In April this year, Airbnb said its Malaysian hosts welcomed over 1.5 million guests in 2017, representing a 137% year-on-year growth in guest arrivals, the highest growth rate among the company’s Southeast Asia markets. On a city level, Kuala Lumpur saw 510,000 inbound guest arrivals, while Georgetown had 210,000. Johor Bahru and Petaling Jaya had 130,000 and 80,000 inbound guest arrivals respectively.
The company also unveiled its Global Office of Healthy Tourism, a global initiative to drive local, authentic and sustainable tourism in countries and cities worldwide. It will create a new Tourism Advisory Board comprising travel industry leaders across the globe.
It also launched a new guest membership program, Superguest, offering benefits across the entire trip. This is part of Airbnb’s roadmap for its core homes business, which places the company on a path to more than 1 billion annual guests by 2028. The company will also launch new tiers – Airbnb Plus and Beyond by Airbnb – in a bid to recognise hosts who go above and beyond to provide outstanding hospitality.
Airbnb also expanded its trips “Experiences” offering to new markets in Asia Pacific – Malaysia, Bali, Hong Kong and Melbourne. This provides curated activities guided by local insiders to its users. Currently, the offering is available in markets such as Singapore, Bangkok, Queenstown, Seoul, Ho Chi Minh City, New Delhi, Osaka, Shanghai, Sydney and Tokyo.
Airbnb promotes countries Trump allegedly called ‘shithole’
Airbnb, Google and Lyft among brands taking a stand following Trump immigration ban
Airbnb names global creative partner, outlines Asia plans
Airbnb brings ‘Experiences’ to three new APAC markets
Airbnb vs the hotel industry: Can the disrupted become the disrupter?
Airbnb to help lure tourists for PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games
Airbnb dishes out US$2m to promote tourism projects across APAC
Airbnb CMO exit: Why CEOs need to be involved in marketing
What brands should do when unwillingly dragged into a political conversation


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Aug 28, 2014 ... Will Apple Launch iWatch Alongside iPhone 6 Next Month? ... Apple's first
smartwatch to launch in October after iPhone 6's debut next month.
Jun 6, 2014 ... ... wearable computer in September alongside the iPhone 6, a new report from
Nikkei claims that Apple won't launch the iWatch until October.
Jul 31, 2014 ... Apple may be planning to launch the iPhone 6 on Tuesday, October 14 ... the
iWatch will be announced the same month, alongside Yosemite, ...
Dec 14, 2013 ... New rumors and reports are suggesting that Apple is planning to launch their first
ever-smart watch, the iWatch alongside the iPhone 6 in Oct.
Jun 6, 2014 ... A new report says Apple's iWatch could launch in October, not ... stating that the
iWatch could see a September launch alongside the iPhone 6, ...
Jul 31, 2014 ... The new rumoured October 14 launch date for the alleged iPhone 6 is ... Apple
would debut its long-rumoured iWatch, alongside the 5.5-inch ...
Jun 12, 2014 ... Apple's first ever iWatch could be on its way, with a launch set for ... to release an
iWatch in October and that the device will run on iOS 8 ... The iPhone 6 is also
expected later this year, with a rumoured .... iWatch: Everything we know about
Apple's smartwatch rumoured to be revealed alongside iPhone 6 ...
Jun 6, 2014 ... Apple's long awaited and heavily rumored iWatch is set to land in stores and ...
for a September launch alongside the two models of iPhone 6.
Dec 13, 2013 ... Apple is expected to launch its smartwatch - called the iWatch - with ... charging
when released in October 2014, alongside the iPhone 6.
Sep 6, 2014 ... With the iPhone 6 launch date all but confirmed for September 9th, consumers ...
Ahead of Apple's event, we want to take a look at everything we know ... that
supposedly could happen in September and perhaps in October as well. .... If
Apple does announce the iWatch, we can expect it to release details ...


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In December, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said it did not expect the UK economy to return to growth until the final quarter of 2023. While inflation is forecast to slow to around five per cent by then, the BCC predicted a sluggish recovery with business investment, exports and household consumption all expected to remain subdued until later this year.
In the face of this continuing economic uncertainty and fresh on the heels of the turbulence created by the global pandemic, many companies have come under huge pressure with some inevitable consequences. More than 5,500 insolvencies were recorded in England and Wales in the third quarter of 2022, a 40 per cent increase year-on-year from the same period last year. Meanwhile a smaller yet still significant rise in Scottish insolvencies - up nearly 20 per cent in the third quarter of 2022 compared to the previous year – highlights the challenging trading conditions and wider market volatility that many businesses here currently face.
With the BCC and other organisations forecasting tough times ahead for at least the first half of 2023, the risk of rising insolvencies remains a major concern. Directors face difficult decisions within a challenging and complicated landscape driven by both domestic and global factors.
The current energy crisis fuelled by the war in Ukraine continues to impact UK companies. The Government’s announcement that it will cut around 85 per cent of UK business energy aid at the end of March could bring added financial woes.
Brexit also continues to increase pressure on businesses and their supply chains while inflation currently remains at its highest rate in decades, putting a squeeze on household spending and leaving the UK with the biggest reduction in disposable incomes since the 1950s.
These factors combined with skills shortages that some key sectors are facing make for a difficult enough start to the new year. Now a further emerging issue for many businesses to contend with is the increase in regulatory burdens and obligations related to ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) requirements driven by both corporate customers and consumers. These can often carry significant legal implications which require careful management.
In October, the Supreme Court handed down a decision in the long awaited Sequana case. This marked the first time that the UK’s highest court had been asked to reflect on the proposition that directors are, in certain circumstances, under a duty to consider creditors’ interests as distinct from shareholders’ interests.
The judgement ruled that the ‘creditor duty’ is not engaged when a company only faces a risk of insolvency but rather when it is insolvent or bordering on insolvency. With that said, it remains open to argument how probable insolvency needs to be to trigger the duty. The directors’ knowledge of a company’s financial position is a key factor to be considered when assessing their duties in such circumstances.
Following on from this case, a director’s duty has now shifted. When a company is on the verge of insolvency, a director is duty-bound to consider the best interests of its creditors in addition to its shareholders and, possibly, to give them priority. Directors must balance the steps they must take to keep the company going with their obligations to creditors. This is challenging when a company faces conflicting demands from its customers, supply chain, shareholders, and creditors.
We now operate in a world where ESG requirements, along with other socially-focused obligations, come attached to business loans, commercial property leases and equity investments. While adhering to these is demanding enough for a company that is commercially viable, the current economic landscape and the rising costs that many businesses are facing will make this a significant burden for those which are struggling. If compliance does not improve a company’s bottom line it may not be in the best interests of its creditors.
Difficult decisions and disagreements might arise at board level as duties shift to the interests of the creditors. It’s therefore crucial that directors seek early advice to help them navigate through this increasingly complex landscape and avoid the prospect of legal sanctions.
Jordan Gray is an Associate at CMS


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Midland, Mich.-based Styron said its LOMAX Technology, which uses methane gas from a nearby landfill to produce its latex carpet backing, has reduced more than 80 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions since launching the product in 2007. This figure is nearly 30 million pounds more than originally anticipated, according to the company.
“We are very pleased to see that LOMAX Technology is largely exceeding our expectations,” said Todd Crook, Styron’s global communications director.
LOMAX tech exceeds Styron's expectations
November 8, 2010


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It’s no secret that Nokia has been struggling in the marketplace following its transition to Windows Phone, but the company’s latest financial results may finally be showing some signs of progress. Nokia’s Q1 2013 results show a total turnover of $7.7 billion with an operating loss of $196 million. That may sound bad at first, but it’s a significant improvement on the $1.7 billion loss the company reported during the same period last year.
In addition to slowing losses at the company, Nokia managed to ship 5.6 million Lumia devices in total during the entire quarter, up from the 4.4 million units it shipped last quarter. That’s a record high for the smartphone manufacturer, most likely a result of the company expanding its handset reach into the budget and mid-range areas of the market.
Still, it’s a long way away from the kind of numbers that Apple and Samsung are reported each quarter. To put things into context, both companies are estimated to have shipped 36.9 million and 61.6 million phones respectively during Q1.
Nokia CEO Stephen Elop is encouraged by the results, however, saying in a statement that “people are responding positively to the Lumia portfolio” as shipments increase each quarter. Indeed, the Lumia 920 was received positively when it was released, and people are starting to take further interest in the range given the affordability of handsets such as the Lumia 720 and Lumia 520. Nokia still faces strong competition, but it doesn’t look to be out for the count just yet.


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We saw Sony (NYSE: SNE) slash its full-year forecast earlier this month, and here’s the detail on why: Fiscal Q2 profit nosedived 71.8 percent to 20.8 billion yen ($213.72 million) in the three months to September 30, as the financial services unit lost 40 billion yen ($385 million) in Tokyo’s falling stock market. Operating income was down 90.1 percent to 11 billion yen ($113 million), though in fairness, was flattered last year by a 60.7 billion yen ($623 million) premises sale.
— Movies: Sony Pictures is to keep a tighter hold of its Crackle video site. Mobile entertainment head Eric Berger’s remit is being extended to the former Grouper, replacing Jonathan Shambroom, who only took Crackle’s top spot in February. “What we want to do with Crackle is make it a next-generation TV network,” Berger told Reuters. Crackle will be moved from San Francisco down to Sony’s Culver City HQ and folded more closely in to the studio. The changes will come with redundancies though some staff will move, Reuters reports, as Sony positions Crackle at young men and plans five original series productions per quarter.
— Electronics: Ups and downs – Bravia TVs and Vaio laptops shifted more units but Vaio profitability dipped while Handycam and Cybershot digicam profits sank on what Sony says is a “slowing market growth and price decline”. Electronics sales were marginally down 0.6 percent to $16.9 billion, also partly thanks to smaller contributions from Sony Ericsson; operating income down 40.5 percent to 75.6 billion yen ($776 million).
— Sony Ericsson: The mobile JV saw sales dip 10 percent to


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“For Lease” signs already up at former smoothie shop.
Groovy Smoothie has closed its Midtown location.
The smoothie shop, at 1001 Piedmont Avenue, shuttered its doors for good this past week, employees at the neighboring Subway told What Now Atlanta (WNA) over the phone Sunday.
Groovy Smoothie was open for less than a year. The smoothie shop opened March 2012, replacing italian ice spot Repicci’s (formerly Smoothie King).
“For Lease” signs have already been placed outside of the Midtown Space.


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Gitex: Middle East IT spend to reach Dh781bn in 2016
Under the theme ‘Reimagining Realities’, Gitex Technology Week 2016, from October 16 to 20 will highlight how technology can transform businesses through cutting-edge showcases, international keynotes and dignitaries from around the globe in attendance.
Robotics and drones will demonstrate how the supply chain is evolving at the upcoming Gitex Technology Week, the largest technology exchange and marketplace for Middle East & Africa, in Dubai, UAE.
"Gitex is at the global nexus of trade and technology innovation, with the UAE government a leader in using technology to transform daily lives and businesses. Gitex is the single most powerful and influential sourcing platform for tech solutions and innovations in the region," said Trixie LohMirmand, senior vice-president, Exhibitions and Events Management, Dubai World Trade Centre.
"Gitex provides a gateway to the fast-growth Middle East, Africa, and South Asia markets, and a global platform for sharing knowledge and innovations from students to start-ups," said Mohammed Areff, vice president of Meta at Avaya.
The company exhibited at last year’s event, which saw over 146,000 visitors from 144 countries, and 4,200 sponsors and exhibitors from 130 countries.
The Middle East IT spend is set to reach $212.9 billion (Dh781 billion) in 2016, a 37 per cent increase from the previous year, she noted, adding that nearly 22,000 CXOs from top corporations are expected to attend the event.
Gitex will change the way visitors view the world with its interactive Immersive Tech section. The Virtual Reality gaming industry alone is expected to rise to $4.4 billion by 2022 - this technology is set to be the GCC’s next billion dollar industry. From VR headsets, to AR tools used in live surgery, Gitex is set to demonstrate how a new view of reality can change lives and businesses.
The new Gitex Startup Movement is set to be the most global event of its kind, connecting over 400 start-ups from 35 countries, and 1,000 entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, angel investors, government buyers, and mentors.
Gitex Vertical Days will act as a platform for IT leaders to address industry issues and learn from international thought-leaders. A world-class line up of speakers from around the globe will address Vertical Day conference attendees to share their expertise.
The 3D print spend in the MEA region alone is set to reach $1.3 billion by 2019, presenting clear market opportunities. 3D printing technology exhibited at Gitex will demonstrate how an array of printers and makers creating everything from medical supplies and automobile parts shape the vision of 3D printing technology.
"As the interconnected Internet of Things era rises, robotics and automated solutions will be essential for organisations to overcome the world’s most pressing challenges. From high-risk activities such as welding, to driverless cars and robotic cafes, the next generation of automated services being demoed at Gitex will drive Smart City innovation in the Middle East and around the world," said Bilal Al Hattab, managing director at DigiRobotics Technologies, a Dubai-based robotics manufacturer showcasing at Gitex Technology Week 2016.
"Gitex Technology Week 2016 is the voice and venue for technology innovation. Technology is no longer limited to the IT department - every industry needs to understand how digital transformation can drive competitiveness, from cloud-based mobile apps, to robots, drones, and 3D printing," said LohMirmand.
Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.


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You may have seen a few headlines this week noting that Office 2007 was exiting the free support phase this week, and moving into the "Extended" (paid) support period.
Actually -- as I discovered via a tweet from Directions on Microsoft's Rob Helm -- Microsoft quietly gave Office 2007 (with Service Pack 3) an extension. Instead of moving into the Extended Support phase on April 9, as was the original plan, Office 2007 now moves to Extended on October 9, 2012. Extended support for the product ends on October 10, 2017.
Mainstream support is the period during which Microsoft provides free and regular updates including both security fixes and other patches for a product. Once a product exits the mainstream support phase, it enters Extended Support. During this period, security updates for a product remain free, but most other updates are only supplied on a paid basis, and require a separate Hotfix Agreement.
I just confirmed this with Microsoft. “Based on our support policies, we moved the EOL (end of life) support dates for the Microsoft Office Division 2007 editions forward to October to give 2 full years of mainstream support after the launch of the 2010 products.”
Here's the Microsoft Life Cycle page for Office 2010 with the updated dates:
(click on the chart to enlarge)
Microsoft is encouraging those still using Office 2007 to move to Office 2010 as soon as possible. Meanwhile, Office 15, which is likely to be called Office 2013, from what I've heard, is expected to hit public beta this summer and possibly be released to manufacturing late this year (November, according to the source grapevine).
As my ZDNet colleague Ed Bott noted earlier this year, Microsoft quietly updated its Product Lifecycle rules to extend support for the Consumer versions of Vista and Windows 7 to 10 years (five mainstream, five extended), the same amount of time that Business versions of Windows are supported.
Windows Vista moved from Mainstream to Extended support earlier this week.


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Joe Mimran, founder of Joe Fresh, Club Monaco and Alfred Sung, is now betting on beauty tech.
As part of his quest to build out his Gibraltar & Co. portfolio, Mimran has invested in Lunata Hair. Founded in 2017 by Monica Abramov and Anastassia Boguslavskaya, Lunata Hair specializes in wireless and portable styling products, including hair straighteners and curling wands. No financial details were released. However, Mimran believes the company can easily surpass the $100 million sales mark.
Mimran first met Abramov and Boguslavskaya when he was a judge on Canada’s “Dragons’ Den” — a format similar to “Shark Tank” — when they pitched another concept called Shopbake. While that didn’t get his thumbs-up, the duo’s launch of cordless tools netted his approval. “Sometimes when you invest in small companies, the idea is always important, but it is the jockey that matters. In this case, I felt both of them had the right attitude and talking about a market that I think is interesting.”
He pointed to the potential in beauty tech, which is expected to surpass sales of $97 billion annually by 2023. Mimran sees a wealth of product opportunities for the brand. “When I make an investment, I like to see there is a lot of innovation. Like all true entrepreneurs, Monica and Anastassia saw a need in the market [cordless styling tools] and filled it. With its debut product, Lunata is poised to become a force in the emerging beauty tech market, and I’m looking forward to help fuel the growth of the business.” Mimran added he thinks it is a great time to be an entrepreneur thanks to available funding and a disruptive marketplace that opens up opportunities for new brands.
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Lunata’s founders said the investment will allow them to “scale quickly to secure our place as a leader in cordless and beauty tech.” Mimran’s resources, they said, will help them build out their team, revamp packaging and ratchet up product creation. “We want to invest in research and development to make sure our products are ahead of their time,” Boguslavskaya said.
Among the ideas in the pipeline are dry shampoos to prolong styling, products to promote hair health and those to keep hair smelling fresh. “No one wants to wash their hair too often — we are all too busy. We are looking for ways to extend a blow dry,” Abramov added. Next month, Lunata unveils a cordless, rechargeable curling iron/wand at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next month.
The brand is available on nordstrom.com, Amazon and in Holt Renfrew in Canada. Boguslavskaya said the products will be tested on Ulta Beauty’s e-commerce site. Pricing is in the premium range of tools with the Wireless Rechargeable Touch Up iron/styler retailing for $150. Lunata is also introducing a Jet Setter Kit in January 2019 that has a world adapter, two USB ports and works in 120 countries that will retail for $200.
While cordless tools have been tried before, what makes Lunata different is that the range includes full-sized, battery-powered and rechargeable tools versus the traditional miniature cordless options that are limited in temperature settings. The cordless hair straightening iron produced by Lunata holds a charge for up to 45 minutes at the highest setting with heat settings ranging from 200 to 430 degrees Fahrenheit.
Mimran thinks the timing is right for the portable products. “People are moving at 100 miles an hour, everything is about being mobile.” The Lunata founders add that the technology isn’t limited to travel, equating cordless tools to electric toothbrushes and shavers. “It is great for multitasking,” Boguslavskaya said.


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Retailers are working in an increasingly challenging environment. The after-effects of the pandemic, inflationary pressures in supply chains, and the looming cost of living crisis create the perfect storm of uncertainty. This is one of the key findings from new research we’ve conducted into the state of retail.
But it is not all bad news. If the past two years have taught retailers anything, it’s that agility and speed can turn adversity into opportunity. Yet, whereas progress in the past has been about making significant investments and bold plans, today’s narrative is around frugal innovation. By focussing on the fundamentals and optimising the basics, our data suggests that retailers can do a lot more with what they already have.
Our new report, The Global Retailers Handbook, makes a case for the continued need for retailers to analyse and optimise every aspect of their e-commerce experience as consumers become more deeply connected to digital shopping and payments.
E-commerce maintains its bounce
Despite stores reopening their doors post lockdowns, e-commerce has retained its recent converts. Indeed, consumer attitudes to e-commerce are emboldening: 33 per cent say shopping online allows them to budget more effectively and make their money go further. At the same time, 15 per cent more people than last year recognise the benefits of ease and safety.
For e-commerce-only businesses, the challenge is to meet the expectations of this increasingly mature audience in what will inevitably become an increasingly competitive market. For retailers with brick-and-mortar stores, their e-commerce business must now be the star of the show.
Payments must follow. Our research found significant year-on-year growth in the number of consumers engaging in digitised payment experiences. From using digital wallets and Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) options to opting for biometric authentication, consumers are showing fast-growing maturity regarding new and emerging digital payments. And their expectations are also growing, with more than half (56 per cent) saying they would abandon their cart if their preferred payment method was unavailable.
The rise and rise of marketplaces
E-commerce marketplaces are a segment of the digital economy that has shown particular growth in recent years. And that growth is expected to continue. Experts predict up to 70 per cent of digital commerce will occur on marketplace platforms by 2025.
Unsurprisingly, those e-commerce brands yet to join the marketplace revolution are considering doing so, and fast. Thirty-eight per cent tell us they are planning to increase their use of third-party marketplaces to reach more customers. Meanwhile, 26 per cent of retailers with revenues of over $1 billion are planning to add a marketplace offering in the coming year.
Winning on trust, not tricks
Whereas last year was about meeting consumers’ desire for exciting online experiences, shoppers tell us trust has become more critical.
Payment security has become more of a priority for consumers – 80 per cent will abandon their cart if concerned about security – while innovations such as personalisation, gamification, and social media shopping have faded into the background of needs. The last of these is particularly stark, with a halving of consumers saying they want to shop via social channels and live-streamed influencer channels, to just 17 per cent.
Retailers have several ways they can demonstrate trust. Our research shows they should start at the checkout –displaying security information on the payments page has become shoppers’ number one non-price-related priority.
But this is not an invitation for retailers to ignore the customer experience, and expectations rarely stand still. The 30 per cent of online retailers that plan to improve their checkout and payment experience in the next 12 months have the right idea. So do those who demonstrate they understand the financial challenges of their customers. Our research also finds loyalty schemes have become increasingly valuable to shoppers.
Fighting false declines, friction and fraud
This year we find fewer e-commerce payments are being successfully authorised. Only a quarter of enterprise retailers achieved approval rates of 90 per cent or more, a 6 per cent drop since 2020. This decline in performance couldn’t happen at a worse time, as consumers tell us they’re less willing than ever to accept a false decline. Forty-four per cent said they’d give up on a purchase if they experienced a false decline.
The data also unveils a worrying uptick in fraud, especially friendly fraud. Twenty-seven per cent of retailers have faced an increase in chargeback rates in the past six months, while 10 per cent are happy to admit they’d initiate a fraudulent chargeback if necessary.
Astute merchants navigate this balance between performance and protection by rethinking their payments technology stack. A payments platform that uses machine learning in conjunction with libraries of fraud rules puts retailers in control, allowing them to define fraud thresholds, set exemptions, and more accurately identify genuine customers.
Detail is critical, with the best strategies considering the individual transaction, customer, product, issuer, and the retailer’s risk appetite. Yet getting the data is a problem, with 80 per cent of retailers saying they can’t access the insights they need.
More than ever, it’s essential that retailers have partners with long-standing experience, deep expertise and an ability to solve complexity by combining human ingenuity with leading-edge technology.
The bottom line
The research shows the need for retailers to adapt once again. On the front end, they need to prioritise trust. On the back end, they need to optimise every transaction.


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Terry Gou is one sharp dude.
Foxconn and Sharp Corp (6753.T) on Saturday formally signed a long-awaited deal that would see the Taiwan firm take control of the Japanese display maker, as executives sought to dispel lingering doubts over whether Sharp can turn around its ebbing fortunes.
At a packed news conference following the signing of the $3.5 billion deal, Foxconn CEO Terry Gou ducked questions about how - and when - Sharp would become profitable again, but expressed confidence in the Japanese company's ability to bounce back with its highly regarded technology.
Gou pointed to Sharp's proprietary know-how to mass-produce the advanced IGZO (indium gallium zinc oxide) display technology as a standout, calling it superior to the popular OLED (organic light-emitting diode) technology. IGZO technology is used in products such as Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) iPad.
"Everybody is saying OLED," Gou said at the event held at Foxconn and Sharp's jointly owned liquid crystal display factory in Sakai, western Japan. "If I was an engineer, I would choose IGZO," he said, noting that they were more energy-efficient than OLEDs.


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Top 50 Indie Euro Garages has opened two new-to-industry sites in Lancashire, with one featuring its first drive-thru KFC restaurant and Sainsbury’s Locals on both forecourts.
The drive-thru restaurant is part of a £3.5m development by Euro Garages at Mill Farm in Wesham, which comprises a BP service station, and also features Euro Garages’ 100th Greggs store and its seventh Sainsbury’s Local.
Iain Fisher, brand manager, joined Euro Garages in December 2016 and is working closely with KFC UK & Ireland to identify and explore new development opportunities.
He said: "We are planning to open a further 30-plus KFC restaurants across the UK by 2020."
The second service station, at Buckshaw Village, in Chorley, comprises a Starbucks Drive-Thru, a 24-hour Sainsbury’s, a Greggs, Subway and a BP fuel stop.
Barry Westley, area manager of Euro Garages, said that the Sainsbury’s had created 15 new jobs. He said: "People are busy and there is a growing trend that they want to do a top-up shop while they stop to either fill up or visit our locations for coffee, breakfast or lunch."
Euro Garages is the first company Sainsbury’s has allowed to operate a Sainsbury’s Local store.


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The following video is brought to you courtesy of the Epic Economist YouTube Channel. Click the video below to watch it now.
Everywhere around us there are signs of economic collapse, and right now companies are literally shutting down all over America. Everything that is taking place in the “real economy” makes perfect sense, and unfortunately the next economic crash are likely to accelerate significantly in the months ahead.
How long can the stock market possibly stay completely disconnected from economic reality? On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose just 27 points, but that was good enough to push it to yet another new all-time record high. Investors have been absolutely thrilled by the extremely impressive bull run that we have witnessed so far in 2019, but there is no way that this is sustainable. Wall Street may be celebrating for the moment, but meanwhile all of the hard economic numbers are telling us that we have now entered a new economic collapse and Great Recession . Just like in 2008, it appears to be inevitable that the party on Wall Street is about to hit a brick wall, but nobody should be surprised when the stock market crash happens.
For example, just take a look at what is happening to the trucking industry. I recently warned about the trucking “bloodbath” that was unfolding, and over the past week it has greatly accelerated. On the 12th of July, we learned that trucking giant LME had abruptly shut down. Then this week we learned that Timmerman Starlite Trucking suddenly shut down without any notice. Of course those two trucking companies are definitely not the only victims of this “bloodbath”. According to Business Insider, ALA Trucking, Williams Trucking, Falcon Transport and New England Motor Freight have also completely ceased operations in 2019. If the U.S. economy really was “booming”, this would not be happening.
Meanwhile, major retailer companies continue to fall like dominoes. Charming Charlie is headed for bankruptcy and will be closing all of their stores. Charming Charlie Holdings Inc. filed for Chapter 11 protection in Delaware with plans for going-out-of-business sales at about 261 stores, according to court documents. In addition, we just learned that Fred’s company will be shuttering another 129 stores as it desperately attempts to stay alive. Sadly, such scenes are being repeated over and over again all around the country. In fact, things are already so bad that even Manhattan retailing legend Barneys company is likely headed for bankruptcy. The all-time record for store closings in a single year was set in 2017 when 8,139 stores shut down.
According to a brand new report that was just released, we are on pace to absolutely shatter that old record. In fact, Coresight says that the number of store closings in the U.S. could hit 12,000 by the end of this year.
Everything that is taking place in the “real economy” makes perfect sense, and unfortunately the economic collapse are likely to accelerate significantly in the months ahead. What doesn’t make sense is what we are witnessing on Wall Street. There is no way that stock prices should be rising like this, but financial bubbles don’t typically follow rational patterns. Instead, they usually just keep going until something comes along to end them. – it will be the biggest stock market crash in the history of mankind.
And considering everything that is going on in the world right now, that economic collapse could definitely arrive sooner rather than later.
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Finnish company Varjo just released its new XR-4 headset on Monday, targeting big businesses. This headset, priced starting at $3,990, is similar to ones made by Meta, Microsoft, and Apple.
Varjo’s XR-4 Headset
Varjo’s headset is different from those made for regular consumers, like Meta’s. It’s designed for businesses to use in specific situations. For instance, a pilot working for a defense company could use it for virtual reality training, or a surveyor could use it to map out a large construction site.
The XR-4 headset features two 4K displays and a 50% wider field of view than its predecessors. It also includes brighter displays and a broader range of colors compared to earlier models.
Patrick Wyatt, Varjo’s chief product officer, explained that, “Technically, the XR-4 is simpler in a few ways. Now, each eye has one screen, maximizing the resolution of that screen and reducing costs. But the key improvement is all about scale.”
The XR-4 is equipped with two 20-megapixel cameras on the front, allowing for what’s known as pass-through mixed reality. This means users can see the real world around them through lenses in the headset, instead of being fully immersed in a virtual world. This feature is similar to what Meta offers on its headsets and what Apple plans to include on the Vision Pro.
Advanced Features and Technological Innovations
The XR-4 includes ambient light sensors and enhanced lidar (Light Detection and Ranging), a technique that uses 3D laser scanning to measure distances and surfaces. This is crucial to enable users to fully engage with both virtual and augmented reality environments while using the headset.
Additionally, the XR-4 features built-in 3D spatial audio, along with noise-canceling microphones and integrated speakers. It supports inside-out tracking and comes with Varjo’s proprietary controllers, allowing users to navigate through both digital and physical surroundings.
Varjo secured over $160 million in funding from various investors, including Apple supplier Foxconn, private equity firm EQT, automotive giant Volvo, and venture capital firm Atomico. The company didn’t disclose its valuation during its last funding round when it raised $40 million from investors.
Varjo’s XR-4 headset, tailored for enterprise use, introduces advanced features like 4K displays, wider field of view, and pass-through mixed reality. Priced at $3,990, it competes with Meta, Microsoft, and Apple in the booming virtual and augmented reality space. Backed by $160 million in funding, Varjo’s innovation aligns with tech’s pursuit of transformative advancements, akin to the internet and mobile phones.


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Consumer fraud investigators filed charges Monday against an Orlando used-car dealer, claiming he sold a BMW without telling the buyers the car had been rebuilt after being totaled.
The Orange County Consumer Fraud Unit filed the charges against The Car Bar, 3862 S. Orange Ave. Bill Lipham, an investigator with the fraud unit, gave this account:
In June 1984, The Car Bar sold a 1979 BMW for $8,820 to Jack and Donna Granger of 1509 Americana Blvd., Orlando. The car had been totaled and rebuilt after an accident six months earlier. The dealer did not inform the couple in writing that the car had been rebuilt, as state law requires, Lipham said.
The Grangers learned that the car had been totaled in May, when a dealer they tried to trade it to discovered that information on the car's title. As a result, the couple got about $2,000 less for the car on trade in.
Terry McKinney, owner of The Car Bar, said he never tried to misrepresent the car and tried to work out a settlement with the Grangers.
McKinney's dealership is charged in Orange County Court with unlawful sale of a rebuilt vehicle, a misdemeanor. If convicted, he faces up to 6 months in jail and a $500 fine.
Lipham said investigators are seeing more of the kind of fraud McKinney's dealership is accused of because of escalating car prices, especially for expensive cars such as BMWs. Higher new-car prices make it more profitable to rebuild severely damaged cars, which can fetch a better price if buyers don't know they were totaled, he said.
Lipham said car buyers can determine whether a car is rebuilt by checking the first three letters of the vehicle identification number on the auto's title or the identification tag usually found on the driver's side of the dashboard. If the first three letters are ''Fla.,'' signifying Florida, the car has been rebuilt.


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Apple analyst, Chris Caso, Susquehanna Financial Group, and Andrew Slimmon, Morgan Stanley, react to Carl Icahn's move on Apple and the tech giant's future products.
Billionaire Carl Icahn asked Apple to commence an immediate tender offer to the tune of $150 billion in a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook on Thursday morning.
Buying back $150 billion worth of stock and ongoing innovation at Apple are not mutually exclusive, activist investor Carl Icahn says.
Take a look at some of Thursday midday movers:
While Apple CEO Tim Cook has been doing "a great job," the company's board of directors is not doing "an obvious thing" by increasing a stock buyback, activist investor Carl Icahn says.
If Apple doesn't do a buyback, Carl Icahn, Icahn Enterprises chairman, says he will test the waters on a "proxy fight." He thinks the stock is very "undervalued," and intends to up his stake in the company, which currently stands at $2.5 billion. CEO Tim Cook is doing "great job," he says, but it is derelict to not do a buyback. The activist investor also weighs in on Netflix and Herbalife.
Apple is undervalued and a massive buyback of shares is a "no brainer," billionaire investor Carl Icahn said on Thursday.
John Buckingham, AFAM, and David Rolfe, Apple shareholder, discuss Carl Icahn's suggestion to push Apple for a $150 billion buyback. I am in Icahn's camp on this one, says Rolfe.
Is Bill Gross picking a fight with Carl Icahn? The "Squawk on the Streets" crew discusses Bill Gross' tweet to the famed investor.
CNBC's David Faber reveals Carl Icahn is calling for an immediate tender offer for $150 billion worth of its stock at $525 per share.
CNBC's David Faber and Jim Cramer say it's extremely unlikely Apple will accept Carl Icahn's call for a tender offer.
"I think there's a lot of future value in Blackberry," John Sculley tells the Globe and Mail of Toronto.
U.S. stock index futures signaled a higher open on Thursday, with markets still boosted by raised hopes the Federal Reserve will not start tapering off its asset purchases until next year.
The stocks moving before the bell.
LG Electronics reported its lowest quarterly profit for 2013 as its mobile business slipped due to the cost of marketing its latest smartphone.
Stocks finished lower Wednesday, with the S&P 500 snapping a four-day streak of record highs, following weakness in global equities and a mixed bag of earnings reports.
A week ahead of the networking site's earnings, CEO Jeff Weiner announced a focus on mobile as a game-changer for its products.
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn has sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook, making an unknown pledge, according to a source.
CNBC's Scott Wapner reports that Carl Icahn has sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook in which he continues to press his case for a big stock buyback and offers to make some kind of "pledge" to the company.
CNBC contributor Ron Insana reacts to Carl Icahn's strong case for a big buyback at Apple.


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As 2013 begins, the SaaS (software as a service) market is set to heat up even more, as well as potentially undergo a number of key shifts. Here's a look at a series of key SaaS vendors and trends to watch as the year unfolds.
Salesforce.com: No discussion of the SaaS market is complete without covering Salesforce.com, the largest independent player. While the company should generate plenty of news for its social collaboration, CRM (customer relationship management), customer service and application development software, it's also possible that Salesforce.com will come up with a brand-new application that touches on an area it hasn't directly been involved with until now.
Such was the case with Work.com, an employee performance management application launched last year. Salesforce.com application development executive John Wookey, a veteran of Oracle and SAP, oversaw the Work.com project and probably has something else up his sleeve for 2013.
Oracle: Some, but not all of Oracle's family of SaaS offerings are generally available now, but most if not all may reach that stage sometime this year, perhaps before the OpenWorld conference in September. Two-thirds of Fusion Applications customers so far are choosing the SaaS model, according to Oracle. While Oracle hasn't showcased a huge number of specific customer stories reflecting that trend, expect to see the number of public references and case studies mount over this year.
SAP: The German software giant bought its way into SaaS big-time over the past year or so, scooping up HCM (human capital management) vendor SuccessFactors as well as Ariba, which offers a cloud-based supplier network. It also has the homegrown Business ByDesign ERP (enterprise resource planning) suite as well as a number of more specialized SaaS applications meant to work in conjunction with its on-premises Business Suite for large enterprises. SAP officials may decide this year to lay out a longer-term SaaS road map for the Business Suite itself.
Microsoft: Expect more moves into SaaS from Microsoft for its Dynamics ERP software lines. It's also possible that Microsoft's marketing message for SaaS will attempt to show customers that it can be a virtual one-stop shop for SaaS, covering everything from Office to CRM and ERP. "Microsoft shows progress but needs to get different parts of the company talking to one another," said analyst Michael Krigsman, CEO of consulting firm Asuret. "They're working on that."
Workday: This SaaS financials and HCM vendor has received a great deal of attention thanks to high-profile customer wins as well as a recent successful IPO, but the spotlight also comes with continued pressure to perform. Market watchers will be eyeing Workday's stock price, revenue and ability to keep landing those mega-deals against Oracle and SAP.
Intuit: Millions of small businesses use Intuit's QuickBooks software, and as more customers move to SaaS, Intuit clearly wants to keep them. In September, it rolled out a global version of QuickBooks Online covering well over 100 countries. It has also moved to build out a small business SaaS suite of sorts, tying together its Demandforce cloud-based marketing software with both QuickBooks Online and the on-premise versions of QuickBooks. It seems likely that Intuit will continue down this path in 2013.
Zuora: This vendor offers SaaS software for subscription-based businesses, providing billing, e-commerce and finance modules that tackle the unique needs of such companies. The company has been getting plenty of attention and could be headed for an IPO. It may also see itself courted by potential acquirers, as well as challenged by new rivals.
Single sign-on for SaaS: Vendors such as Okta, Ping Identity and OneLogin offer their own takes on single-sign in for multiple SaaS applications at once. Look for growth in this area as more customers reorient their IT environments around SaaS and jettison legacy applications, but then find they have a fresh management problem on their hands. One can also imagine these tools sparking a rise in consulting firms offering to stitch together and perhaps manage a best-of-breed SaaS suite for customers.
Cloud ERP for manufacturers: It's well-known that ERP has lagged other categories with respect to SaaS. However, the market may grow substantially in 2013 due to the rise of SaaS vendors honing in on specific verticals such as manufacturing. That's where companies such as NetSuite, Plex Systems and Kenandy have focused attention.
Chris Kanaracus covers enterprise software and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Chris' email address is Chris_Kanaracus@idg.com