Voices and Trends in Global Business,July 2013

Apple has been slowing iPhone production,said Brian Blair,a senior research analyst at Wedge Partners.We believe there's been a 20% haircut to iPhone production.Most of the component suppliers will stay the same,despite the cuts. Apple's been cutting because they've been watching market leader Samsung,which hasn't been selling as many smart phones as they thought they would.The market for high end smart phones is slowing,and Apple's been responding to that. The IMF has cut its annualised global growth forecast from 3.3% in April to 3.1% in July.Their forecasts for commodity prices,as well as Russian,Brazilian and Spanish growth,were also lowered.The cause of the revision is the downturn in emerging markets and the lengthy Euro-zone recession. Hong Kong property agents marched against government price curbs over the weekend.Up to 5500 agents demonstrated,appalled at the fact that Q2 real estate transactions were at a two decade low because of new taxes and marketing restrictions.About a third of estate agents stand to lose their jobs in consequence. The government measures are making things worse,according to Michael Kilbaner of Jones Lang Lasalle.The rise in property prices both reflects and impacts the strength of the economy.A lot of the movement is really in tier one and upper echelon tier two property.A two bedroom flat in Hong Kong goes for a half million US dollars,with a similar price in Beijing.

Apple Versus Samsung:Tech Heavyweights Slug It Out In Court

A San Jose,California court room has been the stage for an epic legal drama acted out by two bitter rivals of the tech universe,Apple Computer and Samsung.Judge Lucy Koh of the U.S. District Court Northern District of California told the two sides it's time for peace on Wednesday,urging Apple CEO Tim Cook and Samsung CEO Choi Gee-Sung to at least talk on the phone before the case goes to the jury-probably next Wednesday.
The trial is now in its third week,with both sides calling witnesses to support their cases.
Apple seeks 2.5 billion dollars in damages,plus an injunction to halt sales of what it deems are the offending Samsung devices,saying the products were slavishly copied from its own iPhone and iPad.For its part,Samsung denies the allegations and insists Apple was in fact infringing Samsung patents.
The two CEOs had met before the trial began on a court order to seek to resolve the conflict,but were unsuccessful.Legal experts expressed scepticism that,having gone so far,the sides will be willing to turn away from the legal process at this late stage.Their lawyers told Judge Koh,however,that the two men would comply with her last ditch request that they communicate again.
In the course of presenting its case,the normally secretive Apple has revealed both source code and design methodology.Their integration and execution are just a lot better,according to Erin-Michael Gill,Managing Director and Chief Intellectual Property Officer at MBD Capital Group.I don't think it's just a little old man behind the curtain.The execution and ideas generated are universally accepted as being pretty innovative.
In every large company,when you're developing innovation,it takes a lot of confidence to allow design to lead.It's pretty clear that it does at Apple.When you look at Apple,it doesn't look and feel like other consumer electronics companies.It's more like a drug company,with a couple of core inventions that are critical.There are core elements in their process and products they are gonna defend fiercely,Mr.Gill explained.