Kevin Lui

Jaguar has decided to start construction of a new car factory in China. This luxurious sedan brand, owned by Tata Motors, may not be doing so well financially. The market for high end luxury sedans has fallen due to the increase in median luxurious vehicles. Will the assembily  factory in China be profitable, or will it just be a useless attempt. Would they be better off assembling in India, the base of its corporation Tata?

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/18/us-jaguar-chery-china-idUSBRE8AH08820121118

Blackberry 10 is RIM’s new operating system. My previous blog post mentioned it.

I had questioned RIM’s ability to crawl its way out of the ditch by launching Blackberry 10. By the announcement, analysts were able to find that smartphone users still have faith in RIM. Many are still willing to give RIM one more chance to redeem themselves.

As of January 30th 2013, RIM will release two Blackberry 10 devices. One with the traditional Blackberry keyboard, the other will feature a full touchscreen, something that all smartphones have.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57549954-94/blackberry-10-will-get-full-carrier-support-rim-exec-says/

According to feedback from users in fortune 500 companies. Blackberry 10 devices are gaining customer appreciation. Users love the Blackberry 10 devices.

I believe the launch of Blackberry 10 will be RIM’s saviour. We should see RIM’s stock rise starting February 2013.

When it comes to smartphones, we all know that Apple makes one and only one, iPhone. Samsung makes a phone that suits everyones requirements, like size, price, specifications, colours. Samsung is now making a phone called the Galaxy Y. It features a very small phone, very portable. Perfect for use in one hand. Highly price economical. The “Y” is for youth. It targets young users who want a smartphone but are willing to pay a fraction of the price. This phone is a spectacular innovation for our young users. In this millennium, I believe electronic devices are the future. Everything happens through a smartphone. To promote young users in entering the smartphone market, they can start by using a Samsung Galaxy Y. 

The Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board has granted permission for BP to explore deepwater parcels for oil.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2012/11/16/ns-bp-shell-oil-exploration.html

Are we forgetting what happened with BP last time they caused a problem on the North American East Coast?!

A little reminder….

I believe it is not socially or ethically correct to grant BP exploration rights to deepwater parcels until they have shown improved technology on sustaining the environment they work in. The disaster BP caused only a sheer couple years ago to the environment just south of Nova Scotia was a mess. The habitats of many ecosystems were endangered and still are till today. I believe BP should not get permission to explore Canadian territories for oil.

Are you a fan of Sears, or were you ever? Sears has been incurring net losses quite frequently in the past. Even though this article mentions that Sears has cut its loss by a half, its not going to be easy for them. Their shares have dropped quite horrendously for the last 10 years. Is it time for them to move out and let another department store try out the Canadian market? Or are department stores not in “fashion” anymore? Sears Vancouver downtown location has already shut down. I believe its already come to a point where Canadian based retailers are not able to sustain department stores in their own country.

http://www.globaltvbc.com/sears+closing+sunday+in+downtown+vancouver/6442729266/story.html

Rodrigo’s blog post regarding Apple’s iPhone sales, predicting overestimated sales.

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, explained that the sales were over estimated because of supply shortages for their new iPhone 5.

http://www.businessinsider.com/tim-cook-iphone-5-sales-2012-9

It is true that supply for iPhone 5s are limited, but the real reason is that iPhones are losing market share. The article below shows that Samsung, Apple’s biggest smartphone rival, is taking a bigger market share from the famous iPhone. The reason for lower than expected sales on the iPhone is due to the rising demand for Samsung Galaxy S3s.

http://www.mspmentor.net/2012/11/16/gartner-apple-samsung-lead-the-smartphone-pack/

Kevin Lu’s Post

https://blogs.ubc.ca/kevinlu/2012/09/13/how-cheap-is-too-cheap/

I agree that imposing a “fat tax” for flyers is unethical towards many people. Customers are not objects, they can not be charged by the pound. I feel that the problem with Ryanair’s strategy is that they are targeting the customer’s wallet rather than targeting their mind. Charging for excess luggage and using the lavatories is already a turndown for flyers, with the addition of a “fat tax” that is based on the flyers’ weight will bring down Ryanair’s reputation significantly.

According to Anthony Tse’s blog post, https://blogs.ubc.ca/anthonytse/2012/09/13/business-ethnics-mcdonalds-new-addition/， regarding McDonald’s health concerns, I find that health usually doesn’t come first in priority for students like us. And that there should be concern for many other individuals such as professionals. There could also be a change of thought regarding McDonald’s decision to open a vegetarian McDonald’s in India. Would that make a difference in the health of the food? Or will it still contain the fatty oils as an ordinary McDonald’s menu?

https://www.google.ca/finance?client=ob&q=NASDAQ:RIMM

RIM announces that their revenue for the second quarter of 2012 is $566 million higher than their projected $2.87 billion. RIM’s stock opened at $8.19, highest in the last couple months; later closed at $7.50 (+5.04%).

While RIM is hoping to be saved with the upcoming devices that will run Blackberry’s new operating system, BB10, many analysts say that may not be the case. Blackberry released its newest line of operating system and phones not too long ago, Blackberry 7. While most of the owners of these Blackberry 7 devices are loyal Blackberry users, they have only owned the device for 1 or 2 quarters. To the consumer, it is not the time to upgrade phones at the BB10 release date.

The BB10 release date is projected to be January 2013. By that time, a new line of phones from RIM’s competitors like Apple, Android, Win8 will have already launched into the market. The release date of BB10 will really test the loyalty of RIM’s customers. Will they switch or move away.

http://www.valuewalk.com/2012/09/research-motion-may-not-be-able-to-save-itself-with-bb10-morgan-stanley/

The two smartphone rivals, Apple and Samsung, are continuously in law courts about patent infringements. Small things as small as “round corners” on the phone is enough to be a billion dollar fine. Last time Samsung lost to Apple in court, the fine payment was made in nickels. Samsung decided to give Apple’s finance department something to do; count the nickels. Maybe the next fine will be paid in pennies?

http://thecitizen.co.tz/business/14-international-business/25475-apple-sues-samsung-afresh.html