Posts Subscribe to Revolution ChurchComments

Isnin, 17 September 2012

NST Online Business Times : latest

0 ulasan 7:49 PTG Dicatat oleh blog2
Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info
Sumber Asal Berita :-

NST Online Business Times : latest

KL shares open higher in early trade

Posted: 17 Sep 2012 07:39 PM PDT

KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia opened higher in early trading Tuesday despite the mixed sentiment on regional stock markets, dealers said.

At 10.19am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 7.2 points better at 1,650.15 after opening 3.94 points higher at 1,646.89.

HwangDBS Vickers Research said the sentiment in regional markets were also mixed while the Malaysian stock exchange was closed for a public holiday.

"Over on Wall Street, key US equity indices slipped between 0.2 per cent and 0.3 per cent at the closing bell," it said in a research note today.

The research firm said trading would be range-bound today.

"The benchmark FBM KLCI, after a rebound of 18.4 points or 1.1 per cent last week, will likely move sideways for the time being with the immediate resistance threshold seen at 1,655," it added.

The Finance Index rose 56.86 points to 14,820.06, the Plantation Index lost 41.89 points to 8,425.25 and the Industrial Index advanced 19.63 points to 2,820.63.

The FBM Emas Index gained 48.17 points to 11,223.78, the FBM Mid 70 Indexincreased 52.3 points to 12,168.67 and the FBM ACE Index added 13.7 points to 4,367.52.

Gainers led losers 258 to 163 while 220 counters were unchanged, 980 untraded and 15 others were suspended.

Turnover stood at 213.64 million shares worth RM408.83 million.

Among actives, Asia Resources and Scomi earned half-a-sen each to
one sen and 33.5 sen, respectively, while AirAsia eased five sen to RM3.05 and 1 Utopia slipped half-a-sen to eight sen.

Heavyweights, Maybank added eight sen to RM9.48, CIMB was four sen higher at RM7.73, Petronas Chemicals increased seven sen to RM6.60 while Sime Darby lost one sen to RM9.79.-- BERNAMA

US stocks take a breather

Posted: 17 Sep 2012 04:58 PM PDT

NEW YORK: US stocks closed lower Monday in the aftermath of the Federal Reserve's new QE3 stimulus rally amid concerns about weakness in US manufacturing and anti-American unrest in the Middle East.

The Federal Reserve's Empire State manufacturing index for the New York region fell for a second straight month in September.

"An unexpected deterioration in New York Manufacturing activity to the lowest level since April 2009 is offering no relief for sentiment," said Charles Schwab & Co. analysts.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished off 40.27 points (0.30 per cent) at 13,553.10.

The S&P 500 slid 4.58 (0.31 per cent) to 1,461.19, while the tech-rich Nasdaq shed 5.28 (0.17 per cent) at 3,178.67.

"We have concerns regarding the impact of QE3 on oil and gasoline prices and the growing anti-American unrest in the Middle East," said Fred Dickson, chief investment strategist at DA Davidson & Co.

Apple again grabbed the stocks spotlight after announcing its new iPhone 5 set a new pre-release order record, at more than two million orders in the first 24 hours, leaving the gadget maker short of supply of the hotly anticipated smartphone.

Apple closed within a hair of US$700 a share, up 1.2 per cent at a record US$699.78, giving the world's most valuable firm a market worth of nearly US$656 billion.

Ford Motor Co fell 1.3 per cent. After the market close, the Canadian Auto Workers union announced a tentative agreement on a four-year contract with Ford Canada, averting a strike scheduled to start at midnight. Ford was up 0.2 per cent in after-hours trade.

In merger and acquisition news, home-improvement retailer Lowe's Companies slipped 0.6 per cent after withdrawing its acquisition bid for Canada's RONA Inc.

Rival retailer Home Depot fell 0.9 per cent.

Financials were under pressure after scoring strong gains last week on the back of the Fed's new open-ended QE3 bond-buying stimulus. Bank of America led the Dow decliners, shedding 2.6 per cent. Fellow Dow member JPMorgan Chase lost 0.9 per cent. -- AFP

Kredit: www.nst.com.my

NST Online Top Stories - Google News

0 ulasan 9:27 PG Dicatat oleh blog2
Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info
Sumber Asal Berita :-

NST Online Top Stories - Google News

Protests Over Contentious Film Spread to Afghanistan, Indonesia - New York Times

Posted: 17 Sep 2012 07:29 AM PDT

By and SANGAR RAHIMI
Published: September 17, 2012

KABUL — Hundreds of Afghans burned tires and pelted police officers and buildings with stones along a thoroughfare leading east out of Kabul on Monday, at one point nearing the high walls of a large American military base, in the first significant escalation of violence in Afghanistan over an anti-Islam film that has inflamed mobs in other parts of the Muslim world.

The outburst followed demonstrations and violence in more than 20 countries since last Tuesday, when the American ambassador in Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, was killed in an attack on the United States diplomatic mission in Benghazi as protests spread from neighboring Egypt.

In Indonesia, news reports said, police firing tear gas and water cannons on Monday moved against hundreds of demonstrators who gathered outside the American Embassy in Jakarta to express opposition to the film, which many Muslims regard as blasphemous toward the Prophet Muhammad. Some protesters set fire to an American flag, while others hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails and burned tires.

The police in Karachi, Pakistan, were pelted by rocks and fired in the air to turn back a convoy of protesters in cars and on motorcycles from the American Consulate, according to Reuters. Near the American Consulate in Lahore, protesters threw rocks and burned an American flag, the news agency said, and in Islamabad, the American Embassy said it had halted public services.

In southern Beirut, Lebanon, thousands answered a call by Hezbollah to protest peacefully. They chanted "Death to America, death to Israel" and "America, hear us — don't insult our Prophet," Reuters said.

In Afghanistan on Monday, as in other parts of the world, most of the protesters were young men, who chanted for the death of America, Israel, Britain and President Hamid Karzai's government.

The police here responded in force to quell the rioting. Scores of regular officers and riot police officers wearing helmets and protected by shields battled groups of young men throughout the morning, trying to keep the demonstrators from moving toward the center of Kabul.

There had been some protests in eastern Afghanistan on Friday over the video, with demonstrators burning an effigy of President Obama. But the protests on Monday were far more violent.

Mr. Karzai's government had gone to some lengths to keep a lid on anger over the American-made movie as news of the protests spread around the world. Afghan officials across the country gathered elders and religious leaders and told them that it was fine to speak out against the movie, but that they should urge people to stay calm and avoid violence.

The government also asked Internet providers to block sites hosting video, shutting down access to Google, YouTube and Gmail in the process. Access to all the sites appeared to have been restored on Monday afternoon, hours after the protests on Jalalabad Road had subsided.

The NATO-led coalition said the base that lies along Jalalabad Road, Camp Phoenix, had not been targeted by the protesters and was unaffected by the violence.

But outside its well-fortified walls, the charred remains of shipping containers could be seen, though it was impossible to tell from the blackened steel shells whether they had been carrying supplies for the base or were being used by others not connected to the military.

Ayub Salangi, Kabul's police chief, said about 50 police officers had suffered light wounds trying to keep the protesters in check. He, too, was left with some bruises and cuts from stones hurled by protesters at the scene.

At least two police cars were set ablaze, he said. By late morning, other smoldering vehicles could be seen along the road, as well as burning shipping containers and piles of flaming tires. Plumes of black smoke were visible from the center of the city.

For many of the people who live near Jalalabad Road or work at the shops and construction depots that line it, the protest was an unwelcome disruption that accomplished little apart from destroying property. A man in his mid-30s, who declined to be identified by name, cursed the protesters for burning tires and shouted at them, "Will your dad pay for the road's damages?" None of the protesters seemed to hear him.

"They can express their pure Islamic emotions, but this is not the way to do it," he said. "The government built this road with money we beg from foreigners, and now they are destroying it."

The protests abated by noon, and by midafternoon the road was clogged with its usual workday traffic.

Most officials offered only vague estimates of the crowd's size. Mr. Salangi said hundreds of people participated in the protest, an estimate in line with what other officials offered. But one senior police officer, Gen. Ahmad Fahim Qayam, who commands the quick reaction unit of the Kabul police, put the size of the protest at between 3,000 and 4,000 people.

Mr. Salangi described the protesters as "emotional" young men who had tried to press toward downtown Kabul in four or five separate groups.

The Afghan government has appeared eager to avoid a repeat of the violent and deadly protests that swept the country earlier this year over the inadvertent burning of Korans by American soldiers at a base north of Kabul.

Alan Cowell contributed reporting from London.

White House Files Trade Complaints Against China - Wall Street Journal

Posted: 17 Sep 2012 08:45 AM PDT

Copyright 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit

www.djreprints.com
Kredit: www.nst.com.my

Sabtu, 15 September 2012

NST Online Top Stories - Google News

0 ulasan 9:25 PG Dicatat oleh blog2
Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info
Sumber Asal Berita :-

NST Online Top Stories - Google News

Romney Seeks Traction in Swing States - Wall Street Journal

Posted: 15 Sep 2012 09:03 AM PDT

BY PATRICK O'CONNOR AND COLLEEN MCCAIN NELSON

For Mitt Romney, good news came Friday with word that President Barack Obama had added a stop to his travel schedule next week. For the first time this election season, Mr. Obama will campaign in Wisconsin, a confirmation that the traditionally Democratic state is now in play.

Mr. Romney could use more such tactical victories. A series of polls in recent weeks has shown that he is not solidifying support in many of the states he needs to win, leaving him a narrow path to a majority in the Electoral College.

Of nine states that have swung between the parties ...

Angry protests boil over as US grapples with new reality - Boston Herald

Posted: 15 Sep 2012 09:04 AM PDT
Kredit: www.nst.com.my

Jumaat, 14 September 2012

NST Online Business Times : latest

0 ulasan 7:34 PTG Dicatat oleh blog2
Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info
Sumber Asal Berita :-

NST Online Business Times : latest

US stocks higher for 2nd day

Posted: 14 Sep 2012 05:54 PM PDT

WASHINGTON: US stocks finished higher on Friday for a second day of gains on the back of the Federal Reserve's new QE3 stimulus, tracing the earlier rises of markets in Europe and Asia.

Mining and energy shares and related industries led the way higher, followed by retailers, all buoyed by prospects for improved growth next year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 53.51 points (0.40 percent) at 13,593.37.

The S&P 500 added 5.78 points (0.40 percent) to 1,465.77, while the tech-rich Nasdaq gained 28.12 points (0.89 percent) to 3,183.95.

Markets worldwide were roundly higher after the Fed announced its QE3 bond-buying programme on Thursday and pledged to keep going with stimulus until the economy and jobs market showed solid signs of sustained growth.

Caterpillar jumped 2.8 percent, Freeport McMoran 2.0 percent, Cliff Resources 5.5 percent, and Bank of America 3.5 percent.

Office supply retailer Staples jumped 2.1 percent on talk that several private equity firms are weighing possible efforts to take over the company.

Other retailers gained: Fossil was up 9.6 percent, Kids Brands 13.6 percent, and Oshkosh 8.2 percent.

Apple added 1.1 percent, still riding the wave of its launch of the iPhone 5 this week. But telecoms shares fell, with Verizon and AT&T both losing 2.4 percent, as analysts said the new iPhone would hit their margins. -- AFP

Kredit: www.nst.com.my

NST Online Top Stories - Google News

0 ulasan 9:17 PG Dicatat oleh blog2
Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info
Sumber Asal Berita :-

NST Online Top Stories - Google News

Egyptians clash with police near US embassy - Reuters

Posted: 14 Sep 2012 08:59 AM PDT

Fri Sep 14, 2012 9:01pm IST

* Authorities build concrete wall to protect embassy

* Egypt's Islamist president faces tough balancing act

* Mursi condemns film, pledges to protect embassies

* United States is a big aid donor to Egypt

By Edmund Blair and Tamim Elyan

CAIRO, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Egyptians angry at a film they said was blasphemous to Islam clashed on Friday in Cairo for a third day with police who blocked the way to the U.S. embassy, where demonstrators climbed the walls and tore down the American flag earlier this week.

"God is Greatest" and "There is no god but God", one group near the front of the clashes chanted, as police in riot gear fired teargas and threw stones in a street leading from Tahrir Square to the embassy nearby.

Hundreds of protesters gathered in streets near the mission, pelting police with stones. State media had earlier said 224 people were injured in clashes that erupted on Wednesday, after Tuesday's breach of the embassy.

Elsewhere, thousands of others joined peaceful protests after Friday prayers in Tahrir and outside mosques in Cairo and other cities, responding to a call by the Muslim Brotherhood, the group that propelled President Mohamed Mursi to power.

Many Muslims regard any depiction of the Prophet Mohammad as blasphemous and the film that portrayed him as a womaniser and religious fake has provoked outrage across the Middle East and led to the storming of several U.S. missions in the region.

Mursi, an Islamist and Egypt's first freely elected leader, has to strike a delicate balance, fulfilling a pledge to protect the embassy of a major aid donor but also delivering a robust line against the film to satisfy his Islamist backers.

Mursi repeated on Friday his condemnation of the film, rejection of violence and promise to protect diplomatic missions in comments in Italy, the second stop of a trip to Europe.

On Thursday, he said he asked U.S. President Barack Obama to act against those seeking to harm relations. His cabinet said Washington was not to blame for the film but urged the United States to take legal action against those insulting religion.

Washington says it has nothing to do with the film but cannot curb the constitutional right to free speech.

The United States has a large embassy in Cairo, partly because of a vast aid programme that began after Egypt signed a peace deal with Israel in 1979. Washington gives $1.3 billion in aid each year to the army plus additional funds to Egypt.

"Before the police, we were attacked by Obama, and his government, and the Coptic Christians living abroad," shouted one protester wearing a robe and long beard favoured by some ultra-orthodox Muslims, speaking close to the police cordon.

FRIDAY PRAYERS

Egypt's Coptic Orthodox church has condemned what it said were Copts abroad who had financed the film. Many Copts worry about the rise of Islamists and fret about any action that could stoke tensions between the two communities.

Two Islamist preachers in Egypt told worshippers on Friday those who made the movie deserved to die under sharia, Islamic law, but said diplomats and police should not be targeted.

Although this could be taken by some Muslims as an edict to take the law into their hands, many Egyptians believe only the prestigious Al-Azhar mosque has the authority to issue decrees. An al-Azhar preacher said protests should be peaceful.

One banner held aloft by demonstrators read: "It is the duty of all Muslims and Christians to kill Morris Sadek and Sam Bacile and everyone who participated in the film."

The two people named are both linked to the film. Sadek, a Copt living in the United States, told Reuters this week he promoted the film to highlight discrimination against Christians who make up about 10 percent of Egypt's 83 million people.

Police retreated during Friday behind a wall of concrete blocks cuting off the short route to the fortress-like U.S. embassy from Tahrir, the cauldron of the uprising against Hosni Mubarak and location for countless demonstrations since then.

A burnt out car was overturned and windows of a bank were smashed. Hundreds of protesters gathered to throw stones over the wall after some police retreated behind it and then clashed with police on another road on the banks of the Nile, where there are alternative routes to the embassy.

OPPOSITION TO VIOLENCE

"They are protecting the embassy. We want to enter the embassy and pull down the flag and kick out the ambassador," said Alaa el-Din Yehia, 25, an unemployed graduate.

The violence has angered many Egyptians. One image circulating on Facebook showed a burnt out car accompanied by the words: "People go to defend the Prophet with petrol bombs and religious insults to the police. They don't pray at noon or in the afternoon. Who are they?"

Though some demonstrators clashing with police near the embassy wore clothes favoured by ultra-orthodox Islamists, most were young men or youths in jeans and T-shirts. Some made it clear they did not back Mursi or have Islamist sentiments.

"Mursi is protecting them and attacking us, he should allow us in," said Mohamed Mustafa, 20, a ceramics worker who voted for a liberal rival of Mursi's in the presidential election.

Washington, a close ally of Egypt under Mubarak, has long been wary of Islamists, only formally opening contacts with the Brotherhood last year, several months after Mubarak's fall.

Al-Masry Al-Youm highlighted comments Obama made to a Spanish-language network saying Egypt was neither an enemy nor an ally, underlining the changing ties. "America: Egypt is no longer an ally," the newspaper wrote in a front page headline.

Bomb threats clear Texas, N. Dakota State campuses - USA TODAY

Posted: 14 Sep 2012 09:00 AM PDT

The University of Texas at Austin and North Dakota State University have ordered campus buildings evacuated because of bomb threats.

"Immediately evacuate ALL buildings and get as far away as possible," the University of Texas at Austin says on its website.

Update at 11:56 a.m. ET: "We have emptied the buildings and we have told folks to stay far away," Tara Doolittle, a UT-Austin spokeswoman, tells USA TODAY's Sharon Jayson. "No decision has been made on whether to hold afternoon classes. We're working with local and federal law enforcementto ensure that the campus is secure."

Doolittle says officials hope to have an update in the next couple of hours. "Once we know the buildings are secure and there's a secure place, we'll hold a press conference."

Update at 11:48 a.m. ET: According to the ValleyNewsLive.com, from Fargo, N.D., the university set out this alert on its website:

"This is an emergency message from North Dakota State University. NDSU is requiring all employees and students to leave campus by 10:15 a.m. This includes residence hall students, who, if necessary, should walk to locations off campus. This also includes the downtown buildings and agricultural facilities. NDSU received a bomb threat, prompting this evacuation. Updates will follow. "

Update at 11:45 a.m. ET: The University of Texas at Austin says on Twitter: "Buildings being checked/cleared. Stay away from buildings. No decision on afternoon classes/activities. Next update at 10:45am."

Update at 11:41 a.m. ET: "NDSU is requiring all employees and students to leave campus by 10:15 a.m.," the NDSU alert reads, according to the Star-Tribune reports. "This includes residence hall students, who, if necessary, should walk to locations off campus. The university is located in Fargo, N.D.

Update at 11:39 a.m. ET: Officials at UT-Austin say no bombs have been found.

Update at 11:31 a.m. ET: North Dakota State U. orders all employees, students off campus after receiving bomb threat, the Associated Press reports.

Update at 11:14 a.m. ET: KXAN-TV reports that the university's Director of Communications, Rhonda Weldon, says the university got a call around 8:35 a.m. local time from a male with a Middle Eastern accent claiming to have placed bombs all over campus.

The caller claimed to be from the al-Qaeda terrorist organization and that the bombs would go off in 90 minutes, KXAN reports.

President Williams Powers has been notified, and officials arenow evacuating all of the buildings out of an abundance of caution.

Update at 11:12 a.m. ET:A UT official tells the American-Statesman that the university had received multiple bomb threats to multiple buildings.
Kredit: www.nst.com.my

Khamis, 13 September 2012

NST Online Business Times : latest

0 ulasan 7:22 PTG Dicatat oleh blog2
Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info
Sumber Asal Berita :-

NST Online Business Times : latest

US stocks rally on Fed bond-buying plan

Posted: 13 Sep 2012 04:41 PM PDT

WASHINGTON: US stocks soared on Thursday after the Federal Reserve announced a new QE3 bond-buying programme focused on boosting jobs and pulling the housing market back to life.

After trading flat before the Fed's announcement, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 206.51 points (1.55 percent) at 13,539.86.

The S&P 500-stock index added 23.43 points (1.63 percent) to 1,459.99, while the tech-rich Nasdaq gained 41.52 points (1.33 percent) to 3,155.83.

The Federal Reserve announced a new programme of purchasing $40 billion a month in mortgage-backed bonds aiming at dragging down long-term interest rates.

It also pledged to keep its current ultra-low benchmark interest rate in place through mid-2015, and said it would continue its monetary easing efforts until it saw substantial improvement in the jobs market.

"Despite the fact that additional Fed easing was largely baked into financial asset prices recently, markets cheered the news," said Paul Edelstein, an economist at IHS Global Insight.

"US equity markets added roughly one percent following the statement. Counter-intuitively, however, bond prices fell, sending yields higher."

"It's unusual for the market to rally like that on news that's expected, but I think it was the nature of the Federal Reserve announcement, the aggressive size of the quantitative easing that was announced," said Chris Low of FTN Financial.

"Also the fact that it was open-ended, which changes the range of future possibilities, all of that together was very, very stimulative for the stock market."

Banks were big beneficiaries, with Bank of America up 4.8 percent and JPMorgan Chase 3.7 percent, Citigroup 4.2 percent and Wells Fargo 3.6 percent.

Housing shares took a big jump from the news, with builder Hovnanian up 3.3 percent, Comstock up 6.2 percent, Lennar 1.7 percent and Standard Pacific 3.7 percent.

Mining shares followed gold and other minerals higher, with Freeport McMoran jumping 4.3 percent, Newmont Mining up 5.2 percent and Barrick Gold, 4.8 percent.

Apple shares meanwhile pushed up 2.0 percent to its highest closing price ever, US$682.98, after launching the ultra-sleek iPhone 5 to positive reviews. -- AFP

Kredit: www.nst.com.my

Rabu, 12 September 2012

NST Online Business Times : latest

0 ulasan 7:17 PTG Dicatat oleh blog2
Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info
Sumber Asal Berita :-

NST Online Business Times : latest

US stocks rise on German court's nod

Posted: 12 Sep 2012 04:39 PM PDT

NEW YORK: US stocks followed European markets higher Wednesday after a German court gave its approval to the eurozone's permanent crisis fund, opening the door to more aid to embattled Spain.

Facebook shares soared more than seven percent meanwhile after founder Mark Zuckerberg said the company was focused on making money in the mobile phone side of the market and regretted the stock's dismal post-IPO performance.

Tech heavyweight Apple lifted the Nasdaq after launching its highly anticipated next-generation smartphone, the iPhone 5.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 9.99 points (0.07 percent) to close at 13,333.35.

The S&P 500-stock index rose 3.00 (0.21 percent) to 1,436.56, while the tech-rich Nasdaq added 9.78 (0.32 percent) at 3,114.31.

"Undoubtedly, it is a good day for the eurozone and financial markets," said economist Andreas Rees at Unicredit after the German constitutional court said the new European Stability Mechanism is legal.

"Together with last week's pledge made by the ECB of buying government bonds to an unlimited extent, an impressive firewall for the eurozone is now building up," he said.

Apple bounced 1.4 percent higher, to US$669.79, on the introduction of a slimmer, more powerful version of its iconic iPhone.

Facebook shares rebounded 7.7 percent to US$20.93, still far below their US$38 May initial public offering price, after Zuckerberg made his first comments on the company's direction since the IPO, calling Facebook "a mobile company."

Analysts have expressed worry that Facebook is unable to monetize its presence on mobile phone screens with advertising.

"It is really clear from the stats and my own personal intuition that a lot of energy in the ecosystem is going to mobile, not desktop," Zuckerberg said in San Francisco.

"That is the future," he said. "We are going to be doing killer stuff there."

Boeing fell 0.4 percent after European rivals EADS and BAE Systems revealed merger talks.

Troubled Chesapeake Energy shed 1.0 percent after announcing it would sell US$6.9 billion in energy assets in Texas and New Mexico to help pay down debt.

AIG was up 1.1 percent after the US Treasury sold off US$20.7 billion in shares in the insurer. -- AFP

iPhone 5 bigger, faster but lacks 'wow'

Posted: 12 Sep 2012 04:44 PM PDT

SAN FRANCISCO : Apple Inc's new iPhone goes on sale on Friday with a bigger screen and 4G wireless technology, as the company seeks to safeguard its edge over rivals like Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Google Inc.

The iPhone 5 fulfilled many of the expectations laid out by gadget geeks and technology analysts ahead of its Wednesday unveiling but offered few surprises to give Apple shares -- already near record highs -- another major kick.

"There is not a wow factor because everything you saw today is evolutionary. I do think they did enough to satisfy," said Michael Yoshikami, chief executive of wealth management company Destination Wealth Management.

Other industry analysts speculated about what else was in Apple's product pipeline ahead of the crucial year-end holiday season, especially since the company stayed mum about an oft-rumored TV device or a smaller iPad.

The consumer electronics giant that in 2010 popularized tablet computing with the iPad has given no hints on whether it plans a smaller version to match cheaper tablets from the likes of Google or Amazon.com Inc.

"We would really like to see the iPad Mini in the product offering for the all-important holiday quarter. They still have time," said Channing Smith, co-manager of the Capital Advisors Growth Fund. "As soon as we see that, we will have more conviction about the stock heading into the final quarter."

Apple shares ended the day up 1.4 percent at US$669.79.

The latest iPhone comes as Apple faces competition beyond current key competitors Samsung and Google. Late entrant Microsoft Corp is now trying to push its Windows Phone 8 operating system as an alternative to Apple and Android, the most-used smartphone operating system in the world.

Analysts have forecast sales of 10 million to 12 million of the new iPhones in this month alone.

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook kicked off the event in San Francisco's Yerba Buena Centre but it was marketing chief Phil Schiller who introduced the iPhone 5 and took the audience through the new phone's features.

The iPhone 5 sports a 4-inch "retina" display, can surf a high-speed 4G LTE wireless network, and is 20 percent lighter than the previous iPhone 4S.

CEDING A LEAD

It ships September 21 in the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Britain. It will hit 100 countries by year's end in the fastest international rollout for an iPhone so far.

The stakes are high with the iPhone, Apple's marque product, accounting for nearly half its revenue. The California company has sold more than 243 million iPhones since 2007, when the device ushered in the current applications ecosystem model.

But Samsung now leads the smartphone market with a 32.6 percent share followed by Apple with 17 percent, according to market research firm IDC. Both saw shipments rise compared to a year ago, with Samsung riding its flagship Galaxy S III phone.

Available for pre-order on Friday starting from US$199 with a data plan, the iPhone 5 comes with Apple's newest "A6" processor, which executives said runs twice as fast as the previous generation. It will pack three microphones -- enhancing built-in voice assistant Siri -- and an 8 megapixel camera that can take panoramic views.

It will hitch a ride on the three largest U.S. carriers: Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc, and Sprint.

One popular enhancement was improved battery endurance -- the iPhone 5 can support eight hours of 4G Web browsing, the company said.

While Apple played catch-up on many of the new phone's features -- Samsung and Google's Motorola already have larger and 4G-ready phones -- analysts say the device's attraction is the way its software and hardware work in tandem.

"Where they are pushing the envelope, and where they remain the one to beat, is on the experience those features bring to the consumer," said Carolina Milanesi, Gartner Research analyst. "While other vendors continue to focus just on the hardware -- delivering the speeds and feeds and bigger batteries -- Apple focuses on pulling the operating system, the hardware and what you can consume on the hardware." -- Reuters

Kredit: www.nst.com.my
Langgan: Catatan (Atom)
 

NST Online

Copyright 2010 All Rights Reserved