Firm's largest sales of the 1st quarter Continue reading...
The technology sector is comprised of businesses that sell goods and services in electronics, software, computers, artificial intelligence, and other industries related to information technology (IT).
Apple is due to report its fiscal Q2 (calendar Q1) earnings later today, and we’re also expecting AAPL Q3 guidance. But at least one bank thinks that may not happen. Analysts have already weighed in on what to expect from AAPL’s Q2 earnings … more… The post …
(Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. bought machine-learning startup Inductiv Inc., adding to more than a dozen AI-related acquisitions by the technology giant in the past few years.The engineering team from Waterloo, Ontario-based Inductiv joined Apple in recent weeks to work on Siri, machine learning and data science. Apple confirmed the deal, saying it “buys smaller technology companies from time to time and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.”Inductiv developed technology that uses artificial intelligence to automate the task of identifying and correcting errors in data. Having clean data is important for machine learning, a popular and powerful type of AI that helps software improve with less human intervention.The work falls under the category of data science, a key element of Apple’s broader machine-learning strategy. In 2018, the company brought on several engineers from Silicon Valley Data Science, a consulting firm that focuses on this field.John Giannandrea, the Apple executive in charge of Siri and machine learning, has been upgrading the underlying technology that goes into the Siri digital assistant and other AI-powered products from the company.Read more: Big Tech Swallows Most of the Hot AI StartupsInductiv was co-founded by machine-learning professors from Stanford University, the University of Waterloo and the University of Wisconsin, Madison.The professor from Stanford, Christopher Ré, previously co-founded another AI company, Lattice Data, that was bought by Apple in 2017. It’s unclear if Ré, or the other Inductiv co-founders, Theodoros Rekatsinas and Ihab Ilyas, have joined Apple.Apple has bought several other AI and data companies in recent years, including Xnor.ai, Tuplejump, Laserlike, Turi and Perceptio.This year, the company bought Voysis to boost speech recognition in Siri, virtual-reality startup NextVR, and the popular iPhone weather app Dark Sky.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
As tech-heavy growth stocks appear to be running out of runway, the relatively cheap banks, airlines, and cruises lines are getting a boost with investors looking for somewhere to put their money to work
(Bloomberg) -- French lawmakers from the National Assembly voted in favor of a contact tracing app meant to contain the spread of the coronavirus, following an intense debate over privacy rights as the government prepares to lift more lockdown measures next week.The application, dubbed StopCovid, was designed by a state-led task force, including the leading phone carrier Orange SA, software company Dassault Systemes SE, as well as Inria, the institute for research in digital science and technology. User data collected on the app will be sent to the nation’s health authorities in a bid to contain any re-emergence of the deadly virus.National Assembly lawmakers backed the app use with 338 votes in favor and 215 votes against. The project has drawn criticism from privacy activists in France, who argue such tools accelerate state-surveillance technology on citizens. Digital Minister Cedric O defended the project and said it includes guarantees protecting privacy rights. He said downloading the app is voluntary and data collection and the app itself are both meant to be temporaryFrance started to relax lockdown rules on May 11 and Prime Minister Edouard Philippe is expected to further ease controls next week. The app will be available to download on June 1 on the Apple and Alphabet’s Google app stores, O said on Wednesday.Read More: Apple-Google Virus-Tracking Rules Put Apps in a Privacy BindStopCovid will work with a smartphone’s bluetooth technology and will send out an alert to its user if they come within a meter of a person carrying the virus for more than 15 minutes. In case of exposure, the user will be asked to self-isolate quickly, reach out to their doctor and get tested. The app received the backing from the privacy watchdog CNIL on Tuesday.The approval didn’t come without warnings from lawmakers. Damien Abad, member of the National Assembly for opposition party Les Republicains criticized the app, associating it with a “nightmarish Orwellian society,” of state surveillance in a debate before the vote on Wednesday. Other lawmakers like Virginie Duby-Muller argued this app wasn’t enough to compensate for a lack of testing since the pandemic struck.Read More: The World Embraces Contact-Tracing Technology to Fight Covid-19Contact tracing apps have had a mixed result across the world so far. Singapore was one of the first to launch TraceTogether in March but due to its relatively low adoption, a lockdown couldn’t be avoided in the country. In Australia, which launched its own tool last month, only one person has been identified using data from it, the Guardian reported on May 23. There are still “strong doubts” about StopCovid’s compatibility with similar apps from other European countries, O told lawmakers on Tuesday.The French app, which is similar to one being developed in the U.K., is designed by national players, unlike the apps in Switzerland and Germany, which are based on a platform jointly developed by Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google.Read More: France Says Apple Bluetooth Policy Is Blocking Virus TrackerO pushed for the homegrown solution and criticized Apple for not changing its bluetooth settings to allow the French state to ease its app’s use. France’s conflict with Apple is part of a broader debate about how much data U.S. tech giants should collect and who should have access to it.StopCovid is “too serious a hindrance to our right to secrecy,” Sacha Houlie, member of the National Assembly for Macron’s party said before the vote on Wednesday. “I fear the surveillance society.”For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
Apple Inc. is slowly reopening more of its stores in what one analyst calls a “sign of improving trends,” but the company seemed to be making strides in the “new normal” even before this move.
The number of deaths from the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 rose above 353,000 on Wednesday, as the World Health Organization said the Americas are at the center of the pandemic following surges in infections in Brazil, Peru, Chile and others in the past few days.
Appeals court judges unanimously reaffirmed that online platforms' rules against hate speech don't violate the First Amendment, because tech companies aren't part of the government.
The coronavirus pandemic did little to wrest away Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) pole position as the vendor of the most popular smartphone model in the first quarter, according to a report released by technology research and consultancy firm Omdia.Apple iPhone 11 Surges Ahead The Cupertino, California-based technology giant shipped about 19.5 million iPhone 11s in the period from January to March, according to Omdia's estimates.The iPhone 11 model toppled the iPhone XR, the leader a year ago; Apple's competition today is with itself.Shipments of the iPhone 11 model exceeded the XR shipments by about 6 million units."For more than five years -- even amid shifting conditions in the wireless market and the global economy -- one thing has remained consistent in the smartphone business: Apple has taken either the first or second rank in Omdia's global model shipment ranking," said Jusy Hong, director of smartphone research at Omdia.Apple Leverages Price, Performance Appeal The continued leadership of Apple is due to the company's strategy of offering relatively few models, allowing it to focus efforts on selling a small number of products in extremely high volumes, according to Omdia. The iPhone 11 model was $50 cheaper than the XR phone at the time of launch. Despite the competitiveness, the model stood out due to its feature richness, boasting a dual camera setup that represented a major upgrade compared to the single-lens configuration in the iPhone.Samsung A Distant Second South Korea's Samsung, which accounted for much of the top 10 along with Apple, is second on Omdia's list with 6.8 million units of its Galaxy A51 model sold. The company was the leader in the 5G-enabled smartphone segment. The company's shipments of the S20+ 5G model came in at 3.5 million units.The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to lead to a contraction in smartphone shipments in the first quarter, Omdia said, and the firm expects a slowing in the pace of 5G expansion in many countries.Related Links:Apple Analyst Braces For 'Friday The 13th'-Like Q2, Says iPhone On Track Apple Analyst Projects 'Multi-Quarter Impact' On iPhone Shipments From COVID-19 Pandemic Photo courtesy of Apple. See more from Benzinga * 3 Apple Analysts Lift Price Targets: Why They're Optimistic On iPhone's Trajectory * Apple Plans To Bring Employees Back To Office Even As Tech Peers Hold Off(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Fairness is a theme running through the writings of Michael Lewis, our second guest this week on Masters in Business, and author of bestsellers such as "Moneyball" and "The Big Short." Because fairness is critical in sports, Lewis developed a podcast, "Against the Rules," now in its second season, drawing on some of the parallels between sports and life.He says podcasting allows him to exercise a very different set of muscles from writing. He works with an ensemble to help tell different stories in a different way. The first season of the podcast was about referees while the second season, now underway, is about coaches.Lewis also sees analogies between sports and government. His most recent book, "The Fifth Risk: Undoing Democracy," looks at what happens when the leaders of various government departments don’t show up to begin their jobs -- ever.Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who was appointed head of the Trump transition team after the 2016 election, created a set of tools to help the president-elect assume management of the federal government and its 9.1 million employees. It is required by the Presidential Transition Act of 1963 (updated in 2015), legislation that establishes the formal mechanism for the orderly transfer power after a presidential election.Alas, in 2017, it was not meant to be, and Donald Trump fired the entire Christie-assembled transition team. The result is that there are thousands of government positions still unfilled, including key posts at the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which perhaps accounts for the U.S.'s chaotic response to the coronavirus pandemic. Lewis describes the transition as a unique failing in presidential history, a refusal to discharge legal obligations in an intelligent, coherent way. Hence, Lewis says, the U.S. as presently governed is “uncoached.”His favorite books are here; a transcript of our conversation is here.You can stream and download our full conversation, including the podcast extras, on Apple iTunes, Spotify, Overcast, Google, Bloomberg and Stitcher. All of our earlier podcasts on your favorite pod hosts can be found here.This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Barry Ritholtz is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is chairman and chief investment officer of Ritholtz Wealth Management, and was previously chief market strategist at Maxim Group. He is the author of “Bailout Nation.”For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
On Wednesday, BofA Securities reiterated its buy rating on Apple shares and lifted his price target from $320 to $340, as it sees continued growth in the iPhone installed base (IB), as well as secondary market growth representing a large services opportunity. The Final Round panel discusses the bullish call.
Both companies’ stocks were valued at $1.378 trillion as of the close of trading on Wednesday. A pair of bullish research notes helped Apple to catch up.
Apple Inc has secured a deal for Hollywood veteran Martin Scorsese's next film, "Killers of the Flower Moon," U.S. media reported on Wednesday, citing sources. "Killers of the Flower Moon" will star Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. It is the second major film that Apple has acquired after "Greyhound," starring Tom Hanks, last year.
Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett, who will turn 90 years old in August, says he has a successor in mind to someday take over the Nebraska-based company, declaring that the business does not depend on his leadership.
(Bloomberg) -- A federal appeals court rejected claims that tech giants Twitter Inc., Facebook Inc., Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google conspired to suppress conservative views online.The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington on Wednesday affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit by the nonprofit group Freedom Watch and the right-wing YouTube personality Laura Loomer, who accused the companies of violating antitrust laws and the First Amendment in a coordinated political plot.A three-judge panel held in a decision only four pages long that the organization didn’t provide enough evidence of an antitrust violation and that the companies aren’t state entities that can violate free speech rights.“In general, the First Amendment ‘prohibits only governmental abridgment of speech,’” the judges wrote, quoting a previous decision.Larry Klayman, a lawyer for Freedom Watch and Loomer, said in an interview that he’d file a petition to have the case reheard by an enlarged, “en banc” panel of the court’s judges and take the case to the Supreme Court if necessary. He said he believes the court chose Wednesday to issue its decision as a response to President Donald Trump’s threat to regulate or shutter social media companies for their alleged anticonservative bias.Klayman said the brief decision gave “short shrift” to an important social issue.Two of the three judges on the appellate panel were appointed by Republican presidents and one by a Democrat. The district court judge who dismissed the case, Trevor McFadden, was appointed by Trump.The companies said in a joint brief in March that courts had repeatedly rejected claims that operating a widely used forum for speech by others “is a public function that amounts to state action.” Subjecting private companies to First Amendment requirements would chill efforts to police pornography and cyberbullying, they said.“Private property owners, no matter their social importance, are not the government and are not subject to the constitutional constraints that limit governmental regulation of speech,” the companies said.Read More: Trump Retweets Far-Right Activists in Attack on Social MediaThe case is one of several filed by conservatives linking social media bans to the market dominance of big tech companies. The suit blamed an illegal conspiracy by the companies for a “complete halt” of Freedom Watch’s organizational growth and Loomer’s 30-day ban from multiple social media platforms after she said Representative Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota, favors Sharia law and is “anti-Jewish.”The D.C. Circuit’s decision comes after two unlikely allies weighed in on behalf of Freedom Watch and Loomer, asking the court not to affirm the dismissal of the suit without a full proceeding. The District of Columbia’s government and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law filed briefs challenging the trial judge’s conclusion that the D.C. Human Rights Act doesn’t ban discrimination online.(Adds Klayman quote and context below it)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation bought 501,044 shares in AAPL during the first quarter of the year, reveals an SEC filing. The investment will already have been profitable. The exact gain made would depend on when the shares were purchased, as AAPL droppe…
The latest streaming service in the fray offers ‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘Joker,’ ‘Friends’ and ‘The Sopranos.’
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) analysts are projecting that Cupertino will weather the coronavirus pandemic and emerge in good shape. The Apple Analysts BofA Securities analyst Wamsi Mohan reiterated a Buy rating on Apple shares and lifted the price target from $320 to $340.Deutsche Bank Securities analyst Jeriel Ong maintained a Buy rating and increased the price target from $305 to $320.Jefferies analyst Kyle McNealy maintained a Buy rating and raised the price target to a Street-high $370.BofA Sees Continued Growth In iPhone Installed Base Apple's global iPhone installed based of 1 billion units at the end of 2019 and the 9% CAGR growth of the iPhone installed base over the past two years, driven by strong double-digit growth in the used iPhone installed base, are key indicators of the potential of the Apple ecosystem, BofA's Mohan said in a Wednesday note. The analyst expects the future installed base to come largely from the used phone market, with the new iPhone installed base likely to remain flat to slightly down.A large installed base can eventually drive higher consumption of services and sales of incremental devices due to the halo effect, he said. Mohan also sees secondary market growth presenting a large services opportunity.BofA based its bullish stance on strong services revenue growth, continued penetration into installed base, large net cash balance and continued strong potential capital returns."The confidence that the IB for iPhones can be stable to growing should provide comfort to investors that iPhones are unlikely to get disrupted in the foreseeable future and hence drive ~200mn upgrades annually, which combined with growing services drives a premium multiple."See also: Apple Analyst Projects 'Multi-Quarter Impact' On iPhone Shipments From COVID-19 Pandemic Deutsche Bank Bullish On Apple Apple's store reopening plans are a directional sign of improving trends and a drift toward a more normalized demand environment for the company, Deutsche Bank analyst Ong said.With the company deciding to open 100 more retail stores in 21 states in the U.S. this week, about 130 Apple stores will be open in the U.S., the analyst said. "While high unemployment and smaller consumer pockets have us worried for the next-gen iPhone launch that typically comes in September/October, we continue to tilt bullish on AAPL."Street iPhone Estimate Conservative, Jefferies Says Street expectation for iPhone shipments for the June quarter appear conservative, especially as the company is seeing strong growth through online channels, Jefferies analyst McNealy said, according to MarketWatch. The analyst is also sanguine about the recently launched iPhone SE model.AAPL Price Action At last check, Apple shares were trading slightly positive to $317.01. Related Link: Apple Analyst Braces For 'Friday The 13th'-Like Q2, Says iPhone On Track Photo courtesy of Apple. Latest Ratings for AAPL DateFirmActionFromTo May 2020B of A SecuritiesMaintainsBuy May 2020Deutsche BankMaintainsBuy May 2020WedbushMaintainsOutperform View More Analyst Ratings for AAPL View the Latest Analyst Ratings See more from Benzinga * Apple Plans To Bring Employees Back To Office Even As Tech Peers Hold Off * Apple Grows Smartphone Market Share Even As Overall Market Declines At Record Pace * Nvidia Reportedly Eyeing 5nm Chips Even As Apple, AMD Ramp Up Orders(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Berkshire Hathaway’s (NYSE: BRK.A) (NYSE:BRK.B) owner Warren Buffett is the most popular investor who built his $89.9 billion net worth by investing in value companies. He was among the few who profited from the 2008 crisis. In the current Covid-19 crisis, he is holding a lot of cash as most companies are not prepared for […]
Among the Dow Jones stocks, Apple and Microsoft are among the top stocks to buy and watch in May 2020.
We screened for strong chip stocks that investors might want to consider buying for the coronavirus rally and beyond...
The biggest tech companies in the world are shining during an otherwise harrowing earnings season, as cloud businesses get a boost from the spike in working from home and revenue stays resilient.
As tech-heavy growth stocks appear to be running out of runway, the relatively cheap banks, airlines, and cruises lines are getting a boost with investors looking for somewhere to put their money to work
Apple will report its financial results for the second quarter of its 2020 fiscal year at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time today, providing a first look at how the company's sales have been affected by the global health crisis. On February 17, Apple announced that…