Tag: apple

Digital Markets Unit watchdog gets statutory powers

Posted on May 9, 2022 by - News

The Digital Markets Unit (DMU) will get statutory powers to enforce a “pro-competition” regime, under a new government plan.

The goal will be to rebalance the relationship tech giants have with consumers and businesses and will allow the DMU to designate firms light Meta, Google, Amazon and Apple as having “strategic market status.” These firms will be forced to adhere to binding codes of conduct.

Failure to comply with the DMU and its rules could result in fines of up to 10 per cent of annual global turnover for tech companies, with additional penalties of five per cent of daily global turnover for each day the offence continues. Senior managers could face civil penalties if their firms fail to engage properly with the DMU’s requests for information.

Men from the ministry try to boost tech startups

Posted on April 15, 2022 by - News

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport has launched a new grant competition to boost the growth of innovative tech start-ups and scale-ups across the UK.

For the previous six years the grant has been awarded to Tech Nation. The government is introducing a competitive process to ensure value for money for taxpayers, and to bring the funding in line with the majority of government grants, which are awarded under a competitive process.

Commenting on the decision, Jonathan Moyes, Head of Investment Research, Wealth Club said: “Any rival bidder will have their work cut out. Tech Nation has done a stellar job of raising awareness of the UK’s thriving start-up ecosystem and helping nurture promising start-ups and scale-ups.”

Apple might move to subscription model

Posted on March 28, 2022 by - News

Fruity cargo cult Apple has worked out that its products are so expensive it might be a wizard idea to move to a subscription model for iPhones and other hardware.

Bloomberg claims the tech giant is looking at making hardware ownership similar to paying a monthly app fee. The project is still in development, the sources said, but would mark a significant push towards recurring sales from the vendor.

The scheme is not going to be anything like a hire purchase arrangement.  There would be an as yet undecided monthly fee that depends on which device the user selects.

Apple snaps up Credit Kudos

Posted on March 24, 2022 by - News

Apple is acquiring the UK-based fintech startup Credit Kudos for an undisclosed amount.

Neither Credit Kudos nor Apple will confirm the deal, which was first reported by the crypto-focused publication The Block, citing three sources close to the deal. The privacy policy link on the Credit Kudos website redirects to Apple’s privacy policy.

Ukraine war will have a knock on effect here

Posted on March 7, 2022 by - News

Economic sanctions against Tsar Putin will have a significant impact on the IT channel, according to analysts at Context.

According to a report cross-border payments are extremely challenging if not impossible for channel players and their customers now that major banks are locked out of the SWIFT system. The EU and US have banned the supply of hi-tech goods including semiconductors, computers, telecoms and information security equipment. Russian aircraft are banned from European airspace, and Boeing/Airbus have stopped servicing the Russian aviation industry, which will further restrict transport flows.

Synaxon announces partnership with UFP

Posted on February 9, 2022 by - News

Channel services outfit Synaxon is teaming up with specialist print products distributor UFP.

The agreement means resellers now have access to UFP’s expansive specialist print and IT portfolio through Synaxon’s online procurement platform EGIS.

In a statement Synaxon said that UFP brings the total number of distributors on the platform to 40 and broadens the range of offerings available to resellers, retailers, and office product suppliers.

UK MD Mike Barron said that UFP was a valuable addition to EGIS. “It’s a thriving and dynamic business built on delivering the best products and services and we’re delighted to have them onboard.”

Tablet and Chromebook sales have peaked

Posted on February 8, 2022 by - News

Global tablet shipments reached 46 million units during the fourth quarter of 2021, posting a decline for the second time since the pandemic began in 2020, according to IDC beancounters.

Shipments dropped 11.9 percent year on year as demand slowed. For the full year 2021, total tablet shipments were up 3.2 percent, reaching 168.8 million units, the market’s highest level since 2016.

Chromebook shipments plummeted 63.6 percent year on year in fourth quarter, but managed to grow 13.5 per cent for the full year.

IDC Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers senior research analyst, Anuroopa Nataraj said that  2021 was a great year for tablets but shipments have begun to decelerate as the market has moved past peak demand.

Semiconductor buyers increased spending

Posted on February 7, 2022 by - News

The top ten semiconductor buyers increased their chip spending by 25.2 percent in 2021 amid an ongoing semiconductor shortage.

According to Gartner beancounters the chip shortage prevented original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) from increasing production of a broad range of products, such as vehicles, smartphones, games consoles, and various other electronic devices.

However, the shortage significantly increased chip selling prices, resulting in buyers spending considerably more on acquiring chips than in previous years.

The research firm found average selling prices of semiconductors increased by more than 15 percent or more in 2021 – which included microcontroller units, general purpose logic integrated circuits (ICs), and a wide range of application-specific chips.

OEMs increase their chip spending

Posted on February 3, 2022 by - News

Beancounters at Gartner have added up some numbers and divided them by their shoe size and worked out that the top ten OEMs increased their chip spending by more than 25 percent last year.

The big 10 accounted for 42.1 percent of the total market in 2021.

The price increase spending was due to global shortages which “prevented OEMs from increasing in production” and “significantly increased selling prices”, Gartner said.

PC shipments jump

Posted on November 30, 2021 by - News

Beancounters at research outfit Canalys say that PC shipments in Western Europe jumped 21 percent annually to hit 16.3 million in the latest quarter.

Figures for the third quarter showed that HP regained the top spot after three quarters in the second position, shipping 4.4 million units and taking a 27 percent share.

Lenovo came second, shipping 4.1 million units to take a 25 percent share with Dell, Apple, and Acer rounding up the top five at 14 percent, 12 per cent and eight per cent shares respectively.

Canalys research analyst Trang Pham said the numbers showed a “continuous demand for PCs.

“This isn’t just about fulfilling backlog orders anymore, but about managing a longer-term demand and this is good news for every single vendor operating in the market.

“However, we’re now seeing a marked shift to commercial, as the segment grew 31 per cent versus 11 per cent in consumer. Looking ahead, commercial demand should sustain growth well into 2023.”

Western Europe’s PC market has now been trending upwards for six consecutive quarters, but tablet shipments in Western Europe shrank 20 percent in the quarter with a total of 6.9 million units shipped.

In the third quarter, tablets had an extraordinary performance as they filled a gap created by PCs shortages.

“They are now seeing a corrective decline as penetration within the primary userbase saturates.”

People stop taking their tablets

Posted on August 27, 2021 by - News, Products

Beancounters at IDC have noted that tablet market shipments in EMEA have declined year-on-year for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

Shipments reached 11.8 million units in EMEA during the second quarter of 2021, representing a 1.7 percent year-on-year decline which the IDC puts down to “a slowdown in consumer demand”.

But volumes still remain significantly above the pre-pandemic period, up 22.4 percent compared with 2019, which the IDC claims indicate an increase in the total addressable market

IDC Associate research director, Nikolina Jurisic said that market performance was affected by the unfavourable YoY comparison, as 2Q20 witnessed an avalanche of shipments to address home learning and entertainment.

“Slate tablets lost popularity as social restrictions eased, whereas detachable tablets continued on a strong positive trajectory, gaining from the notebook-like experience, new product launches, and versatility that supports hybrid working and learning.”

Apple and Google app stores in trouble over the pond

Posted on August 13, 2021 by - News

There is mounting political opposition to the way that Apple and Google distribute apps through their various stores.

Three US senators introduced a bill to promote competition in the app store space, which Apple and Google currently dominate.

The Open App Markets Act, sponsored by Democratic Senators Amy Klobuchar and Richard Blumenthal, as well as Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn, aims to set “fair, clear, and enforceable rules” to protect competition within the app market, and to strengthen customer protection.

If the Bill gets through the Senate it will prevent large app stores (with 50 million+ US users) from requiring developers to use their own payment system. It will also prevent them from punishing developers that offer different conditions or prices through alternative app stores.

Apple’s channel inventory takes a hit

Posted on August 3, 2020 by - News

Fruity cargo cult Apple’s phenomenally successful figures revealed a surprise inventory hole among channel partners which CEO Tim Cook put down to supply constraints.

For those who came in late, Apple reported its best-ever June quarter despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Revenue for the three-month period ending 30 June 2020 climbed 11 percent to $59.7 billion, while operating profit was up 13.4 percent at $13 billion.

Cook said that Apple did not really talk about channel inventories any more but there did appear to be a hole there.

Ingram says it will fight Apple cartel fine

Posted on March 19, 2020 by - News

Ingram has said that it will ‘vigorously contest’ its €62.9 million fine for teaming up with Apple to fix prices in France.

The French competition watchdog – L’Autorité de la Concurrence – growled and issued its largest ever fine, against Apple, Tech Data and Ingram Micro, amounting to €1.24 billion in total.

Ingram Micro has rejected allegations by an antitrust authority that it fixed Apple product prices in the French market, describing them as “absolutely false”.

The watchdog claims Apple and its distributors acted like a “cartel”, illegally preventing Apple Premium Resellers (APRs) from competing on price against Apple’s own stores and subjecting the French channel to “unfair and unfavourable commercial conditions”.

Japan Displays propped up by Ichigo

Posted on December 17, 2019 by - News

Japan Displays is to receive up to $829 million in investment funds from Ichigo Asset Management.

For those who came in late, the struggling smartphone display manufacturer has been a bit under the weather lately and had been seeking cash from its main customer — Apple.

The basic details of the deal see Ichigo join Apple and Taiwanese contract electronics manufacturer Wistron in bailing out the company.

The deal could mean that the asset management company will own more than half the company although that is still being hammered out.