SMARTPHONES
IDC sees low-cost growth
A research firm on Wednesday forecast that global smartphone sales are to jump 23 percent this year to more than 1.2 billion units, fueled by growth of low-cost handsets in emerging markets. An IDC survey predicts that smartphone sales will maintain an annual growth rate of 12.3 percent through 2018. Much of the growth is expected to come from low-cost devices using the Android operating system, with Apple Inc’s market share eroding, Microsoft Windows making modest gains and BlackBerry fading further, IDC said. The research firm said it expects Android to remain ahead of the pack with an 80.4 percent market share this year, and to lose a modest amount of ground to Windows over the coming years. The report said BlackBerry’s market share will be less than 1 percent this year — 0.8 percent, and keep dropping to 0.3 percent in 2018.
ECONOMY
Merkel tops ‘Forbes’ list
German Chancellor Angela Merkel topped Forbes’ list of the world’s most powerful women for the fourth consecutive year, followed by US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, the magazine said on Wednesday. Behind them came Melinda Gates, who co-chairs the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with her billionaire philanthropist husband, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and IMF chief Christine Lagarde. Hillary Clinton, former US first lady, one-time US secretary of state and possible repeat US presidential hopeful, was listed at No. 6. The annual list includes women in business, media, politics, technology, entertainment, philanthropy and nonprofits, billionaires and finance, a new category for the first time. Top businesswomen on the list include General Motors CEO Mary Barra (No. 7) — subject of the Forbes cover story — Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg (No. 9) and IBM CEO Virginia Rometty (No. 10).
SPAIN
Spending raises Q1 growth
Growth gained momentum in the first quarter in Spain, the eurozone’s fourth-largest economy, as household and government spending increased. Gross domestic product increased 0.4 percent in the first quarter from the previous three months, the National Statistics Institute in Madrid said yesterday, confirming its April 30 first estimate. Growth accelerated from 0.2 percent in the fourth quarter as household spending rebounded, it said. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is counting on a recovery from a six-year slump to tackle the fourth-largest budget deficit in the EU amid a 25 percent jobless rate.
PHILIPPINES
Growth slides to 5.7%
Economic growth eased to below 6 percent for the first time in nine quarters, giving the central bank scope to keep interest rates at a record low. Stocks and the peso fell. GDP increased 5.7 percent in the three months through March from a year earlier, the Philippine Statistics Authority said in Manila yesterday, after a 6.3 percent gain in the previous quarter. The median estimate of 22 economists was 6.4 percent. The fallout of natural disasters including Super Typhoon Haiyan in November last year weighed on growth last quarter, and the pace will pick up, Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said yesterday. “This will probably be one of the weakest quarters this year,” said Philip McNicholas, a senior economist at BNP Paribas SA in Hong Kong. “The acceleration of the investment cycle as the Aquino administration moves to deal with the infrastructure deficit should boost growth later this year,” he said.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained