update news

news/AAPL/2023.03.07/APPLE INC : Buy rating from UBS.txt

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+David Vogt from UBS retains his positive opinion on the stock with a Buy rating. The target price remains unchanged at USD 180.

news/AAPL/2023.03.07/Game Changer : How SMX PLC.'s Encoding Technology Will Positively Change Global Sustainabi...txt

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+Some innovations are exciting; others are groundbreaking. The latter refers to those that change how people and companies live and work globally, so compelling that it becomes the status quo. Steve Jobs did it with his iPhone (NASDAQ: AAPL), prefacing its release by saying it would change the world. A little over sixteen years later, few argue that his hunch isn't now the reality. Still, the game-changer he was, Jobs did more than usher in a communications revolution. He also helped pave the way for other companies to prove that even the most far-fetched ideas can blaze a disruptive trail to prosperity.That includes SMX, PLC. (ASX: SMX.AX), a publicly-traded company on the Australian markets intending to debut in the NASDAQ market this week. Investors should watch for its listing because, similar to how the iPhone changed the world, SMX's encoding technology will also. And valuations could surge in the process.A Bullish Proposition In-PlayThat's not an overly enthusiastic assessment considering that its technology can provide a means to track millions of products and materials through an entire lifecycle. More specifically, by microscopically encoding raw materials, SMX is the first and only known company providing brands and manufacturers the ability to meet the demands of sustainability, accountability, and transparency through a unique trackable marking system.The technology is remarkable, with the most powerful aspect being that SMX has developed a way to augment materials to granular detail to prove their provenance, purity, and integrity. Its technology does more than instill transparency; it allows companies and industries to gain the intelligence needed to work in more intelligent and productive ways by linking parts of the value chain and enabling use, reuse, and reuse again to realize the potential of materials.It's a system perfectly designed and equipped to serve the 21st-century economy that empowers businesses to maximize their presence in the real-world circular economy.An Invisible And Powerful SolutionFrankly, the encoding technology is so innovative and, in some respects, difficult to comprehend it's hard to explain just how powerful and disruptive it will be. And it's not a matter of "if" anymore, but instead, "how soon" will businesses integrate this technology and utilize this invisible solution to transform their business into an intelligent ecosystem, putting sustainability and accountability at the heart of what they do. Logic dictates the answer to that question is "sooner than later."In fact, by empowering companies at a molecular level, SMX is already driving that change by enabling its clients to capitalize on their inherent power and transforming their mission by coordinating ecosystems that work as a united whole. It's a competitive advantage that is perpetuating unprecedented growth at SMX.And it's unlikely that its competitive distance will shrink, noting that SMX is advancing its own potent, patent-protected technology. At its core, it provides multiple-stages and multiple-loops traceability, with a resilient SMX marker and blockchain platform designed to ensure that data is never compromised or lost, enabling more accurate and reliable traceability as the material is recycled/reused multiple times. That's not all.It facilitates enhanced data flow and circularity. The SMX marker enables client data to be stored at a molecular level within products and materials, allowing for increased transparency of marked content for greater granularity, ease of recycling, accountability, and security.As exciting, SMX markers provide knowledge-gathering potential, with the SMX reader designed to enable easy data gathering at any point within the supply chain without affecting the product or material, eliminate blind spots, and provide unprecedented transparency. The best news- the revenue-generating potential from this mind-boggling technology is enormous, noting that the unique SMX marker can be applied to any material, expanding its use case for any sector needing anti-counterfeit, brand protection, client liability, and track and trace technology.It does even more. SMX's suite of integrated solutions solves both authentication and track and trace challenges to uphold supply chain integrity and provide quality assurance and brand accountability to producers of goods. For brands and industry, it's a production and management game-changer.Multiple Applications For SMX Turn-Key TechnologyBetter still, it's an easy-to-implement turn-key solution utilizing a sub-molecular hidden 'marker' system and a unique 'reader,' facilitating a 'blockchain record' providing transparency and authentication that creates an auditable closed-loop supply chain. And there are few, if any, market exclusions. It's active in chemistry, plastics, electronics, precious metals & minerals, food & beverage, and agriculture markets. That's helped SMX engage in impressive global collaborations, including BASF SE (OTC Other: BASFY) for chemicals, the Perth Mint for precious metals, and SMX-B for wine applications. On an even broader scale, the technology can be used for seed to harvest, food security, and to enable meeting ESG standards. There's more.The future of sustainable "fashion" is creating desirable narratives connecting tangible, sustainable ESG practices with the fashion industry by tracking, tracing, authenticating, and verifying both physically and digitally, each stage along the value chain. That includes following the raw materials through the manufacturing supply chain to distribution, retail, and end-of-life. Put another way, it enables full supply chain transparency and measurably and credibly tangible, sustainable circularity. And it's all tracked and recorded with an invisible marker and scanner.The SMX mission is doing something else. It is leading the charge away from global and traditional "take-make-dispose of" economic models to one regenerative by design to retain as much value as possible from resources, products, parts, and materials. The result is intended to create a system that allows for longer life, optimal reuse, refurbishment, remanufacturing, and recycling.Companies committed to the circular economy, like Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Visa (NYSE: V), and Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX), are sure to embrace the technology. But they are just three of thousands, even millions, of brands rethinking products and services based on durability, renewability, reuse, repair, replacement, upgrades, refurbishment, and reduced material use. That totality of interests puts SMX in an enviable position.No Shortage Of OpportunitiesAnd it's a massive opportunity they are capitalizing on, resulting from SMX technology being able to mark solid, liquid, or gas objects in multiple layers. Moreover, it utilizes a combination of 500,000+ marker molecules to help make each mark unique, designed not to change the material's composition, quality, and characteristics such as color, weight, taste, and smell. Those markings are recognized through a patented sensitive reader, which receives a response signal from a marker embedded in the item within seconds without having to destroy the product or send the item to a special lab for testing. Impressively, the data received shows processes through the supply chain, including transfer of ownership to prove authenticity and quality assurance.That's invaluable information. Global counterfeit and pirated goods sales are estimated at $500 billion annually. But in addition to brands utilizing SMX to protect product and image integrity, SMX is tapping into a more enormous opportunity, the circular economy. It's an estimated $4.5 trillion opportunity in the U.S. alone, presenting the potential for expedited company growth by accelerating client brands towards a committed practice of contributing to a sustainable future. Other markets include the Global Plastic Recycling Market, estimated to reach $60.7 billion by 2025, and global textile waste, expected to reach 148 million tons annually by 2030.Thus, an irrefutable case can be made that SMX is doing the right things at the right time. Most important, however, is that they have developed world-changing technology to advance and fuel a global sustainability mission. The better news for SMX, investors, and the global population; if all goes as expected, SMX can do for sustainability and accountability practices what Apple did for communications technology- positively impact a global landscape.Disclaimers: Hawk Point Media Group, Llc. is responsible for the production and distribution of this content. Hawk Point Media Group, Llc. is not operated by a licensed broker, a dealer, or a registered investment adviser. It should be expressly understood that under no circumstances does any information published herein represent a recommendation to buy or sell a security. Our reports/releases are a commercial advertisement and are for general information purposes ONLY. We are engaged in the business of marketing and advertising companies for monetary compensation. Never invest in any stock featured on our site or emails unless you can afford to lose your entire investment. The information made available by Hawk Point Media Group, Llc. is not intended to be, nor does it constitute, investment advice or recommendations. The contributors may buy and sell securities before and after any particular article, report and publication. In no event shall Hawk Point Media Group, Llc. be liable to any member, guest or third party for any damages of any kind arising out of the use of any content or other material published or made available by Hawk Point Media Group, Llc., including, without limitation, any investment losses, lost profits, lost opportunity, special, incidental, indirect, consequential or punitive damages. Past performance is a poor indicator of future performance. The information in this video, article, and in its related newsletters, is not intended to be, nor does it constitute, investment advice or recommendations. Hawk Point Media Group, Llc. strongly urges you conduct a complete and independent investigation of the respective companies and consideration of all pertinent risks. Readers are advised to review SEC periodic reports: Forms 10-Q, 10K, Form 8-K, insider reports, Forms 3, 4, 5 Schedule 13D. For some content, Hawk Point Media Group, Llc., its authors, contributors, or its agents, may be compensated for preparing research, video graphics, and editorial content. HPM, LLC has not been compensated to provide research and/or editorial production coverage for SMX PLC., but does hope to engage in, and is actively soliciting for sponsored content consideration. Thus, readers of this content should note that SMX PLC is portrayed favorably. As part of that content, readers, subscribers, and website viewers, are expected to read the full disclaimers and financial disclosures statement that are attached to this content. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides investors a safe harbor in regard to forward-looking statements. Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, goals, assumptions or future events or performance are not statements of historical fact may be forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are based on expectations, estimates, and projections at the time the statements are made that involve a number of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those presently anticipated. Forward looking statements in this action may be identified through use of words such as projects, foresee, expects, will, anticipates, estimates, believes, understands, or that by statements indicating certain actions & quote; may, could, or might occur. Understand there is no guarantee past performance will be indicative of future results. Investing in micro-cap and growth securities is highly speculative and carries an extremely high degree of risk. It is possible that an investors investment may be lost or impaired due to the speculative nature of the companies profiled.Media ContactCompany Name: Level3Trading.comContact Person: Ken LawrenceEmail: info@level3trading.comCountry: United StatesWebsite: https://level3trading.com/.(C) 2023 M2 COMMUNICATIONS, source M2 PressWIRE

news/AAPL/2023.03.07/Hello, yellow! Apple introduces new iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus.txt

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+
+Apple® today announced a new yellow iPhone® 14 and iPhone 14 Plus, adding even more color choices to the lineup this spring. Beautifully designed and built to last, iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus have a durable Ceramic Shield® front cover, an updated internal design for better sustained performance and easier repairs, and amazing battery life — with iPhone 14 Plus offering the longest battery life of any iPhone ever.1 Both models include a dual-camera system for stunning photos and videos, the powerful A15 Bionic chip, and innovative safety capabilities including Emergency SOS via satellite and Crash Detection. The new yellow iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus will be available to pre-order this Friday, March 10, with availability starting Tuesday, March 14.
+This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230307005547/en/A beautiful yellow color joins the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus lineup. (Photo: Business Wire)
+“People love their iPhone and rely on it every day for all that they do, and now there’s an exciting addition to the lineup with a new yellow iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus,” said Bob Borchers, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “The extraordinary battery life, lightweight design, pro-level camera and video features, groundbreaking safety capabilities like Emergency SOS via satellite, and all iOS 16 has to offer make iPhone 14 a great option for anyone in the market for a new iPhone.”
+
+A Beautiful and Durable Design with Amazing Battery Life
+
+The 6.1-inch iPhone 14 and 6.7-inch2 iPhone 14 Plus feature a durable aerospace-grade aluminum design that is water- and dust-resistant,3 with a Ceramic Shield front cover that is tougher than any other smartphone glass, protecting iPhone from common spills and accidents. An updated internal design provides better sustained performance — great for heavy workloads and high-powered gaming — while improving ease and affordability of repairs. Both models include a gorgeous Super Retina XDR® display with OLED technology that supports 1200 nits of peak HDR brightness, along with support for Dolby Vision. The larger display of iPhone 14 Plus is fantastic for watching content, streaming Apple Fitness+℠ workouts, and playing games, while boasting the longest battery life of any iPhone ever.
+
+A Powerful Dual-Camera System to Capture Every Moment
+
+With iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus, users have an advanced dual-camera system right in their pockets. The system features an impressive new pro-level Main camera with a larger sensor for gorgeous photos and videos, as well as an Ultra Wide camera to capture unique perspectives. Both iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus include the new front TrueDepth® camera that automatically focuses on multiple subjects at different distances for sharper close-ups and beautiful group selfies. And the larger aperture captures brighter color and finer detail in low-light scenes.
+
+The iPhone 14 lineup introduced Photonic Engine, improving mid- to low-light performance for photos across all cameras compared to the previous generation: up to 2x on the TrueDepth and Ultra Wide cameras, and 2.5x on the new Main camera. Photonic Engine is able to preserve subtle textures, provide better color, and maintain more information in a photo through a deep integration of hardware and software.
+
+Video features like Action mode and Cinematic mode are available across the iPhone 14 lineup to help users unleash their creativity. Action mode enables smooth-looking video that adjusts to significant shakes and motion — even when video is being captured in the middle of the action. Cinematic mode supports 4K at 30 fps and 4K at 24 fps, enabling a beautiful depth-of-field effect that automatically changes focus in a simple and intuitive way to capture cinema-style moments.
+
+Groundbreaking Safety Capabilities for Peace of Mind
+
+iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus offer critical safety capabilities that can provide emergency assistance when it matters most. Emergency SOS via satellite allows users to message with emergency services when cellular and Wi-Fi coverage are not available through a combination of custom-designed components and deeply integrated software. Additionally, if users want to reassure friends and family of their whereabouts while off the grid, they can open the Find My® app and share their location via satellite. This service — which has already helped users in emergency situations in the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, and the U.K. — will come to Austria, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Portugal later this month.4
+
+Crash Detection on the iPhone 14 lineup can detect a severe car crash and automatically dial emergency services if a user is unconscious or unable to reach their iPhone. Apple-designed motion algorithms trained with over a million hours of real-world driving and crash record data combine with motion inputs from the new accelerometer and gyroscope, GPS, barometer, and microphone5 on iPhone to bring this innovative safety feature to life. When paired with Apple Watch®, Crash Detection seamlessly leverages the unique strength of both devices to get users help efficiently.6
+
+Powered by A15 Bionic with 5-core GPU
+
+A15 Bionic brings powerful, pro-level performance to iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus. The 5-core GPU enables faster speeds for demanding workloads and even smoother graphics for video apps and high-performance gaming. A15 Bionic also powers camera features like Photonic Engine, Action mode, and Cinematic mode — all while delivering extraordinary battery life and protecting critical privacy and security features like data encryption using the Secure Enclave. The 6-core CPU with two performance and four efficiency cores handles intensive tasks with ease, and the 16-core Neural Engine is capable of 15.8 trillion operations per second, enabling even faster machine learning computations for features in iOS 16 and third-party app experiences.
+
+Featuring iOS 16
+
+iOS 16 features the biggest update ever to the Lock Screen, with a multilayered effect that artfully sets subjects of photos in front of the time, widgets that offer information at a glance, and a new wallpaper gallery for inspiration. Focus gets even more powerful with a new way to connect to the Lock Screen and create Focus filters within apps. Live Activities help users stay on top of things that are happening in real time, such as a sports game or ride-share, right from the Lock Screen. In Messages, users can edit a message, undo send, and mark conversations as unread.7 Browsing in Safari® gets even safer with passkeys, a next-generation credential that can’t be phished or leaked. Live Text® adds the ability to interact with text in video, quickly convert currency, and translate text. Users can also tap and hold on the subject of an image to lift it from the background and place it in apps like Messages. iCloud® Shared Photo Library offers a new way to seamlessly share photos with up to six family members. And with Apple Music® Sing, users can sing along to their favorite songs with adjustable vocals and real-time lyrics.8
+
+iPhone and the Environment
+
+iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus are designed to minimize their impact on the environment, including antenna lines that use upcycled plastic water bottles that have been chemically transformed into a stronger, higher-performance material. In addition to featuring a re-architected internal design that offers improved repairability, iPhone 14 models also use 100 percent recycled rare earth elements in all magnets, including those in MagSafe®, and 100 percent recycled tungsten in the Taptic Engine®. Both models also include 100 percent recycled tin in the solder of multiple printed circuit boards, and 100 percent recycled gold in the plating of multiple printed circuit boards and in the wire of all cameras. Fiber-based packaging does not use outer plastic wrap, bringing Apple closer to its goal of completely removing plastic from all packaging by 2025.
+
+Today, Apple is carbon neutral for global corporate operations, and by 2030, plans to be 100 percent carbon neutral across its entire manufacturing supply chain and all product life cycles. This means that every Apple device sold, from component manufacturing, assembly, transport, customer use, charging, all the way through recycling and material recovery, will have net-zero climate impact.
+
+Pricing and Availability
+
+Footnotes
+
+Apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. Today, Apple leads the world in innovation with iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. Apple’s five software platforms — iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS — provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices and empower people with breakthrough services including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay, and iCloud. Apple’s more than 100,000 employees are dedicated to making the best products on earth, and to leaving the world better than we found it.
+
+NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information visit Apple Newsroom (www.apple.com/newsroom), or email Apple’s Media Helpline at media.help@apple.com.
+
+© 2023 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, iPhone, Ceramic Shield, Super Retina XDR, Apple Fitness+, TrueDepth, Find My, Apple Watch, Safari, Live Text, iCloud, Apple Music, MagSafe, Taptic Engine, Apple Store, Apple Arcade, CarPlay, Apple Watch SE, Apple Watch Ultra, and Apple Card are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
+View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230307005547/en/

news/AAPL/2023.03.08/Apple backs new music startup.txt

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+The company, called Gamma, is the brainchild of former Apple Music Global Creative Director Larry Jackson and veteran music executive Ike Youssef. It positions itself as an alternative to traditional record labels. "The artists shaping today's culture not only create music, but also video, film, podcasts, fashion, and more," Jackson said in a statement Wednesday. "They shouldn't have to jump through multiple hoops to express themselves.Gamma says it will support content creation -- whether that is music, video or podcasts, and provide audio and video distribution through Vydia, a company it acquired in December 2022. Early projects will include work with Snoop Dogg and his Death Row catalog, Rick Ross, and Naomi Campbell, Gamma said.  It also plans to collaborate with Todd Boehly's Eldridge, whose investments include the Los Angeles Dodgers, which is a major backer.The independent studio A24 is among the start-up's investors. Gamma declined to comment on a published report that it has access to about $1 billion in capital. (Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles; Editing by Sandra Maler)

news/AAPL/2023.03.08/Apple to shake up international businesses' management to focus on India - Bloomberg Ne...txt

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+This shift will result in India becoming its own sales region at Apple, the report said. The iPhone maker, in a recent earnings call, said India had a record quarterly revenue and strong double-digit growth year-over-year.    Apple is promoting its head of India Ashish Chowdhary to replace the recently retired Hugues Asseman, who was in charge of India, the Middle East, Mediterranean, East Europe and Africa, according to the report. Chowdhary will now report directly to Michael Fenger, Apple's head of product sales, the report added.Apple did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the report.  (Reporting by Ananya Mariam Rajesh in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)

news/AAPL/2023.03.08/Now Playing On Nasdaq : SMX PLC. Markets Game-Changing Encoding Technology To Enhance And ...txt

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+Steve Jobs made a claim in 2007, saying that his newest product would change how people worldwide live and communicate. Fast forward sixteen years later, and it's easy to argue that his iPhone (NASDAQ: AAPL) did more than substantiate his vision; it also revolutionized the global communications landscape. The game-changer he was, Jobs' legacy lives on. In fact, more than ushering in a communications revolution, he is responsible for enabling other companies to prove that even the most far-fetched ideas can blaze a disruptive trail to prosperity.That includes SMX, PLC. (ASX: SMX.AX), a publicly-traded company on the Australian markets, which is expected to make its NASDAQ debut on Wednesday. Like Jobs' contributions to communications, SMX's can also be a global game changer in sustainability, and that's no exaggeration. Its innovative technology does what no other can by offering a system that can uniquely verify material origination, allowing companies to tangibly demonstrate their commitment to sustainable and ethical sourcing & ESG practices. But more than a record, it's a transparent, credible, and measurable way to identify and verify product and material makeup in real time without destroying the finished product.That explanation may make the technology sound simple. But don't under-appreciate what's put into play by SMX. By using SMX's molecular marking technology and its digital twin blockchain platform, companies can efficiently sort, reclaim and potentially reuse the raw materials(solid, liquid, or gas)in their products when it reaches their end lifecycle. That reduces the number of virgin materials required to re-produce, reduces waste sent to landfills, can significantly reduce carbon emissions, and facilitates meeting consumers' and stakeholders' sustainability & ESG expectations. The best news- SMX's technology is applicable across a wide range of materials besides plastics, including metals, gold, and textiles.And that does more than put massive revenue-generating opportunities in SMX's near-term crosshairs; it could put a new generational investment opportunity in play.Opportunity In A Generational TradeThat's not an overly enthusiastic assessment considering that its technology can provide a means to track millions of products and materials through an entire lifecycle. More specifically, by microscopically encoding raw materials, SMX is the first and only known company providing brands and manufacturers the ability to meet the demands of sustainability, accountability, and transparency through a unique trackable marking system.The technology is remarkable, with the most powerful aspect being that SMX has developed a way to augment materials to granular detail to prove their provenance, purity, and integrity. Its technology does more than instill transparency; it allows companies and industries to gain the intelligence needed to work in more intelligent and productive ways by linking parts of the value chain and enabling use, reuse, and reuse again to realize the potential of materials.It's a system perfectly designed and equipped to serve the 21st-century economy that empowers businesses to maximize their presence in the real-world circular economy.Powerful Solution Microscopic In SizeFrankly, the encoding technology is so innovative and, in some respects, difficult to comprehend it's hard to explain just how powerful and disruptive it will be. And it's not a matter of "if" anymore, but instead, "how soon" will businesses integrate this technology and utilize this invisible solution to transform their business into an intelligent ecosystem, putting sustainability and accountability at the heart of what they do. Logic dictates the answer to that question is "sooner than later."In fact, by empowering companies at a molecular level, SMX is already driving that change by enabling its clients to capitalize on their inherent power and transforming their mission by coordinating ecosystems that work as a united whole. It's a competitive advantage that is perpetuating unprecedented growth at SMX.And it's unlikely that its competitive distance will shrink, noting that SMX is advancing its own potent, patent-protected technology. At its core, it provides multiple-stages and multiple-loops traceability, with a resilient SMX marker and blockchain platform designed to ensure that data is never compromised or lost, enabling more accurate and reliable traceability as the material is recycled/reused multiple times. That's not all.It facilitates enhanced data flow and circularity. The SMX marker enables client data to be stored at a molecular level within products and materials, allowing for increased transparency of marked content for greater granularity, ease of recycling, accountability, and security.As exciting, SMX markers provide knowledge-gathering potential, with the SMX reader designed to enable easy data gathering at any point within the supply chain without affecting the product or material, eliminate blind spots, and provide unprecedented transparency. The best news- the revenue-generating potential from this mind-boggling technology is enormous, noting that the unique SMX marker can be applied to any material, expanding its use case for any sector needing anti-counterfeit, brand protection, client liability, and track and trace technology.It does even more. SMX's suite of integrated solutions solves both authentication and track and trace challenges to uphold supply chain integrity and provide quality assurance and brand accountability to producers of goods. For brands and industry, it's a production and management game-changer.SMX Turn-Key Technology Targets Broad DemandBetter still, it's an easy-to-implement turn-key solution utilizing a sub-molecular hidden 'marker' system and a unique 'reader,' facilitating a 'blockchain record' providing transparency and authentication that creates an auditable closed-loop supply chain. And there are few, if any, market exclusions. It's active in chemistry, plastics, electronics, precious metals & minerals, food & beverage, and agriculture markets. That's helped SMX engage in impressive global collaborations, including BASF SE (OTC Other: BASFY) for chemicals, the Perth Mint for precious metals, and SMX-B for wine applications. On an even broader scale, the technology can be used for seed to harvest, food security, and to enable meeting ESG standards. There's more.The future of sustainable "fashion" is creating desirable narratives connecting tangible, sustainable ESG practices with the fashion industry by tracking, tracing, authenticating, and verifying both physically and digitally, each stage along the value chain. That includes following the raw materials through the manufacturing supply chain to distribution, retail, and end-of-life. Put another way, it enables full supply chain transparency and measurably and credibly tangible, sustainable circularity. And it's all tracked and recorded with an invisible marker and scanner.The SMX mission is doing something else. It is leading the charge away from global and traditional "take-make-dispose of" economic models to one regenerative by design to retain as much value as possible from resources, products, parts, and materials. The result is intended to create a system that allows for longer life, optimal reuse, refurbishment, remanufacturing, and recycling.Companies committed to the circular economy, like Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Visa (NYSE: V), and Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX), are sure to embrace the technology. But they are just three of thousands, even millions, of brands rethinking products and services based on durability, renewability, reuse, repair, replacement, upgrades, refurbishment, and reduced material use. That totality of interests puts SMX in an enviable position.Seizing Upon Global Market OpportunitiesAnd it's a massive opportunity they are capitalizing on, resulting from SMX technology being able to mark solid, liquid, or gas objects in multiple layers. Moreover, it utilizes a combination of 500,000+ marker molecules to help make each mark unique, designed not to change the material's composition, quality, and characteristics such as color, weight, taste, and smell. Those markings are recognized through a patented sensitive reader, which receives a response signal from a marker embedded in the item within seconds without having to destroy the product or send the item to a special lab for testing. Impressively, the data received shows processes through the supply chain, including transfer of ownership to prove authenticity and quality assurance.That's invaluable information. Global counterfeit and pirated goods sales are estimated at $500 billion annually. But in addition to brands utilizing SMX to protect product and image integrity, SMX is tapping into a more enormous opportunity, the circular economy. It's an estimated $4.5 trillion opportunity in the U.S. alone, presenting the potential for expedited company growth by accelerating client brands towards a committed practice of contributing to a sustainable future. Other markets include the Global Plastic Recycling Market, estimated to reach $60.7 billion by 2025, and global textile waste, expected to reach 148 million tons annually by 2030.Thus, an irrefutable case can be made that SMX is doing the right things at the right time. Most important, however, is that they have developed world-changing technology to advance and fuel a global sustainability mission. The better news for SMX, investors, and the global population; if all goes as expected, SMX can do for sustainability and accountability practices what Apple did for communications technology- positively impact a global landscape.Disclaimers: Hawk Point Media Group, Llc. is responsible for the production and distribution of this content. Hawk Point Media Group, Llc. is not operated by a licensed broker, a dealer, or a registered investment adviser. It should be expressly understood that under no circumstances does any information published herein represent a recommendation to buy or sell a security. Our reports/releases are a commercial advertisement and are for general information purposes ONLY. We are engaged in the business of marketing and advertising companies for monetary compensation. Never invest in any stock featured on our site or emails unless you can afford to lose your entire investment. The information made available by Hawk Point Media Group, Llc. is not intended to be, nor does it constitute, investment advice or recommendations. The contributors may buy and sell securities before and after any particular article, report and publication. In no event shall Hawk Point Media Group, Llc. be liable to any member, guest or third party for any damages of any kind arising out of the use of any content or other material published or made available by Hawk Point Media Group, Llc., including, without limitation, any investment losses, lost profits, lost opportunity, special, incidental, indirect, consequential or punitive damages. Past performance is a poor indicator of future performance. The information in this video, article, and in its related newsletters, is not intended to be, nor does it constitute, investment advice or recommendations. Hawk Point Media Group, Llc. strongly urges you conduct a complete and independent investigation of the respective companies and consideration of all pertinent risks. Readers are advised to review SEC periodic reports: Forms 10-Q, 10K, Form 8-K, insider reports, Forms 3, 4, 5 Schedule 13D. For some content, Hawk Point Media Group, Llc., its authors, contributors, or its agents, may be compensated for preparing research, video graphics, and editorial content. HPM, LLC has not been compensated to provide research and/or editorial production coverage for SMX PLC., but does hope to engage in, and is actively soliciting for sponsored content consideration. Thus, readers of this content should note that SMX PLC is portrayed favorably. As part of that content, readers, subscribers, and website viewers, are expected to read the full disclaimers and financial disclosures statement that are attached to this content. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides investors a safe harbor in regard to forward-looking statements. Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, goals, assumptions or future events or performance are not statements of historical fact may be forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are based on expectations, estimates, and projections at the time the statements are made that involve a number of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those presently anticipated. Forward looking statements in this action may be identified through use of words such as projects, foresee, expects, will, anticipates, estimates, believes, understands, or that by statements indicating certain actions & quote; may, could, or might occur. Understand there is no guarantee past performance will be indicative of future results. Investing in micro-cap and growth securities is highly speculative and carries an extremely high degree of risk. It is possible that an investors investment may be lost or impaired due to the speculative nature of the companies profiled.Media ContactCompany Name: Level3Trading.comContact Person: Ken LawrenceEmail: info@level3trading.comCountry: United StatesWebsite: https://level3trading.com/.(C) 2023 M2 COMMUNICATIONS, source M2 PressWIRE

news/AAPL/2023.03.08/S&P 500 inches higher with focus on jobs data.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+(Corrects paragraph 5 to say job openings decreased, not
+increased)*Tesla slips as U.S. regulator opens probe into Model Y
+cars*Occidental rises as Buffett's Berkshire boosts stake to
+22.2%*Private payrolls stronger than expected in February*Indexes: Dow off 0.24%, S&P up 0.11%, Nasdaq climbs 0.32%March 8 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 edged up on Wednesday
+after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell did not commit to a 50
+basis point rate hike in March, but strong labor market readings
+supported views that the U.S. central bank will stick to its
+hawkish policy for longer.Fed officials have not yet made a call on the size of the
+rate increase they are almost certain to deliver at their
+upcoming policy meeting, Powell told a House panel as part of
+testimony on the economy and monetary policy.U.S. stock indexes tumbled more than 1% on Tuesday and the
+S&P 500 logged its biggest percentage decline in two weeks,
+after Powell told U.S. lawmakers the Fed would likely need to
+raise rates more than expected in response to strong data.Data on Wednesday showed U.S. private payrolls increased
+more than expected in February, pointing to continued labor
+market strength ahead of the all-important nonfarm payrolls
+report on Friday.Another set showed U.S. job openings decreased to a
+greater-than-expected 10.82 million in January and data for the
+prior month was revised higher."We are still looking at a situation where the labor market
+is still very tight," said Matt Stucky, senior portfolio manager
+at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management. "The Fed is pretty
+clear that they want to see some slack in the labor markets."Markets have started to price in a higher peak rate in the
+face of data showing that the economy is faring better than
+expected despite aggressive interest rate hikes over the last
+year.Traders see a nearly 70% chance that the U.S. central bank
+will raise rates by 50 basis points later this month, up from
+23% before Powell's comments on Tuesday.Growth stocks such as Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp
+gained as U.S. Treasury yields fell, with the two-year
+easing slightly from its highest level in nearly 16
+years.The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index jumped 2%.At 11:42 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
+was down 78.84 points, or 0.24%, at 32,777.62, the S&P 500
+was up 4.46 points, or 0.11%, at 3,990.83, and the Nasdaq
+Composite was up 36.67 points, or 0.32%, at 11,567.01.Tesla Inc slid 3.3% after the U.S. auto safety
+regulator said it was opening a preliminary investigation into
+120,000 Model Y 2023 vehicles following reports about steering
+wheels falling off while driving.Occidental Petroleum Corp gained 1.2% after Warren
+Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc increased its stake in
+the oil company to about 22.2%.Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.24-to-1 ratio
+on the NYSE. Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a
+1.04-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.The S&P index recorded two new 52-week highs and 11 new
+lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 29 new highs and 117 new lows.
+(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Bansari Mayur Kamdar in
+Bengaluru, additional reporting by Amruta Khandekar
+Editing by Vinay Dwivedi and Sriraj Kalluvia)

news/AAPL/2023.03.08/Startup from ex-Apple team raises $100 million, works with OpenAI.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+March 8 (Reuters) - Humane Inc, a startup founded by
+former Apple Inc employees, said on Wednesday it has
+raised $100 million and will release its first products this
+spring.The company, founded in 2018 by Imran Chaudhri and Bethany
+Bongiorno, has now raised $241 million but has yet to disclose
+what it is building, saying only that it is a "software platform
+and consumer device built from the ground up for artificial
+intelligence."A video posted by the company and patent filings suggest
+that a wearable device will project information onto the real
+world and allow users to manipulate that information with their
+hands.Humane also said that it is collaborating with OpenAI, the
+creator of AI products such as ChatGPT that can generate
+human-like conversational text and Dall-E that can generate
+images, to integrate OpenAI's technology into Humane's device.Sam Altman, OpenAI's founder and a previous Humane investor,
+participated in funding round on Wednesday, the company said.Humane also said that Microsoft Corp, which has
+built a massive cloud computing infrastructure specifically for
+AI, took part in the funding round.Humane said it will partner with Microsoft's cloud to bring
+Humane's software services platform to market."Our products are built on an integrated device and cloud
+platform that will allow us, and others, to create AI-driven
+experiences that feel natural, fun and needed," Patrick Gates,
+another Apple veteran who is Humane's chief technology officer,
+said in a statement.Humane also said that it is working with Korean electronics
+giant LG Electronics Inc "on potential (research and
+development) projects for the next phase of Humane products" and
+with Volvo Car's Tech Fund on "a potential future
+collaboration which would be the first example of Humane’s
+offering being applied to the automotive industry."
+(Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco
+Editing by Marguerita Choy)

news/AAPL/2023.03.09/Apple and Foxconn efforts win labour reforms to advance Indian production plans - FT.txt

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+(Reuters) -     Apple and its supplier Foxconn were among the companies that lobbied for a landmark liberalisation of labour laws in the southern Indian state of Karnataka earlier this month, the Financial Times reported, citing three people familiar with the matter.    The legislation led to introduction of laws that now allows 12-hour shifts, as well as night-time work for women, similar to company practices in China, the report said.    Apple has been shifting production away from China after the country's strict COVID-related restrictions disrupted the manufacturing of new iPhones and other devices in the country and also to avoid a big hit to its business from tensions between Beijing and Washington.     The report comes a week after the Karnataka government said that Apple Inc's iPhones would soon be assembled in the state and that a total of 300 acres have been set aside for a factory.     (Reporting by Akriti Sharma and Kanjyik Ghosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)

news/AAPL/2023.03.09/F&C Investment Trust tops benchmark, lifts dividend in 2022.txt

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+(Correcting net asset value per share figures.)(Alliance News) - F&C Investment Trust PLC on Thursday said it beat its benchmark in 2022, a year when market sentiment was dominated by inflation worries, interest rate hikes and the war in Ukraine. F&C's net asset value per share, with debt at market value, declined to 932.1 pence at the end of 2022, from 998.7p in 2021. "While disappointing to report a decline, this was modest by comparison to deeper losses in equity markets," F&C said. Shares in the company closed 0.6% lower at 960.00p each in London on Thursday. The company holds stakes in firms such as Microsoft Corp, Apple Inc and Amazon.com Inc. "Throughout 2022, rising inflation and interest rates, in conjunction with geopolitical volatility, weighed on global equities and resulted in valuations falling sharply over the course of the year. The exiting of a low interest rate world has fundamentally changed the investment environment and we will likely continue to see pressure on parts of the equity market," Fund Manager Paul Niven said. It reported a NAV total return of minus 5.3%, beating the FTSE All-World Index, which returned negative 7.7%.  F&C declared a final dividend of 3.9p per share, up 2.6% from 3.8p. It lifted its total payout by 5.5% to 13.5p per share from 12.8p. By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editorComments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.comCopyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

news/AAPL/2023.03.09/F&C Investment Trust tops benchmark, lifts dividend in tricky 2022.txt

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+(Alliance News) - F&C Investment Trust PLC on Thursday said it beat its benchmark in 2022, a year when market sentiment was dominated by inflation worries, interest rate hikes and the war in Ukraine. F&C's net asset value per share declined by 11% to 896.94 pence at the end of 2022, from 1,002.49 in 2021. Shares in the company were 0.9% lower at 957.01p each in London on Thursday morning. The company holds stakes in firms such as Microsoft Corp, Apple Inc and Amazon.com Inc. "Throughout 2022, rising inflation and interest rates, in conjunction with geopolitical volatility, weighed on global equities and resulted in valuations falling sharply over the course of the year. The exiting of a low interest rate world has fundamentally changed the investment environment and we will likely continue to see pressure on parts of the equity market," Fund Manager Paul Niven said. It reported a NAV total return of minus 5.3%, beating the FTSE All-World Index which returned negative 7.7%.  F&C declared a final dividend of 3.9p per share, up 2.6% from 3.8p. It lifted its total payout by 5.5% to 13.5p per share from 12.8p. By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editorComments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.comCopyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

news/AAPL/2023.03.09/JPMorgan must hand over CEO Dimon's records in Jeffrey Epstein lawsuit.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+(Adds comment from corporate governance expert about JPMorgan
+lawsuits against former executive Staley)NEW YORK, March 9 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Thursday
+ordered JPMorgan Chase & Co to hand over more documents
+concerning Chief Executive Jamie Dimon to the U.S. Virgin
+Islands for the territory's lawsuit accusing the bank of aiding
+in Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking.U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan said the bank
+must turn over requested documents from 2015 to 2019, a period
+after JPMorgan had dropped Epstein as a client. Rakoff did not
+explain his reasoning in his one-sentence order.JPMorgan declined to comment.The U.S. Virgin Islands is seeking damages from JPMorgan for
+allegedly aiding in Epstein's sex trafficking by keeping him as
+a client, and missing red flags about his misconduct on Little
+St. James, a private island he owned.Epstein had been a JPMorgan client from 2000 to 2013. He
+killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 while
+awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.The U.S. Virgin Islands has called Dimon "a likely source of
+relevant and unique information" about why JPMorgan kept Epstein
+on, and discussions on Epstein's referrals of prominent and
+wealthy potential clients.JPMorgan countered by accusing the U.S. Virgin Islands of
+going on a "fishing expedition" after having obtained a "massive
+trove" of information in litigation in which the territory
+recovered more than $105 million from Epstein's estate.Lawyers for the U.S. Virgin Islands did not immediately
+respond to requests for comment.Rakoff scheduled a March 16 conference in the case.JPMorgan also faces a proposed class action over its ties to
+Epstein by Jane Doe 1, a former ballet dancer who said Epstein
+abused and trafficked her from 2006 to 2013.On Wednesday, the bank filed two lawsuits accusing former
+private banking chief Jes Staley of "intentional and outrageous
+conduct" in concealing information about Epstein, with whom he
+had been friends.JPMorgan wants Staley to reimburse it for damages it might
+incur in the other lawsuits, and return eight years of
+compensation.Its lawsuits attempt to portray Staley as a "bad apple"
+solely at fault for the bank's relationship with Epstein, said
+Alison Taylor, a corporate governance professor at New York
+University's Stern School of Business.The case is Government of the U.S. Virgin Islands v
+JPMorgan Chase Bank NA, U.S. District Court, Southern District
+of New York, No. 22-10904.
+(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Additional
+reporting by Lananh Nguyen and Tatiana Bautzer; Editing by
+Leslie Adler and Daniel Wallis)

news/AAPL/2023.03.10/Apple argues UK competition watchdog had /"no power/" to launch probe.txt

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) opened a full investigation in November into cloud gaming and mobile browsers over concerns about restrictions by iPhone-maker Apple, as well as by Google.Apple filed an appeal in January at the Competition Appeal Tribunal in London and argues the investigation is "invalid".Its lawyer Timothy Otty said on Friday that the market investigation should by law have been opened last June at the same time as the CMA published a report on mobile ecosystems, which found the two tech giants had an "effective duopoly".He added in court filings that Apple has "suffered serious prejudice" as a result of the CMA's decision, having "had to repeatedly divert management time and technical resources away from its business activities".However, the CMA's lawyer James Eadie said the watchdog had complied with the legal time limits, because it initially decided not to open an investigation in December 2021.He argued in court filings that a ruling that the investigation is invalid would cause "significant prejudice to the public interest ... which outweighs any burden shouldered by Apple"."A finding of invalidity would terminate the market investigation and leave unaddressed the CMA's concerns about the lack of competition for mobile browsers and cloud gaming," Eadie added.Friday's hearing took place on the same day that the CMA said it was extending the deadline for its analysis and review into Apple's terms and conditions for app developers until May. (Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Christina Fincher)By Sam Tobin

news/AAPL/2023.03.10/Apple inc shareholders approve executive pay packages at annual….txt

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+APPLE INC SHAREHOLDERS APPROVE EXECUTIVE PAY PACKAGES AT ANNUAL SHAREHOLDER MEETING - PRELIMINARY RESULTS

news/AAPL/2023.03.10/Apple inc shareholders reject anti-china shareholder proposal at….txt

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+APPLE INC SHAREHOLDERS REJECT ANTI-CHINA SHAREHOLDER PROPOSAL AT ANNUAL MEETING - PRELIMINARY RESULTS

news/AAPL/2023.03.10/Apple inc shareholders reject anti-diversity shareholder proposa….txt

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+APPLE INC SHAREHOLDERS REJECT ANTI-DIVERSITY SHAREHOLDER PROPOSAL AT ANNUAL MEETING - PRELIMINARY RESULTS

news/AAPL/2023.03.10/Apple shareholders reject proposals from conservative groups.txt

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Shareholders also approved the company's executive pay packages. The approval comes after the company reduced Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook's pay and made it more dependent on stock performance. (Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco)

news/AAPL/2023.03.10/SVB turmoil a sign of pain coming from end of easy-cash era.txt

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Risks were brought to a fore this week as U.S. tech specialist Silicon Valley Bank scrambled for fresh capital, sparking a rout in bank stocks. SVB was seeking funding to make up for the sale of a $21 billion loss-making bond portfolio, a result of surging rates. Central banks meanwhile are shrinking their balance sheets by offloading bond holdings as part of their fight against hot inflation. We look at some potential pressure points.1/ BANKSBank have shot up the worry list as the SVB rout hit bank stocks globally on contagion fears. JPMorgan and BofA shares fell over 5% on Thursday, European banks slid on Friday.SVB's troubles stem from deposit outflows due to heavy spending by clients in the tech and healthcare sectors, raising questions over whether other banks would have to cover deposit outflows with loss-making bond sales too. In February, U.S. regulators said U.S. banks had unrealised losses of more than $620 billion on securities, underscoring the hit from rising interest rates.Germany's Commerzbank issued a rare statement playing down any threat from SVB.For now, analysts saw SVB's issues as idiosyncratic and took comfort from safer business models at larger banks. BofA noted European banks' bond holdings have not grown since 2015."Normally speaking, banks would not be taking big duration bets with deposits, but with such rapid rate rises it is clear why investors could be worried and are selling now and asking questions later," said Gary Kirk, partner at TwentyFour Asset Management. U.S. banking sell-off U.S. banking sell-off  https://www.reuters.com/graphics/EUROPE-MARKETS/byprlqyxkpe/chart.png2/ DARLINGS NO MORE Even after a first quarter surge in stock prices, higher rates have dampened the willingness to take punts on early stage or speculative businesses, especially as established tech firms have issued profit warnings and cut jobs.    Tech firms are reversing pandemic-era exuberance, cutting jobs after years of hiring sprees. Google owner Alphabet plans to axe about 12,000 workers; Microsoft, Amazon and Meta are together firing almost 40,000."Despite being a rate sensitive investment, NASDAQ has not responded to the implications of interest rates. If rates continue to rise in 2023, we may see a significant sell-off," said Bruno Schneller, a managing director at INVICO Asset Management.   Tech layoffs announced in the last four months  https://www.reuters.com/graphics/GLOBAL-MARKETS/lgvdkoyajpo/chart.png 3/ DEFAULT RISKSThe risk premium on corporate debt has fallen since the start of the year and signals little risk, but corporate defaults are rising.S&P Global said Europe had the second-highest default count last year since 2009. It expects U.S. and European default rates to reach 3.75% and 3.25%, respectively, in September 2023 versus 1.6% and 1.4% a year before, with pessimistic forecasts of 6.0% and 5.5% not "out of the question."And with defaults rising, the focus is on the less visible private debt markets, which have ballooned to $1.4 trillion from $250 billion in 2010.In a low rate world, the largely floating-rate nature of the financing appealed to investors, who can reap returns up to the low double digits, but now that means ballooning interest costs as central banks hike rates. Corporate default rate may double in 2023  reuters.com/graphics/GLOBAL-STRESS/dwpkdegzdvm/chart.png 4/CRYPTO WINTER Bitcoin staged a recovery at the start of the year but was languishing at two-month lows on Friday.  Caution remains. After all, rising borrowing costs roiled crypto markets in 2022, with Bitcoin prices plunging 64%.The collapse of various dominant crypto companies, most notably FTX, left investors shouldering large losses and prompted calls for more regulation.Shares of crypto-related companies fell on March 9, after Silvergate Capital Corp, one of the biggest banks in the cryptocurrency industry announced it would wind down operations and sparked a crisis of confidence in the industry.         Pain in crypto land  https://www.reuters.com/graphics/GLOBAL-MARKETS/lgpdknmayvo/chart.png 5/FOR SALEReal estate markets started cracking last year and house prices will fall further this year.Fund managers surveyed by BofA see China's troubled real estate sector as the second most likely source of a credit event. European real estate reported distress levels not seen since 2012 by November, law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges found.How the sector funds itself is key. Officials warn European banks risk significant profit hits from sliding house prices, which is making them less likely to lend to the sector. Real estate investment management firm AEW estimates the sector in UK, France and Germany could face a 51 billion euro debt funding gap through 2025. Asset managers Brookfield and Blackstone recently defaulted on some debt tied to real estate as interest rate hikes and falling demand for offices in particular hit property values. "The reality that some of the values out there aren't right and perhaps need to be marked down is something that everyone's focused on," said Brett Lewthwaite, global head of fixed income at Macquarie Asset Management.Distress in Europe's real estate sector rises  https://www.reuters.com/graphics/GLOBAL-STRESS/byprlryzbpe/chart.png($1 = 0.9192 euros) (Reporting by Yoruk Bahceli, Chiara Elisei, Nell Mackenzie, Dhara Ranasinghe, Naomi Rovnick, Elizabeth Howcroft; Graphics by Kripa Jayaram and Vincent Flasseur; Editing by Dhara Ranasinghe and Toby Chopra)

news/AAPL/2023.03.10/UK says needs more time to review Apple's alleged App Store monopoly.txt

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in March 2021 opened its investigation into Apple's distribution of apps on iOS and iPadOS devices in the UK.The ongoing probe would consider if Apple has a dominant position in the distribution of apps on its devices in the UK. (Reporting by Radhika Anilkumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

news/AAPL/2023.03.13/Apple TV+ wins Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film The Boy, the Mole, the Fox an...txt

@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+
+This evening, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honors Apple Original Film The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse with the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film, at the 95th Annual Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles.
+This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230312005069/en/The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honors Apple Original Film The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse with the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film. (Photo: Business Wire)
+“We are so proud of Charlie and the brilliant team who brought The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse to the screen and we sincerely thank the Academy for tonight’s recognition,” said Zack Van Amburg, Apple’s head of Worldwide Video. “This powerful story has deeply affected audiences around the world and has shown that no matter what age you are or where you live, it’s never too late to spread more compassion, empathy, and kindness in our daily lives. Congratulations to everyone involved, including our teams across the globe. We are all celebrating with you tonight.”
+
+“The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse shines a light on the magic of discovering connection in unexpected places, and we are honored that the Academy has awarded this beautifully moving film tonight,” said Jamie Erlicht, Apple’s head of Worldwide Video. “Bringing Charlie’s visually stunning world to such vibrant animated life, this short reinforces the strength that can be found in our common humanity and we toast the entire creative team on this uplifting cinematic achievement.”
+
+Oscar winner The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, based on the beloved book by Charlie Mackesy, has been hailed as a “deep and stunning work of art” (Collider) “translating the exquisite illustrations into hand-drawn animation” (IndieWire), while telling a poignant “tale of love and hope” that is “half an hour of unmitigated joy” (The Independent). The acclaimed film was also recently honored with a BAFTA Film Award win, four Annie Awards including Best Special Production, and an NAACP Image Awards nomination for Outstanding Short Form (Animated) film.
+
+Apple made history in 2022, landing three Academy Awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for CODA, with the first-ever win by a streamer for Best Picture, alongside awards for Best Supporting Actor for Troy Kotsur, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Siân Heder. CODA was also the first motion picture starring a predominantly Deaf cast in leading roles to win Best Picture; Troy Kotsur, the first Deaf male actor to win Best Supporting Actor; and writer-director Siân Heder landed her first-ever Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
+
+To date, Apple Original films, documentaries, and series have earned 345 wins and 1,421 award nominations and counting, including multi-Emmy Award-winning comedy Ted Lasso and Oscar Best Picture winner CODA.
+
+The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
+
+The poignant journey follows the unlikely friendship of a boy, a mole, a fox, and a horse traveling together in the boy’s search for home. The film, featuring Mackesy’s distinctive illustrations brought to life in full color with beautiful hand-drawn animation, stars Tom Hollander as The Mole, Idris Elba as The Fox, Gabriel Byrne as The Horse, and newcomer Jude Coward Nicoll as The Boy.
+
+The Charlie Mackesy film is produced by Matthew Freud, Academy Award nominee Cara Speller (Pear Cider and Cigarettes) of NoneMore Productions, and J.J. Abrams and Hannah Minghella of Bad Robot Productions. Directed by Peter Baynton (The Tiger Who Came to Tea) and Mackesy, the film is adapted from the original book in collaboration with Jon Croker (Paddington 2). The film is executive produced by Jony Ive and Academy Award nominee Woody Harrelson (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri). Original score is by composer Isobel Waller-Bridge, performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra and conducted by Geoff Alexander. The film is presented in partnership with the BBC.
+
+The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse is currently streaming on Apple TV+.
+
+Apple TV+ offers premium, compelling drama and comedy series, feature films, groundbreaking documentaries, and kids and family entertainment, and is available to watch across everyone’s favorite screens. After its launch on November 1, 2019, Apple TV+ became the first all-original streaming service to launch around the world, and has premiered more original hits and received more award recognitions faster than any other streaming service in its debut.
+
+About Apple TV+
+
+Apple TV+ is available on the Apple TV app in over 100 countries and regions, on over 1 billion screens, including iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Mac, popular smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Sony, VIZIO, TCL and others, Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices, Chromecast with Google TV, PlayStation and Xbox gaming consoles, and at tv.apple.com, for $6.99 per month with a seven-day free trial. For a limited time, customers who purchase and activate a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Mac or iPod touch can enjoy three months of Apple TV+ for free.
+
+For more information, visit apple.com/tvpr and see the full list of supported devices.
+View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230312005069/en/

news/AAPL/2023.03.13/Court revives Apple, Google challenge to U.S. patent-review policy.txt

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed a California federal court's decision to dismiss the companies' lawsuit and said the agency may have failed to go through a required public notice-and-comment rulemaking process.The PTO declined to comment on the ruling. Google spokesperson José Castañeda said the company appreciates the decision and looks forward to making its case at the lower court. A Cisco spokesperson said the ruling reinforces that the PTO's patent review proceedings are "an important vehicle to preserve a balanced patent system, protect innovation, and assure patent quality in the United States."Representatives for the other plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.The PTO's Patent Trial and Appeal Board is popular with big tech companies that are often targeted with patent lawsuits and that use the board's "inter partes review" process to contest patents they are accused of infringing. An internal rule that gave the agency's judges greater discretion to deny inter partes review petitions "dramatically reduced access" to the process, the companies told the appeals court.Apple, Google, Cisco, Intel Corp and Edwards Lifesciences Corp sued the PTO in the California federal court in 2020 over the rule. They argued it undermined the role inter partes review plays in "protecting a strong patent system" and violated federal law. Companies including Tesla, Honda, Comcast and Dell filed briefs at the Federal Circuit in support of the plaintiffs.The California court dismissed the case in 2021, citing U.S. Supreme Court rulings that Patent Trial and Appeal Board  decisions on whether to review inter partes review petitions cannot be appealed. The Federal Circuit also rejected the companies' arguments that the rule was arbitrary and violated U.S. patent law. But the three-judge panel said the PTO may have been required to hold a period of public notice and comment before making the rule, and that it could be challenged based on that argument.The case is Apple Inc v. Vidal, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, No. 22-1249. (Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington)By Blake Brittain

news/AAPL/2023.03.13/Ft : Disagreement at Apple over AR headset launch.txt

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+ Copyright Emerce There appears to be  at Apple over when to release the first-generation mixed reality headset, the FT reports based on insiders. Apple CEO Tim Cook wants the headset on the market before the end of this year. However, Apple's design team thinks it is too early. Still, the headset appears to be launching at the otveloper conference WWDC in June.Tim Cook is said to have sided with COO Jeff Williams, who also thinks the headset should be released soon now. The design team is under the direct direction of Williams.Former Apple engineers report that they were put under intense pressure to bring the headset to market. The industrial design team is said to have warned that products in this new category are not yet ready.Apple does have some time to tinker with the headset. It probably won't be released until the fall for professional users who will have to put at least $3,000 on the table to do so.© The Content Exchange, source News

news/AAPL/2023.03.13/Qualcomm looks to Europe court again to overturn antitrust fine.txt

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+The European Commission slapped the fine on Qualcomm in 2019 for selling its chipsets below cost between 2009 and 2011, in a practice known as predatory pricing, to stymie British phone software maker Icera, now part of Nvidia Corp.The company last year secured a major win as it convinced the General Court to scrap a 997 million euro EU antitrust fine in another case related to payments made to Apple to use only its chips in all its iPhones and iPads in order to block out rivals such as Intel Corp.Qualcomm lawyer Miguel Rato criticised the Commission's investigations against the company on the first day of the three-day hearing."This is the second instalment of the Commission's campaign against Qualcomm. The first was the exclusivity decision squashed by the Court," he told the General Court.He said the 3G baseband chipsets singled out in the case accounted for just 0.7% of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) market and thus it was not possible for Qualcomm to shut out rivals from the chipset market."What price should Qualcomm have charged for each chipset and each quarter to allow it to pass the price cost test?" Rato said.Qualcomm's actions showed it was determined to eliminate a rival before it could pose a competitive threat, Commission lawyer Carlos Urraca Caviedes told the court."Icera was about to gain a solid foothold in the market segment which was strategically important for future growth. Qualcomm feared that if it did not take action, Icera would grow to expand and become a formidable rival," he said. The court will rule in the coming months. The case is T-671/19 Qualcomm v Commission.($1 = 0.9366 euros) (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)By Foo Yun Chee

news/AAPL/2023.03.13/Smoothies in, alcopops out as UK updates inflation index for 2023.txt

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+The changes set out on Monday by Britain's Office for National Statistics (ONS) offer an insight into shifts in the public's spending choices as tastes and technology change.The ONS said it will no longer collect prices for small digital cameras or some types of compact disc or DVD, as more Britons use their mobile phones to take photos and stream music and video.However, battery-powered electric bikes and home security cameras similar to Amazon's Ring video doorbells will join the index, the ONS said."The impact of mobile phone technology continues to resonate with the removal of CDs and digital cameras from our basket, reflecting how most of us listen to music and take pictures straight from our phones these days," ONS statistician Mike Hardie said.Inflation is high on the public's agenda, after surging energy prices pushed CPI to a 41-year high of 11.1% in October.Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Friday that controlling inflation would be one of the main themes of finance minister Jeremy Hunt's annual budget this Wednesday.The ONS will also massively expand the number of rail fares it checks to calculate average price rises. In future it will use an industry database with 30 million price points rather than an index calculated by a regulator.In total, the ONS said it was adding 26 items to the CPI basket and removing 16, while 717 will be left unchanged.Among the additions are tortilla wraps, green beans, men's belts and mouthwash. Leaving the index are cooking apples and super-king-size cigarettes - though other types of apple and cigarette will remain. (Reporting by David Milliken; Editing by Hugh Lawson)By David Milliken

news/AAPL/2023.03.14/Apple : Meet four women using apps and games to drive culture and create change.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,375 @@
+
+
+
+FEATUREMarch 14, 2023
+
+
+
+          Meet four women using apps and games to drive culture and create change
+        
+
+
+        The teams at Rebel Girls, Dinosaur Polo Club, and Wisdom share how their experiences shaped the vision for their apps and games on the App Store
+      
+
+
+      Jes Wolfe of Rebel Girls, Niamh Fitzgerald and Chantelle Cole of Dinosaur Polo Club, and Dayo Akinrinade of Wisdom talk about their journeys in app and game creation.
+    
+
+
+        Every day on the App Store, entrepreneurs behind best-in-class apps and games are harnessing the power and accessibility of technology to create change and drive culture. And for the creators of Mini Motorways, Rebel Girls, and Wisdom, there's so much more to app development than the end product - these women-led teams are amplifying women's voices, and leading the charge for the next generation of women and girls looking to cultivate a career in technology. 
+      
+
+        After attending Stanford Graduate School of Business where she studied the stories behind the world's greatest tech companies, Jes Wolfe knew she wanted to pursue a career in the industry. Today, she serves as the CEO of Rebel Girls, a global media brand that empowers girls through the stories of pioneering women. Through the company's app - a winner of Apple's 2022 Design Awards - as well as its podcast and books, the company aims to inspire young women to dream big.
+      
+
+        In their leadership roles at New Zealand-based game development studio Dinosaur Polo Club, Niamh Fitzgerald and Chantelle Cole set out to build a more inclusive workplace, fostering an environment where everyone can flourish and feel valued. Designed by a diverse development team, their titles like the Apple Arcade hit Mini Motorways encourage users to take a closer look at the world around them and problem-solve in creative and unusual ways.
+      
+
+        Dayo Akinrinade, a participant in Apple's 2022 Entrepreneur Camp for Black Founders, felt underrepresented and underestimated in the world of computer science after graduating from the University of Manchester - so she built her own community designed to prioritize and amplify women's voices. Her audio-first social discovery app, Wisdom, connects like-minded users for deep conversations on far-ranging topics like careers, relationships, and fitness.
+      
+
+        Below, Wolfe, Fitzgerald, Cole, and Akinrinade share how they use technology to uplift women and create social change.
+      
+
+        What kinds of challenges do you address with your company and its products?
+      
+
+Jes Wolfe (JW), CEO of Rebel Girls: We see a confidence gap between genders starting at age 6. That's when girls start to think they are less smart and less capable than boys, according to a study published by Science. The study says career aspirations are shaped by gender stereotypes. Additionally, between the ages of 8 and 14, girls' confidence falls by 30 percent. We want every girl to open the Rebel Girls app - or any of our books - and find dozens of stories of role models that she can see herself in.
+      
+
+Dayo Akinrinade (DA), founder of Wisdom: My aim for Wisdom is to replace the inequity of closed networks with an open, diverse community of experts and helpful people. Wisdom offers women a safe space to converse about topics that matter to them, such as women's rights, domestic violence, leadership, and wellness. Our users who don't identify as women consider themselves allies, and provide support by participating in the conversations or simply listening.
+      
+
+
+      Dayo Akinrinade is the founder of Wisdom, a social discovery app she founded after studying computer science at the University of Manchester. "We're growing an open and diverse community where the conversations center on advice and personal development," she explains of her app.
+    
+
+
+Niamh Fitzgerald (NF), chief operating officer of Dinosaur Polo Club: Many women face issues such as pay and gender equality, barriers to leadership, and inflexible work hours. But we believe that creating a work environment that is inclusive and supportive for everyone - regardless of their gender or sexuality - is fundamental to creating a sustainable and thriving business. Advocating for diversity and inclusion is at the heart of everything we do, but we hope that one day we'll reach a point where this is commonplace in every business.
+      
+
+        How have you seen your user community benefit from your product?
+      
+
+Chantelle Cole (CC), CEO of Dinosaur Polo Club: Initially, we set out to make something that would connect with people who held an appreciation for real-world systems - something that might encourage them to look at the world around them with fresh eyes and perhaps seek more elegant solutions to everyday problems. We never anticipated the way our games have become a positive and meaningful part of people's lives.
+      
+
+JW: We develop all our content and our app for 4- to 12-year-old girls. Our storytelling empowers and inspires them, and helps them build their confidence, and we do it in a way that the whole family can enjoy. Eighty-six percent of parents tell us their girls' confidence has increased because of Rebel Girls, and 92 percent of parents tell us our stories inspired their girls.
+      
+
+
+      The Rebel Girls app features a large collection confidence-building audio stories for girls, spotlighting trailblazing women from the past and present.
+    
+
+
+        How have your experiences influenced how you've created your app and how you run your business?
+      
+
+CC: My experiences working across creative industries - including music and printing - began to shape who I wanted to be as a leader. I wanted to take the best parts of [people] who had inspired me through their values-based and selfless leadership, and create a culture that fosters mental well-being, values diversity, and directly addresses inequity. 
+      
+
+
+      Dinosaur Polo Club chief operating officer Niamh Fitzgerald and CEO Chantelle Cole are part of the team behind the hit Apple Arcade game Mini Motorways. "We like to call our community of players City Planners or Civil Engineers, which, in real life, is a field dominated by men," Fitzgerald says. "For young girls, picking up a game that was intentionally designed for all ages and genders might open up the idea to them that urban design and high-level strategy are things they can find a passion for."
+    
+
+
+DA: In my time working with minority founders, I witnessed how a lack of social capital contributes to systemic inequity and disadvantages founders from minority groups, hence the inspiration for Wisdom. We're growing an open and diverse community where the conversations center on advice and personal development.
+      
+
+JW: Early in my career, I read Carly Fiorina's memoir, Tough Choices, and gobbled up each page. As one of the first books I'd read about a female CEO, it inspired me. My favorite question to ask people is, "Who is a woman who inspires you?" It's disappointing how few people can answer that question. Women are still fighting to tell their stories, and to have them told authentically. This is why we tell the stories of women representing 400+ professions and from 100+ countries; we work with hundreds of female and nonbinary writers, illustrators, editors, and narrators to tell these stories authentically.
+      
+
+        What features in your app did you design to uplift and empower girls or women?
+      
+
+NF: We like to call our community of players City Planners or Civil Engineers, which, in real life, is a field dominated by men. For young girls, picking up a game that was intentionally designed for all ages and genders might open up the idea to them that urban design and high-level strategy are things they can find a passion for. It's important to us as a studio that our games feel approachable and welcoming for all demographics, so if they can be confidence-inspiring for a young woman, that's a success!
+      
+
+
+
+
+Roads are shown on a white background in Dinosaur Polo Club's game Mini Motorways.
+
+
+Roads are shown on a blue background in Dinosaur Polo Club's game Mini Motorways.
+
+
+Roads are shown on a pink background in Dinosaur Polo Club's game Mini Motorways.
+
+
+
+
+          Dinosaur Polo Club's Mini Motorways game invites players to build a road network one road at a time to create a bustling metropolis.
+        
+
+          Dinosaur Polo Club's Mini Motorways game invites players to build a road network one road at a time to create a bustling metropolis.
+        
+
+          Dinosaur Polo Club's Mini Motorways game invites players to build a road network one road at a time to create a bustling metropolis.
+        
+
+
+
+previous
+
+
+next
+
+
+
+
+
+JW: Confidence is the biggest predictor of a child's future success, and girls have less of it than boys do. Media plays a big role, and Rebel Girls is leading to change the narrative and tone. We have a content ecosystem where girls are portrayed in realistic situations where they are winning, surrounded by a supportive community and friends, and not confronted by gendered language.
+      
+
+DA: Wisdom is a place to ask questions and learn from extraordinary women from different walks of life - women you would ordinarily never have the chance to meet. Any woman can start a talk or engage in Q&A on a topic that matters to them, and it's free. This is by design, so that everyone can have a voice. We also considered safety from the start: We intentionally add friction to the signup process, have 24/7 moderators, and make it easy to report a piece of content. We leverage AI to algorithmically score our user-generated content to reduce the probability of posting harmful content.
+      
+
+
+
+
+The Wisdom app shows the page for expert Eva Foley, who is described as an "education podcaster and blogger sharing how people can bring positive change."
+
+
+The Wisdom app shows a live conversation between Paul Sears and Dani Smith on the topic "What has the pandemic taught you about yourself?"
+
+
+The Wisdom app shows a conversation prompt that reads "Describe your idea of a perfect day."
+
+
+
+
+          The Wisdom app forges deeper connections by connecting like-minded people for thoughtful conversations.
+        
+
+          The Wisdom app forges deeper connections by connecting like-minded people for thoughtful conversations.
+        
+
+          The Wisdom app forges deeper connections by connecting like-minded people for thoughtful conversations.
+        
+
+
+
+previous
+
+
+next
+
+
+
+
+
+        What do you hope for the next generation of women technologists?
+      
+
+DA: I hope the next generation of women technologists are able to show up as their authentic selves and thrive in a technology field that accommodates for a variety of diverse leadership styles. After all, leadership is not one size fits all.
+      
+
+JW: Female founders secured 2 percent of venture capital in the U.S. in 2022. I want to see women founders, creators, and developers seeing at least 50 percent of venture funding to make their products, impact societies, create jobs, and build the future.
+      
+
+
+      Jes Wolfe is the CEO of Rebel Girls, a global media brand that empowers girls through the stories of pioneering women. "We want every girl to open the Rebel Girls app - or any of our books - and find dozens of stories of role models that she can see herself in," she says.
+    
+
+NF: My hope for the next generation of women is that a focus on gender diversity and inclusion becomes a natural part of how every company does business, not something that sets it apart. So many areas of our lives involve some aspect of technology, and it just makes sense to have a wide range of people and perspectives involved when we're innovating towards a future that works for everyone.
+    
+
+      Share article
+    
+
+
+
+
+
+              Text of this article
+            
+
+
+
+                  March 14, 2023
+                
+
+                  FEATURE
+                
+
+                  Meet four women using apps and games to drive culture and create change
+                
+
+                  The teams at Rebel Girls, Dinosaur Polo Club, and Wisdom share how their experiences shaped the vision for their apps and games on the App Store
+                
+
+                  Every day on the App Store, entrepreneurs behind best-in-class apps and games are harnessing the power and accessibility of technology to create change and drive culture. And for the creators of Mini Motorways, Rebel Girls, and Wisdom, there's so much more to app development than the end product - these women-led teams are amplifying women's voices, and leading the charge for the next generation of women and girls looking to cultivate a career in technology. 
+                
+
+                  After attending Stanford Graduate School of Business where she studied the stories behind the world's greatest tech companies, Jes Wolfe knew she wanted to pursue a career in the industry. Today, she serves as the CEO of Rebel Girls, a global media brand that empowers girls through the stories of pioneering women. Through the company's app - a winner of Apple's 2022 Design Awards - as well as its podcast and books, the company aims to inspire young women to dream big.
+                
+
+                  In their leadership roles at New Zealand-based game development studio Dinosaur Polo Club, Niamh Fitzgerald and Chantelle Cole set out to build a more inclusive workplace, fostering an environment where everyone can flourish and feel valued. Designed by a diverse development team, their titles like the Apple Arcade hit Mini Motorways encourage users to take a closer look at the world around them and problem-solve in creative and unusual ways.
+                
+
+                  Dayo Akinrinade, a participant in Apple's 2022 Entrepreneur Camp for Black Founders, felt underrepresented and underestimated in the world of computer science after graduating from the University of Manchester - so she built her own community designed to prioritize and amplify women's voices. Her audio-first social discovery app, Wisdom, connects like-minded users for deep conversations on far-ranging topics like careers, relationships, and fitness.
+                
+
+                  Below, Wolfe, Fitzgerald, Cole, and Akinrinade share how they use technology to uplift women and create social change.
+                
+
+                  What kinds of challenges do you address with your company and its products?
+                
+
+Jes Wolfe (JW), CEO of Rebel Girls: We see a confidence gap between genders starting at age 6. That's when girls start to think they are less smart and less capable than boys, according to a study published by Science. The study says career aspirations are shaped by gender stereotypes. Additionally, between the ages of 8 and 14, girls' confidence falls by 30 percent. We want every girl to open the Rebel Girls app - or any of our books - and find dozens of stories of role models that she can see herself in.
+                
+
+Dayo Akinrinade (DA), founder of Wisdom: My aim for Wisdom is to replace the inequity of closed networks with an open, diverse community of experts and helpful people. Wisdom offers women a safe space to converse about topics that matter to them, such as women's rights, domestic violence, leadership, and wellness. Our users who don't identify as women consider themselves allies, and provide support by participating in the conversations or simply listening.
+                
+
+Niamh Fitzgerald (NF), chief operating officer of Dinosaur Polo Club: Many women face issues such as pay and gender equality, barriers to leadership, and inflexible work hours. But we believe that creating a work environment that is inclusive and supportive for everyone - regardless of their gender or sexuality - is fundamental to creating a sustainable and thriving business. Advocating for diversity and inclusion is at the heart of everything we do, but we hope that one day we'll reach a point where this is commonplace in every business.
+                
+
+                  How have you seen your user community benefit from your product?
+                
+
+Chantelle Cole (CC), CEO of Dinosaur Polo Club: Initially, we set out to make something that would connect with people who held an appreciation for real-world systems - something that might encourage them to look at the world around them with fresh eyes and perhaps seek more elegant solutions to everyday problems. We never anticipated the way our games have become a positive and meaningful part of people's lives.
+                
+
+JW: We develop all our content and our app for 4- to 12-year-old girls. Our storytelling empowers and inspires them, and helps them build their confidence, and we do it in a way that the whole family can enjoy. Eighty-six percent of parents tell us their girls' confidence has increased because of Rebel Girls, and 92 percent of parents tell us our stories inspired their girls.
+                
+
+                  How have your experiences influenced how you've created your app and how you run your business?
+                
+
+CC: My experiences working across creative industries - including music and printing - began to shape who I wanted to be as a leader. I wanted to take the best parts of [people] who had inspired me through their values-based and selfless leadership, and create a culture that fosters mental well-being, values diversity, and directly addresses inequity. 
+                
+
+DA: In my time working with minority founders, I witnessed how a lack of social capital contributes to systemic inequity and disadvantages founders from minority groups, hence the inspiration for Wisdom. We're growing an open and diverse community where the conversations center on advice and personal development.
+                
+
+JW: Early in my career, I read Carly Fiorina's memoir, Tough Choices, and gobbled up each page. As one of the first books I'd read about a female CEO, it inspired me. My favorite question to ask people is, "Who is a woman who inspires you?" It's disappointing how few people can answer that question. Women are still fighting to tell their stories, and to have them told authentically. This is why we tell the stories of women representing 400+ professions and from 100+ countries; we work with hundreds of female and nonbinary writers, illustrators, editors, and narrators to tell these stories authentically.
+                
+
+                  What features in your app did you design to uplift and empower girls or women?
+                
+
+NF: We like to call our community of players City Planners or Civil Engineers, which, in real life, is a field dominated by men. For young girls, picking up a game that was intentionally designed for all ages and genders might open up the idea to them that urban design and high-level strategy are things they can find a passion for. It's important to us as a studio that our games feel approachable and welcoming for all demographics, so if they can be confidence-inspiring for a young woman, that's a success!
+                
+
+JW: Confidence is the biggest predictor of a child's future success, and girls have less of it than boys do. Media plays a big role, and Rebel Girls is leading to change the narrative and tone. We have a content ecosystem where girls are portrayed in realistic situations where they are winning, surrounded by a supportive community and friends, and not confronted by gendered language.
+                
+
+DA: Wisdom is a place to ask questions and learn from extraordinary women from different walks of life - women you would ordinarily never have the chance to meet. Any woman can start a talk or engage in Q&A on a topic that matters to them, and it's free. This is by design, so that everyone can have a voice. We also considered safety from the start: We intentionally add friction to the signup process, have 24/7 moderators, and make it easy to report a piece of content. We leverage AI to algorithmically score our user-generated content to reduce the probability of posting harmful content.
+                
+
+                  What do you hope for the next generation of women technologists?
+                
+
+DA: I hope the next generation of women technologists are able to show up as their authentic selves and thrive in a technology field that accommodates for a variety of diverse leadership styles. After all, leadership is not one size fits all.
+                
+
+JW: Female founders secured 2 percent of venture capital in the U.S. in 2022. I want to see women founders, creators, and developers seeing at least 50 percent of venture funding to make their products, impact societies, create jobs, and build the future.
+                
+
+NF: My hope for the next generation of women is that a focus on gender diversity and inclusion becomes a natural part of how every company does business, not something that sets it apart. So many areas of our lives involve some aspect of technology, and it just makes sense to have a wide range of people and perspectives involved when we're innovating towards a future that works for everyone.
+                
+
+                  Press Contact
+                
+
+                  Cathy Park
+                
+
+                  Apple
+                
+
+                  cathypark@apple.com
+                
+
+Copy text
+
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+Download all images
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+        Press Contact
+      
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+
+          Cathy Park
+        
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+          Apple
+        
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+          cathypark@apple.com
+        
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+        Latest News
+      
+
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+PRESS RELEASE
+
+
+Apple introduces Shop with a Specialist over Video
+
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+March 14, 2023
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+
+PRESS RELEASE
+
+
+Apple TV+ wins Academy Award for The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
+
+
+March 12, 2023
+
+
+
+
+UPDATE
+
+
+Apple invites Ted Lasso fans to "believe" with new Today at Apple 
+session
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+March 8, 2023
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+Disclaimer
+Apple Inc. published this content on 14 March 2023 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 14 March 2023 15:05:08 UTC.
+      
+

news/AAPL/2023.03.14/Apple Is Delaying Bonuses For Some Corporate Divisions And Expanding A Cost-Cutting Eff...txt

@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+March 14 (Reuters) -* APPLE IS DELAYING BONUSES FOR SOME CORPORATE DIVISIONS AND
+EXPANDING A COST-CUTTING EFFORT - BLOOMBERG NEWS* APPLE FREEZES HIRING FOR MORE JOBS AND REVIEWS BUDGETS -
+BLOOMBERG NEWS
+Source text: https://bloom.bg/3Fm14bS
+Further company coverage:

news/AAPL/2023.03.14/Apple freezes hiring for more jobs and reviews budgets - bloombe….txt

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+APPLE FREEZES HIRING FOR MORE JOBS AND REVIEWS BUDGETS - BLOOMBERG NEWS

news/AAPL/2023.03.14/Apple introduces Shop with a Specialist over Video.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+
+Apple® today launched Shop with a Specialist over Video, a new live shopping experience on apple.com for customers in the U.S. Shop with a Specialist over Video connects customers looking to purchase iPhone® with a retail team member via a safe and secure, one-way video shopping session. With this new service, customers can browse the latest models, explore new features, and learn about Apple Trade In offers, carrier deals, switching to iOS, and various financing options.
+
+“We’re constantly innovating to deliver an even more personalized experience for our customers, meeting them where they are to deliver the best of Apple,” said Karen Rasmussen, Apple’s head of Retail Online. “With Shop with a Specialist over Video, our team members are excited to connect with customers and provide exceptional service as they learn about which iPhone best suits them.”
+
+Enhancing the Shopping Experience for Customers
+
+Customers can visit apple.com/shop/buy-iphone, and in just a few clicks, instantly connect with an Apple Specialist for world-class service and expert advice on selecting the best iPhone model. Once connected, customers can compare features, colors, sizes, and find the best deal through the Apple Trade In program or their carrier.
+
+Shop the Latest iPhone 14 Lineup with a Specialist over Video
+
+The beautifully designed and durable iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus, available today in an all-new yellow, feature an impressive dual-camera system, the powerful A15 Bionic chip, and all-day battery life, with iPhone 14 Plus offering the longest battery life of any iPhone ever. Both models also offer groundbreaking safety capabilities such as Crash Detection and Emergency SOS via satellite,1 allowing users to get the help they need even when no cellular or Wi-Fi service is available. iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus are available in midnight, starlight, (PRODUCT)RED, blue, purple, and the new yellow for $799 and $899. Customers in the U.S. can get up to $600 in credit toward iPhone 14 when they trade in iPhone 11 or later2 from apple.com/store using Shop with a Specialist over Video, in the Apple Store® app, and at Apple Store locations.
+
+Connecting with a Specialist
+
+Shop with a Specialist over Video is available to customers in the U.S. from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. PT every day on apple.com/shop/buy-iphone. During the session, an Apple team member will be on camera sharing their screen, but they will not be able to see the customer. If customers find that a session is unavailable or access the page after-hours, they can contact a Specialist over the phone or via chat 24 hours a day.
+
+The Best Place to Buy Apple
+
+Apple makes it simple and easy for customers to explore the latest products and accessories, connect with expert team members, or learn new skills with programs like Today at Apple®. Whether in person, online, over video, or via personalized recommendations on the Apple Store app, Apple team members can help customers select the device and financing option that is right for them.
+
+1 Emergency SOS via satellite and Find My® via satellite are currently available in Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, the U.K., and the U.S., and will be available in Austria, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Portugal later this month. The service is included for free for two years starting at the time of activation of a new iPhone 14 model.
+
+2 Trade-in values will vary based on the condition, year, and configuration of the eligible trade-in device. Not all devices are eligible for credit. Customers must be at least 18 years old to be eligible to trade a device in for credit or for an Apple Gift Card. Trade-in value may be applied toward a qualifying new device purchase or added to an Apple Gift Card. The actual value awarded is based on receipt of a qualifying device matching the description provided when the estimate was made. Sales tax may be assessed on the full value of a new device purchase. In-store trade-in requires presentation of a valid photo ID (local law may require saving this information). The offer may not be available in all stores, and may vary between in-store and online trade-in. Some stores may have additional requirements. Apple or its trade-in partners reserve the right to refuse or limit the quantity of any trade-in transaction for any reason. More details are available from Apple’s trade-in partner for trade-in and recycling of eligible devices. Restrictions and limitations may apply.
+
+Apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. Today, Apple leads the world in innovation with iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. Apple’s five software platforms — iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS — provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices and empower people with breakthrough services including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay, and iCloud. Apple’s more than 100,000 employees are dedicated to making the best products on earth, and to leaving the world better than we found it.
+
+NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information visit Apple Newsroom (www.apple.com/newsroom), or email Apple’s Media Helpline at media.help@apple.com.
+
+© 2023 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, Apple Store, Today at Apple, and Find My are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
+View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230314005579/en/

news/AAPL/2023.03.14/Apple is delaying bonuses for some corporate divisions and expan….txt

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+APPLE IS DELAYING BONUSES FOR SOME CORPORATE DIVISIONS AND EXPANDING A COST-CUTTING EFFORT - BLOOMBERG NEWS

news/AAPL/2023.03.14/Exclusive-India plans new security testing for smartphones, crackdown on pre-installed ...txt

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+The new rules, details of which have not been previously reported, could extend launch timelines in the world's No.2 smartphone market and lead to losses in business from pre-installed apps for players including Samsung, Xiaomi, Vivo, and Apple.India's IT ministry is considering these new rules amid concerns about spying and abuse of user data, said a senior government official, one of the two people, declining to be named as the information is not yet public. "Pre-installed apps can be a weak security point and we want to ensure no foreign nations, including China, are exploiting it. It's a matter of national security," the official added.India has ramped up scrutiny of Chinese businesses since a 2020 border clash between the neighbours, banning more than 300 Chinese apps, including TikTok. It has also intensified scrutiny of investments by Chinese firms.Globally too, many nations have imposed restrictions on the use of technology from Chinese firms like Huawei and Hikvision on fears Beijing could use them to spy on foreign citizens. China denies these allegations.Currently, most smartphones come with pre-installed apps that cannot be deleted, such as Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi's app store GetApps, Samsung's payment app Samsung Pay mini and iPhone maker Apple's browser Safari.Under the new rules, smartphone makers will have to provide an uninstall option and new models will be checked for compliance by a lab authorized by the Bureau of Indian Standards agency, two people with knowledge of the plan said.The government is also considering mandating screening of every major operating system update before it is rolled out to consumers, one of the people said."Majority of smartphones used in India are having pre-installed Apps/Bloatware which poses serious privacy/information security issue(s)," stated a Feb. 8 confidential government record of an IT ministry meeting, seen by Reuters.The closed-door meeting was attended by representatives from Xiaomi, Samsung, Apple and Vivo, the meeting record shows.The government has decided to give smartphone makers a year to comply once the rule comes into effect, the date for which has not been fixed yet, the document added.The companies and India's IT ministry did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.'MASSIVE HINDRANCE'India's fast-growing smartphone market is dominated by Chinese players, with Xiaomi and BBK Electronics' Vivo and Oppo accounting for almost half of all sales, Counterpoint data shows. South Korea's Samsung has a 20% share and Apple has 3%.    While European Union regulations require allowing removal of pre-installed apps, it does not have a screening mechanism to check for compliance like India is considering. An industry executive said some pre-installed apps like the camera are critical to user experience and the government must make a distinction between these and non-essential ones when imposing screening rules.Smartphone players often sell their devices with proprietary apps, but also sometimes pre-install others with which they have monetisation agreements. The other worry is more testing could prolong approval timelines for smartphones, a second industry executive said. Currently it takes about 21 weeks for a smartphone and its parts to be tested by the government agency for safety compliance."It's a massive hindrance to a company's go-to market strategy," the executive said. (Reporting by Munsif Vengattil and Aditya Kalra in New Delhi; Editing by Himani Sarkar)By Munsif Vengattil and Aditya Kalra

news/AAPL/2023.03.14/French regulators lift ban on online marketplace Wish.txt

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+France's General Directorate for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) banned the U.S.-based firm's listings in November 2021 on grounds that it had found a large proportion of products on the Wish site to be dangerous."France is an important market to us, and we look forward to a continued partnership with DGCCRF in the future," Wish's compliance chief, Joanna Forster, said in a statement.The company said users will now be able to download the Wish app from Google's Play Store while it will be restored on Apple's App Store in the coming days.  (Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)

news/AAPL/2023.03.14/Qualcomm spars with EU antitrust regulators over Huawei, ZTE rebates.txt

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+The U.S. chipmaker is pleading its case in the General Court, Europe's second-highest, after winning its fight to overturn a 997-million-euro EU antitrust fine in another case there last yearThe European Commission handed Qualcomm the fine in 2019, alleging it had engaged in predatory pricing by selling its chipsets for mobile internet dongles at below cost between 2009 and 2011 to thwart British phone software maker Icera, now part of Nvidia Corp.The EU competition enforcer said an analysis of Qualcomm's prices showed it sold some of its chips below cost to Huawei and ZTE, with rebates and discounts driving the final prices down.Qualcomm's lawyer rebuffed the analysis on the second day of a three-day hearing."The Commission should have applied the price cost test over a longer, more meaningful period. Had the Commission made those two simple corrections, you would have found no predation," Athina Kontasakou told the court.She said the Commission was wrong to treat annual lump-sum payments made by Qualcomm to customers as hidden discounts and rebate payments.Martin Farley, a lawyer for the Commission, defended its analysis of Qualcomm's prices as "fundamentally correct and robust". "All of the decisions that the Commission took in exercise of its discretion to calculate the costs were done to ensure that they reflected reality," he told judges.The court will rule in the coming months. The case is T-671/19 Qualcomm v Commission.($1 = 0.9341 euros) (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Sharon Singleton)By Foo Yun Chee

news/AAPL/2023.03.15/Apple supplier Foxconn's Q4 profit falls 10% y|y, in line with forecasts.txt

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+The Taiwanese company, which is the world's largest contract electronics maker, said net profit for the October-December quarter fell to T$40 billion ($1.31 billion) from T$44.4 billion in the same period the previous year. It was in line with an average forecast of T$39.98 billion profit by 13 analysts, according to Refinitiv. ($1 = 30.5870 Taiwan dollars) (Reporting by Faith Hung and Yimou Lee; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree and Tom Hogue)

news/AAPL/2023.03.15/Exclusive-Apple supplier Foxconn wins AirPod order, plans $200 million factory in India...txt

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+The deal will see Foxconn, the world's largest contract electronics maker and assembler of around 70% of all iPhones, become an AirPod supplier for the first time and underlines efforts by the key Apple supplier to further diversify production away from China. AirPods are currently made by a range of Chinese suppliers.One source said Foxconn will invest more than $200 million in the new India AirPod plant in the southern Indian state of Telangana. It wasn't immediately clear how much the AirPod order would be worth.The person, who requested anonymity as the matter was not public yet, said Foxconn officials had debated internally for months about whether to assemble AirPods due to relatively lower profit margins on making the device, but ultimately opted to go ahead with the deal to "reinforce engagement" with Apple."That way, we are more likely to get orders for their new products," the person said. The decision to set up production in India was requested by Apple, according to the source.Foxconn vies with Taiwanese rivals such as Wistron Corp and Pegatron Corp to win more orders from Apple, the world's most valuable company. A subsidiary, Foxconn Interconnect Technology Ltd, plans to start construction of a manufacturing facility in Telangana in the second half of this year and begin production by the end of 2024 at the earliest, the person said. A second person with direct knowledge of the matter, who also declined to be identified as the matter was not yet public, said the Foxconn subsidiary will make AirPods in India without providing further details.Analysts have previously said Apple has asked suppliers including Foxconn to make AirPods in India, but details such as the size of investment, timeline and which suppliers have manufacturing plans in the country have not been disclosed.Foxconn declined to comment. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Apple and its key suppliers have been shifting production away from China, where strict COVID-19 curbs disrupted Foxconn's biggest iPhone factory last year. They are also seeking to avoid a potential hit to business from mounting Sino-U.S. trade friction.Foxconn said on Wednesday it would ramp up investment outside China to meet customer demand and lower its reliance on China for production.It was not immediately clear whether Foxconn's production plan would have impact on current AirPod suppliers, including Luxshare Precision Industry. Luxshare did not immediately reply to a Reuters' request for comment.Goertek Inc, another supplier, said in November an overseas client had asked it to suspend assembly work for a smart acoustic product, which analysts at the time identified as AirPods Pro 2, and the suspension would hit revenue by up to  3.3 billion yuan ($480 million).Goertek did not respond to a request for comment.($1 = 6.8864 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting By Yimou Lee; Additional reporting by Munsif Vengattil in New Delhi and Josh Horwitz in Shanghai; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Kenneth Maxwell)By Yimou Lee

news/AAPL/2023.03.15/Foxconn unit wins order to assemble apple airpod earph….txt

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+EXCLUSIVE-FOXCONN UNIT WINS ORDER TO ASSEMBLE APPLE AIRPOD EARPHONES - SOURCES

news/AAPL/2023.03.15/Marketmind-Deep breaths as banks calm, but only a bit.txt

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+Hyperventilating world markets have finally caught their breath as the U.S. bank shock of the past week appeared to calm somewhat and gyrating interest rates found a level.But volatility is likely to persistMOVE> - not least in pre-meeting blackout periods for major central banks - as easing financial system tensions merely re-introduce rate hike risks that sticky US inflation readings seem to warrant. And with longer-running global banking sagas exposed by the events of the past week, nerves were jangled again on Wednesday as Credit Suisse shares dropped by as much as 10.5% to a new record low, as its largest investor said it couldn't give the Swiss bank more financial assistance. After bank stocks rebounded somewhat on Tuesday, despite Moody's downgrading the credit outlook for the entire U.S. banking system, attention turned to tighter regulation and workouts for the worst affected firms.The Federal Reserve is considering tougher rules and oversight for midsize banks similar in size to Silicon Valley Bank, which collapsed suddenly last week. Strengthened rules on banks in the $100 billion to $250 billion range could ape those for larger more systemic banks and involve stringent capital and liquidity requirements or beefed up annual "stress tests".Even though reports abounded of depositor flight from the smaller weaker banks to the larger financial firms, stock prices in the sector at large caught a breath. That continued in Asia on Wednesday, although Europe's bank stocks and wider bourses stayed in the red and U.S. futures were a touch lower. The VIX equity volatility gauge hugged Tuesday's close at 23.Apart from fresh Credit Suisse angst, another reason for the persistent trepidation in Europe was signals from central bank sources that the European Central Bank would push ahead with a hefty half-point interest rate rise at its policymaking meeting on Thursday. If the ECB stays the course and the Fed follows suit next week, anxiety about further banking ructions may return - or at least see further wild volatility in rates markets that could end up having similar effects. U.S. Treasury market volatility is already at its highest since the aftermath of the last big banking crash in 2009, with the biggest drop since 1987 in 2-year Treasury yields on Monday followed by the biggest one-day jump in 14 years on Tuesday.On Wednesday, 2-year yields settled about 4.3% - still 80 basis points lower than they were a week ago, but up half a point from Tuesday's trough. Futures markets now see an 80% chance of a quarter-point Fed hike next week to a 4.75-5.0% range, with a 'terminal rate' at 5% in May.The dollar was slightly higher as rates recalibrated.Chinese industrial and retail updates for February showed the post-COVID lockdown recovery underway but at an underwhelming pace.Sterling was steady at investors awaited the Spring UK budget, with bumper tax receipts allowing finance minister Jeremy Hunt to offer some relief to pensions and childcare while  extending critical energy price supports.With widespread trepidation about the impact of the SVB collapse on the U.S. tech sector at large, Facebook-parent Meta said on Tuesday it would cut 10,000 jobs this year, making it the first Big Tech company to announce a second round of mass layoffs as the industry braces for a deep economic downturn.Apple supplier Foxconn said on Wednesday it expected smart consumer electronics demand would decline slightly this year, as it reported a 10% fall in fourth-quarter net profit from a year earlier.In more upbeat tech news, startup OpenAI said it is beginning to release a powerful artificial intelligence model known as GPT-4, with image as well as text prompts in searches.Key developments that may provide direction to U.S. markets later on Wednesday:* US Feb retail sales and producer prices, US March NAHB housing market index, Empire State manufacturing survey, Jan business inventories.    * UK government's Spring budget* US corp earnings: Adobe (By Mike Dolan, editing by Elaine Hardcastle; mike.dolan@thomsonreuters.com. Twitter: @reutersMikeD)

news/AAPL/2023.03.15/Tech stocks emerge as haven in sell-off fueled by bank worries.txt

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+As of Wednesday, the S&P 500 technology sector was down 1.7% compared to a 3.6% drop for the broader benchmark stock index since March 8, when problems at Silicon Valley Bank set off fears of financial system contagion. Among the big tech stocks, Apple Inc has fallen 1.5% over that time, while Microsoft Corp climbed 3.4% and Intel Corp rose over 7%.Large tech stocks generally screen well on "quality" metrics, such as balance sheet strength and profit margins, heightening their allure when economic uncertainty arises, said Matthew Miskin, co-chief investment strategist at John Hancock Investment Management.With investors "starting to price in solvency risk or the potential of companies needing capital, the market is rewarding those that don't need capital to survive," he said. The relative strength in tech, the biggest S&P 500 sector with a 28% weighting in the index, has helped take the edge off a broader decline in stocks fueled by fears that financial system disruptions and tighter monetary policy will hurt U.S. growth.The S&P 500 was down 1.6% on Wednesday afternoon, having nearly erased its year-to-date gain as financial stability concerns spread to Europe, hammering the shares of embattled Credit Suisse and other lenders. A swift tumble in Treasury yields is also helping boost tech stocks. Tech shares were pummeled in 2022 as the Federal Reserve's aggressive rate hikes drove up Treasury yields, hurting "long duration" assets such as tech stocks.That move has reversed dramatically in recent days amid extreme volatility in the bond market. Yields on two-year U.S. Treasuries on Wednesday fell to their lowest since September.Shares of utilities, consumer staples and healthcare - typically seen as more able to weather tough economic times  - have also held up better than broader markets, though they carry a much smaller weighting in the S&P 500 than tech stocks. The utilities sector has climbed 1% since last Wednesday, consumer staples has slipped 0.5%, while healthcare has dipped 1%. (Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf; Editing by Ira Iosebashvili and Richard Chang)By Lewis Krauskopf

news/AAPL/2023.03.15/U.S. consumer finance watchdog opens inquiry into data brokers.txt

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+The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's request for information marks the latest move from the regulator to explore how various firms use personal financial data, and could inform future rulemaking, the CFPB said in a release. In one of his first moves as CFPB director in 2021, Rohit Chopra ordered Amazon.com Inc, Apple Inc and Facebook Inc to hand over information about how they gather and use consumer payment data.  "Modern data surveillance practices have allowed companies to hover over our digital lives and monetize our most sensitive data," said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra in a statement. "Our inquiry will inform whether rules under the Fair Credit Reporting Act reflect these market realities."The CFPB is asking the public to submit information about the types of data brokers collect and the sources they rely upon, as well as people's direct experiences with data brokers, including when they attempt to remove or correct their data.  (Reporting by Hannah Lang in Washington; Editing by David Gregorio)By Hannah Lang

news/AAPL/2023.03.15/Xiaomi's slow shift in India to premium smartphones helps Samsung steal its crown.txt

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+While Xiaomi remained focused on selling mobile phones under 10,000 rupees ($120), Indian consumers were willing to pay up for better looking models with richer features. South Korea's Samsung launched products to meet those aspirations and offered innovative financing schemes that made them affordable to most. Those moves have helped Samsung wrest leadership of India's competitive mobile phones market from Xiaomi, with data from Hong Kong-based Counterpoint Research showing it had a 20% market share for the last quarter of 2022 compared to the Chinese company's 18%."The Indian market is witnessing a 'premiumisation' trend. (But) Xiaomi has been caught underprepared for the shift with a budget phones-heavy portfolio," said Tarun Pathak, a research director at Counterpoint.The loosening of Xiaomi's vice-like grip on the 626 million Indian smartphone users - the second biggest after China - shows how companies that fail to cater to changing consumer preferences in a fast-growing economy with rising disposable incomes are being punished.Most famously in India, Tata Motors' 100,000 rupees ($1,200) Nano, billed as the world's cheapest car, was shunned by consumers who associated the low price tag with inferior quality.Indians' push for more expensive mobile phones to consume videos and other content will also benefit social media app providers such as Meta, and iPhone maker Apple Inc, which so far has a tiny market share in the country due to its sole focus on high-end phones, priced from $605 to as high as $2,304, according to its website.According to Counterpoint, the market share of the sub-$120 phones in India fell to 26% in 2022 from 41% two years ago. And premium phones - priced above 30,000 ($360) - saw their share double to 11% in the same period.Xiaomi and Samsung both count India as a key growth market, with smartphones their top selling electronic device. The Chinese company recorded total revenue of $4.8 billion in 2021-22 in India, while Samsung registered $10.3 billion in sales, of which $6.7 billion came from smartphones.Xiaomi, though, is already facing heat in India due to the departures of at least five senior executives, and increased government scrutiny amid frosty relations with neighbouring China. The company has $674 million of its funds frozen by the country's financial crime agency for alleged illegal remittances to foreign entities, which Xiaomi denies.A Reuters check on product listings on Xiaomi's website showed the mismatch between consumer needs and the products the company has been offering. Xiaomi showed six smartphones priced above $360, compared with Samsung's 16. Under $120, Samsung had seven models, while Xiaomi listed 39 - most of which were shown to be out-of-stock.And premium phones accounted for only 0%-1% of Xiaomi's total India phone shipments in the last two years, when Samsung's higher-end phones more than doubled their share to 13%, Counterpoint data showed.But Xiaomi, which has acknowledged it introduced "too many"  models in the past, is revamping its product line-up to focus on premium smartphones.It launched in January the Redmi Note 12 whose top-end variant is priced above 30,000 rupees, and more recently the Xiaomi 13 Pro at 79,999 rupees ($970) - its highest priced phone in India. The strategic shift seems to have paid immediate dividends, with the Redmi Note 12 clocking sales of $61 million within two weeks of its launch."We have laid out a streamlined and cleaner portfolio with a focused approach to building expertise in the premium segment, and the launch of our latest flagship, Xiaomi 13 Pro, is a step in that direction," said its India President Muralikrishnan B. "We understand that we have a long way to go in this journey, and therefore are bringing in much stronger products." Graphic: How Samsung gained India's market leader crown  https://www.reuters.com/graphics/INDIA-SMARTPHONES/SAMSUNG-XIAOMI/movakqajjva/Xiaomi_vs_Samsung_Final.jpgLOANS FOR PHONESA Samsung scheme, run with its financing partners that says it offers "convenient and assured" loans, played a significant part in its recent success in India, helping generate $1 billion in device sales last year. A poster of Samsung's offering that Reuters spotted on a dusty street used by fruit sellers in Uttar Pradesh state said that even those with no loan history, low credit scores or without salary slips could get a phone.  Sanjeev Kumar Verma, owner of a nearby multi-brand phone shop, has benefitted from the company's loan scheme. Speaking to Reuters in his shop, where hundreds of phones are stacked on shelves, Verma said he used to sell five Samsung phones each month, but has quadrupled that to 20 now, 18 of which are via the loan scheme.Verma, and another smartphone vendor in Mumbai, said that unlike rivals, Samsung required no local address proof, making it easier for migrant workers or those working outside their home state to acquire phones on loans. Samsung did not comment on the remarks by the vendors.The growth in premium segment phones was much higher in small towns than in big cities, Samsung's India mobile unit head Raju Pullan told Reuters in February, adding almost half the consumers who opted for its financing scheme were first-time loan seekers.Samsung says its financing app installed on smartphones can lock the device and block outgoing calls for missing loan payments.Xiaomi has also tapped partnerships to offer loans, calling them a key growth driver for sales of phones priced above 15,000 rupees ($183) and adding it will explore more such offerings.Muralikrishnan said the company will also open more stores beyond its current network of 20,000 retail partners, and boost local procurement of mobile phone parts, likely reducing costs.Some industry analysts said the new strategy could help the Chinese company return to solid growth in India.  "Xiaomi has historically enjoyed a strong brand equity, has a robust online and offline channel presence, and can spring a comeback with a potentially strong premium and value-for-money product mix," said Prabhu Ram, head of industry intelligence at CyberMedia Research. (Reporting by Munsif Vengattil and Aditya Kalra in New Delhi; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)By Munsif Vengattil, Aditya Kalra and Saurabh Sharma

news/AAPL/2023.03.16/SpaceX, Netflix, Boeing to join /"biggest-ever/" US business mission to Vietnam.txt

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+More than 50 companies, including defence, pharmaceutical and tech firms, will participate in the mission organised by the US-ASEAN Business Council, an industry body, according to a list seen by Reuters.The delegation is a sign of rising interest in the global manufacturing hub, which is benefiting from a shift away from China amid Sino-U.S. trade friction. Vietnam, with a population of 100 million people, also has a rapidly-growing consumer market as its middle class expands."This is the biggest-ever mission in Vietnam," said Vu Tu Thanh, the US-ASEAN Business Council's representative in the country, noting that the body had been organising these events for three decades.Streaming giant Netflix, which Reuters last month reported was planning to open an office in Vietnam, is among the companies joining the trip. Netflix did not respond to a request for comment.Aerospace manufacturers Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Bell will hold meetings with state-owned Vietnamese defence procurement companies, Thanh told Reuters, adding that it was the first time in about a decade that security firms had decided to join the annual mission to Vietnam.In December, the same companies held talks with Vietnamese government officials about the possible sale of helicopters and drones, as the country seeks new suppliers and the Ukraine conflict strains the capabilities of Russia, for decades Vietnam's main military partner. "Helicopters is one of the things the companies hope to sell to the Vietnamese," Thanh said, although he cautioned that defence deals took time to be completed and no immediate breakthrough was expected.Boeing said in a statement that its discussions with officials would focus on its growing partnership with Vietnam and ways to strengthen the country's aviation and defence capabilities.Lockheed Martin and Bell did not respond to requests for comment. The majority of the companies joining the business mission already have a business or manufacturing presence in Vietnam, including Apple, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, Thanh said, with some planning to expand it.Some companies are also coming to get a better sense of the political situation after recent turmoil in the Communist-Party led country, including the resignation of the president in January, Thanh added. Participants will have meetings with Vietnam's top political and regulatory leadership, including with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.Thanh said some companies were interested in Vietnam as a manufacturing hub and in providing services to increasingly wealthy consumers at a time when economic growth reached more than 8% last year.Among them is SpaceX, which is looking to sell its satellite internet services to Vietnam and other countries in the region, Thanh said. SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment.The mission will also include semiconductors companies, pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, medical device maker Abbott, financial firms Visa and Citibank, internet and cloud companies Meta and Amazon Web Services, the list showed. (Reporting by Francesco Guarascio; Editing by Jamie Freed)By Francesco Guarascio

news/AAPL/2023.03.17/Apple not laying off employees yet, but delaying bonuses.txt

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+ Copyright Emerce Apple is one of the few major technology companies that have not yet announced layoffs. In recent times, layoffs rained down at Google, Microsoft, Amazon and again this week at Meta.Still, the Cupertino-based company is taking  to cut costs internally.According to unnamed sources who spoke to Bloomberg, Apple is deferring bonuses for some business divisions. Specifically, these are divisions that received bonuses twice a year. Senior employees still get their bonuses handed out on a quarterly basis.Sources within the company further indicate that new hires are restricted and when an employee leaves, his position usually remains vacant.Furthermore, travel budgets have been reduced and pay for CEO Tim Cook has been adjusted.© The Content Exchange, source News

news/AAPL/2023.03.17/Meta launches subscription service in US.txt

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+The Meta Verified service will give users a blue badge after they verify their accounts using a government ID and will cost $11.99 per month on the web or $14.99 a month on Apple's iOS system and Google-owned Android, Meta said in a statement.The service, which Meta said it was testing in February, follows in the footsteps of Snap Inc-owned Snapchat as well as messaging app Telegram and marks the latest effort by a social media company to diversify its revenue away from advertising. After a $44 billion buyout by Musk last year, Twitter had rolled out its Blue subscription service which lets people pay for the blue check mark previously limited to verified accounts of politicians, journalists and other public figures.The initial launch of Twitter Blue in November had led to a surge in users impersonating celebrities and brands on the platform, which prompted the company to halt the service and reintroduce it with different colored checks for individuals, companies and governments. (Reporting by Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)

news/AAPL/2023.03.17/Stocks called to end turbulent week higher.txt

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+(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are called to open higher on Friday, amid moves from US policymakers to calm banking sector fears. A tumultuous week has seen banking shares sold off in light of the Silicon Valley Bank collapse and liquidity worries at Credit Suisse. Shares mounted a recovery on Thursday and are set for a decent open on Friday but are still on track for a weekly loss. IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 index of large-caps to open 45.2 points higher, 0.6%, at 7,455.23 on Friday. It had closed up 65.58 points, or 0.9% at 7,410.03 on Thursday. The FTSE 100 has lost 4.4% so far this week. Shares in Asia ended higher. The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo rose 1.2% and the S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney added 0.5%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was 0.4% higher in late trade, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong was up 1.1%. In New York on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged by 1.2%, the S&P 500 by 1.8% and the Nasdaq Composite by 2.5%. "After the opening cash catch-up to US markets, it turned into a relatively normal day here in Asia stocks so far. The market remains cautious; traders do not want to get overexcited, especially with investors still focusing on what can go wrong instead of what could go right," SPI Asset Management analyst Stephen Innes commented."Granted, there is still a considerable element of headline risk, especially over the weekend when traders can't react, which could again upset the proverbial apple cart on Monday morning open. Not to mention, the uncertainty around the Fed policy reaction function is keeping rates volatility elevated."The Federal Reserve has lent US banks nearly USD12 billion under a new one-year lending program unveiled Sunday, as authorities moved to ease stress on the financial system after Silicon Valley Bank's collapse.The total outstanding amount of all advances under the Bank Term Funding Program reached USD11.9 billion by Wednesday, the US central bank announced in a statement on Thursday.The Fed had unveiled the scheme alongside the Treasury and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp on Sunday night, as authorities looked to prevent other banks from running into the liquidity issues that ultimately doomed California's SVB.In addition, some of the largest US banks have banded together to deposit USD30 billion into First Republic in an attempt to bolster its finances and contain the fallout from the collapse of two major lenders in the past week. JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citi and Wells Fargo are among those providing the funds. First Republic shares, already supported by news that the Swiss National Bank had stepped in to offer liquidity to embattled Swiss lender, Credit Suisse, added 10% in New York on Thursday. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the banking system remains sound despite market anxiety. Away from banking sector turmoil, eurozone inflation figures will be in focus at 1000 GMT on Friday, in light on the European Central Bank's decision to stick to the script and lift rates by 50 basis points. ECB President Christine Lagarde implied there is still work to be done in the fight against inflation, but offered little in the way of forward guidance. The pound was quoted at USD1.2151 early Friday, up from USD1.2110 late Thursday. The euro stood at USD1.0648, higher against USD1.0619. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY133.04, flat against JPY133.09. Brent oil was quoted at USD74.92 a barrel early Friday in London, rising from USD74.21 on Thursday. Gold was quoted at USD1,930.60 an ounce, up from USD1,918.22. By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editorComments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.comCopyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

news/AAPL/2023.03.17/Top EU judge expects a wave of litigation from tech giants against new tech law.txt

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+The Digital Markets Act (DMA), which came into force in November, will classify online platforms with more than 45 million users as gatekeepers, among other criteria. The gatekeepers - companies that control data and platform access - are subject to a list of do's, such as making their messaging services interoperable, and don'ts, including not favouring their products and services on their platforms.The list of gatekeepers to which the DMA will apply is due to be announced on Sept. 6 and will likely include Alphabet's Google, Meta, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft.Those disagreeing with the label and requirements are likely to take their complaint to the Luxembourg-based General Court within months, its president Marc van der Woude said. The General Court is part of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and deals with cases ranging from competition law to trade and the environment.    "Probably the end of this year, beginning of next year we might see the first cases and I don't think it will stop," he told a conference organised by the European Commission.Some, like Google and Apple, have lobbied intensively against the DMA. "We remain concerned that some provisions of the DMA will create unnecessary privacy and security vulnerabilities for our users while others will prohibit us from charging for intellectual property in which we invest a great deal," it said in March 2022.Google has echoed those sentiments, and said it was also concerned that the new rules could reduce innovation.But van der Woude said the DMA was still evolving.        "It's a living organism, this DMA, it's under constant review, obligations will be reviewed and implementing acts. So if I might call it like this, it will be a lawyer's paradise," he said.He said areas of dispute will likely focus on the gatekeeper designation, specifications of their obligations and during enforcement of the DMA.A contentious area is likely to be the requirement on gatekeepers to notify their acquisitions to the Commission and whether such deals meet the threshold for regulatory scrutiny, van der Woude said.($1 = 0.9403 euros) (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)By Foo Yun Chee

news/AAPL/2023.03.20/Robin Peddieson's New Book, /"Princess,/" Follows a Clinical Psychologist Who Begins to Q...txt

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+Recent release “Princess: She’s no ordinary princess. Her hidden secrets are out of this world!” from Page Publishing author Robin Peddieson, introduces Sara Sanders, a successful clinical psychologist who often testifies as an expert witness in court. After a series of bewildering events, Sara begins to question what reality is and what is happening inside her head.Henderson, NV March 20, 2023 --(PR.com)-- Robin Peddieson, who was born and raised in a small farming community by the name of Momence, Illinois, and now resides in Henderson, Nevada, has completed her new book, “Princess: She’s no ordinary princess. Her hidden secrets are out of this world!”: a suspenseful and unpredictable novel about a woman who suddenly discovers that she is in an unfamiliar life.
+
+While walking out of the courtroom, clinical psychologist Sara Sanders has an extraordinary encounter, unlike anything she’s ever experienced. No one else seems to see it. She felt as though she was being watched. She convinces herself that her mind is playing tricks on her. When she awakens the following morning, her body is achy, and she feels fatigued.
+
+The next day is the final day of the hearing she has been involved with. As she leaves the courtroom, she feels as though she is still being watched. The atmosphere around her is palpable, and she knows she just saw something. What was it? Why did no one else seem concerned with it?
+
+The next morning, she finds that her body hurts far more than the day before. Is her mind playing tricks on her? She has no idea why she is feeling this way, but she knows it is time for some much-needed R&R. She decides a short vacation would do the trick.
+
+That night, she wakes up at 3:00 a.m. Unable to sleep, she decides to get up and read. She pours herself a glass of Cabernet and then makes herself comfortable on the sofa. After reading a few pages, she takes a sip of her wine. After setting the glass back on the table, she realizes that it isn’t her table. It isn’t her sofa. It wasn’t even her apartment. From that point on, Sara’s life becomes a mystery, and she needs to know what just happened.
+
+Today, author Robin Peddieson is best known as Mom and Nana. She has enjoyed a variety of interests over the years as well as her job as a legal assistant for over thirteen years until retirement. Having a full-time job and living on a hobby farm at the same time was demanding, but she took pleasure in homemaking, the apple orchard, and of course the company of a husband, a dog, many barn cats, and her true passion, horses.
+
+When her children were little, she found that writing poetry whenever she could was not only fun but also a fulfilling hobby. Being a mom was also demanding but rewarding beyond measure for her. Now, in her retirement, she decided to take up writing again. But instead of writing poetry, she found a book hiding inside. Discovering that the potential of an untapped imagination is highly underrated, she accepted the challenge. That’s when Princess was born. In her opinion, first attempts at anything can be awkward, and writing this book was no exception. She thoroughly enjoyed writing Princess and took great pleasure in the journey even if the destination is yet to be determined.
+
+Peddieson writes, “It was an exceptionally beautiful day for my walk to work. Although my sneakers didn’t exactly compliment my two-piece suit, they were so much more practical for walking than the heels that were tucked in the small tote that was hanging off my shoulder. As my destination became visible from a short distance away, I marveled at the sight of this noble red brick building. The tall white pillars that supported the expansive open entrance served to compliment this dignified and almost sacred place. This charming, vintage, but beautiful courthouse was filled to capacity, which wasn’t surprising given that the focus of this case gained so much media attention. Cases involving abuse always attract so much interest. For some reason, people always like to assume that the victim is the one lying about the events that took place. The old-fashioned cast iron light fixtures that dimly lit the room confirmed that some faces were affable, but then there were those not so friendly looks cast my way as well. It was my job to show that the hours of my professional evaluation concerning this particular young lady demonstrated that she was of sound mind and had the capacity to distinguish right from wrong. Aside from the physical proof within her case, I needed to convey to the court that I not only found my client to be mentally sound but also she was as honest and truthful as any human being could possibly be.”
+
+Published by Page Publishing, Robin Peddieson’s mysterious work invites readers to discover what is going on in Sara’s life, following her as she uncovers the truth behind these strange events.
+
+Readers who wish to experience this unexpected work can purchase “Princess: She’s no ordinary princess. Her hidden secrets are out of this world!” at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes Store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble.
+
+For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708.
+
+About Page Publishing:
+
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news/AAPL/2023.03.21/AirBaltic Introduces Apple Pay.txt

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+Riga. The Latvian airline airBaltic announces another addition to the wide list of payment options offered, when booking flight tickets on www.airbaltic.com. As of March, all customers can enjoy Apple Pay. With this addition, airBaltic continues to demonstrate its commitment to providing customers with a variety of payment options, ensuring that booking a flight is a seamless process.Jolanta Rema, Vice President e-Commerce and Commercial Distribution of airBaltic: "We are pleased to offer our customers the option to use Apple Pay as a new payment method for their airBaltic flight bookings. Convenience and security are essential factors when it comes to online payments, and Apple Pay fully supports both."Apple Pay is a mobile payment service by Apple Inc. that allows users to make payments in person, in iOS apps, and on the web. It is supported on iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, and Mac via Safari, Chrome, Edge, and Firefox internets browsers.airBaltic provides flights to more than 70 destinations from Riga, Tallinn, Vilnius and Tampere, offering connections to a wide range of destinations in the airline's route network in Europe, Scandinavia, the CIS and the Middle East. A complete schedule of airBaltic flights and tickets are available on the company's homepage at www.airbaltic.com.For more information, please find the press release and photo attached.For further information, please contact:airBaltic Corporate Communication UnitA/S Air Baltic CorporationEmail: pr@airbaltic.comairBaltic in brief:airBaltic (Air Baltic Corporation AS) connects the Baltic region with over 70 destinations in Europe, the Middle East, and the CIS. Over the last 27 years airBaltic has developed as a strong, profitable and internationally respected airline, which employs more than 2 200 employees. airBaltic is by far the best known international brand of Latvia and responsible for more than 2.5% of the Latvian GDP. airBaltic operates 39 Airbus A220- 300 aircraft. airBaltic has received numerous international awards for excellence and innovative services. Skytrax has awarded Latvian airline airBaltic a five-star COVID-19 safety rating. In addition, airBaltic is one of the Top twenty airlines for COVID-19 compliance by the safety, product, and COVID-19 rating agency Airlineratings.com. In 2018 and 2019 airBaltic received the ATW Airline Industry Achievement Award as the Market Leader of the Year. In addition, in 2019 airBaltic received Sector Leadership Award by Airline Business. airBaltic is a joint stock company that was established in 1995. Its primary shareholder is the Latvian state, which holds 97.96% of the stock, while the rest of the shareholders hold 2.04%.Aviation industry indirectly provides close to 30 000 jobs in Latvia, while millions of people transfer through Riga, yet many more arrive to Latvia. Each year foreign tourists spend more than EUR 750 million in Latvia. Find out more: https://blog.airbaltic.com/airbaltic-an-asset-for-the-national- economy-of-latvia/..(C) 2023 M2 COMMUNICATIONS, source M2 PressWIRE

news/AAPL/2023.03.21/BlackBerry signs up to $900 million patent deal after sale to Catapult collapses.txt

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+Malikie Innovations Ltd will buy the patents and pay $170 million in cash on deal closing, and another $30 million three years later. BlackBerry will also get annual cash royalties from the profits generated from the patents, relating to its messaging and wireless networking among others.Malikie is a newly formed unit of intellectual property monetization firm Key Patent Innovations Ltd.Blackberry said last year it was exploring other options to sell its patents as the planned deal with Catapult IP Innovations Inc was taking longer than usual to close, leading to a loss in exclusivity."Catapult was unable to secure financing that would have enabled it to complete the previously announced transaction on amended terms that were acceptable to BlackBerry," the Canadian company said in a statement.Once known for its phones with a tiny QWERTY physical keyboard and the BBM instant messaging service, BlackBerry's core businesses today are cybersecurity and software used by automakers.Last year, the company pulled the plug on service for its smartphones, a culmination of years of market share loss to Apple's iPhones and rival Android devices. (Reporting by Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)