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Archive for September, 2013

Neways has been forced to cease all production activities at its subsidiary Neways Electronics Kassel (NEK) in Germany following a major fire.
The fire started early in the evening on Friday. Thanks to the employees quick response and efforts, the local emergency services and the fire service were able to get the fire under control as quickly as possible.

The fire did not result in any personal injuries, no toxic substances escaped and there was no danger to people living in the surrounding area. As a result of the fire, Neways has been forced to shut down all production activities at NEK, the company writes in a press release.

However, the company believes that the production and storage spaces are completely lost.

All production activities for NEK clients will be transferred as quickly as possible to other operating companies within the Neways Group, the company states.

The cause of the fire is being investigated.

Read more: http://evertiq.com/news/32618

Flextronics’ new manufacturing facility in Fort Worth, Texas, which will provide final assembly and customisation for Motorola Mobility’s Moto X smartphone, has officially opened.
“Conventional wisdom said it wasn’t possible. Experts said that costs are too high in the US; that the US has lost its manufacturing capability; and that the US labor force is too inflexible. And it’s true that most manufacturing in the consumer electronics industry moved offshore over a decade ago,” Dennis Woodside, CEO of Motorola, wrote in a blog post.

However, as we know, Motorola did end up choosing to manufacture their flagship product back home in the US. And as a result of the partnership between Motorola and Flextronics, more than 2’000 new jobs will be created in the state.

The Moto X is the first smartphone designed, engineered and assembled in the United States. Media reports suggest a manufacturing output of 100’000 units per week at the new facility, however, this is just the first phase.

Read more: http://evertiq.com/news/32566

Apple unveiled two new iPhone models, the new flagship iPhone 5s and the lower-priced iPhone 5c, along with the improved iOS 7 mobile operating system.
“At an unsubsidized cost of $549, the iPhone 5c remains at the same price point as the existing mid-range model in Apple’s smartphone line, the iPhone 4S,” said Francis Sideco, director for consumer electronics and communications technologies at IHS. “In light of this pricing, the 5c appears to be a midrange product that cannot significantly expand the available market for the iPhone line to lower-income buyers. As a result, the arrival of the 5c will not spur a major increase in iPhone sales in the second half of 2013 compared to previous expectations.”

Based on an analysis of today’s announcement, IHS has chosen not to upgrade its forecast of overall Apple iPhone shipments in the second half. IHS at this time is maintaining its prediction of 86.1 million iPhone shipments in the second half, up 25 percent from 68.7 million in the first half and a 15 percent increase from 61.1 million in the first half of 2012.

“If Apple had hit a $350 to $400 unsubsidized price range for the iPhone 5c, as some had speculated, the company might have had a chance to expand its smartphone shipments beyond what we originally expected in the second half. Even at a subsidized price of $99 with a two-year contract, the 5c will not spur sales because it does not materially expand Apple’s addressable market past the level we had already taken into account.”

Apple will ship 158.9 million iPhones for the entire year of 2013, compared to a forecast total for the smartphone market of 1.1 billion units.

One factor that could cause IHS to boost its 2013 iPhone forecast is if China Mobile decides to offer the iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s, both of which support the TD-LTE standard used by the Chinese state-run carrier. China Mobile has a vast mobile base of 710 million subscriptions, offering a massive growth opportunity for Apple.

While Apple did not address the low end of the market with its announcement today, the 5c represents a major departure from its previous product strategy, which could improve the company’s competitiveness.

“With the new models, Apple is taking steps to bolster its share of the global smartphone market in the face of rising competition,” said Ian Fogg, director for mobile and telecoms at IHS. “Alongside innovation with the iPhone design and features with iOS7, Apple is now also innovating at lower price points, too. The iPhone 5c is the first time Apple has built a fresh handset design for the midrange smartphone market segment. By using a visibly different design for the iPhone 5c, rather than repurposing an old flagship, Apple is minimizing the risk of cannibalization of its more expensive iPhone models.”

These new models and the improvements in the iOS7 software are critical for Apple because the iPhone is facing increased competition with Samsung, Sony, HTC and LG, which are all releasing strong smartphone flagships in 2013. Notably, Apple’s portfolio lacks large-screen smartphone models with 5-inch 1080p displays.

But while other smartphone makers may have stereotyped Apple as a competitor only in the premium segment, Apple is choosing to take the battle to their home turf by expanding the aspirations of the new iPhone model. Now, new iPhone models will compete head-to-head with many more smartphone models from these rivals. Previously, competitors only encountered new iPhone opposition at the premium end of the market and competed with an older former flagship model in this segment.

The new security measures Apple is adding into iOS7 and the 5s will make the iPhone an even better platform for monetization. The fingerprint sensor on the new 5s helps make the iPhone a safer device for users to entrust with financial details as well as helping users to safely buy App Store apps. Apple is also making it harder for thieves to bypass “Find my iPhone” and “Remote wipe” because users now need an Apple ID and password to turn them off.

The iPhone 5c and Apple’s new operator deal in Japan with market leader NTT DoCoMo slightly increases the addressable market for the iPhone. The iPhone 5c’s improved 4G LTE band support will also make it more attractive to European operators than the older iPhone 5, which supported only one European LTE band: 1800Mhz.

Alongside new iPhone models, Apple is also reimagining the experience for existing iPhone owners with iOS7. The new iPhone operating system significantly strengthens the appeal of the iPhone with many new features alongside the visual transformation. Most notable is improved location support with better local recommendations and a new highly organized notifications tray, better background app multitasking and sophisticated photo functionality. Importantly, iOS 7’s new variable font size setting prepares the ground for future larger-screen iPhone models.

“The updates that Apple makes to its iPhone line are necessary for Apple’s success in the mobile handset market in 2013, but they are not sufficient for the longer term,” Fogg warned. “Apple will need to innovate significantly in 2014 with both improved software and new iPhone hardware to counter the growing threat from Android smartphones and ensure that Apple’s mobile success continues.”

Read more: http://evertiq.com/news/32558

The average profitability of the global automotive supplier industry remains stable at an astonishingly high level: 6.5% EBIT margin for 2012 and for 2013.
The most profitable sectors for suppliers are chassis, powertrain and tires, whereas the interior business in particular saw a further decline in margins. Industry prospects remain reasonably positive for the coming years, with stable EBIT margins of approximately 6% possible. However, business complexities and risks continue to increase, keeping up the pressure on the individual suppliers over the next few years. These are the key findings of the “Global Automotive Supplier Study 2013”, a joint study by Roland Berger and Lazard.

Stable profitability at high level

“The global supplier industry managed to stabilize average profitability in 2012 at a high level of 6.5% EBIT margins – this is only slightly below the record set in 2010,” says Felix Mogge from Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. And assuming that the last quarter of this year does not see any major crises, the same level of profitability will be seen throughout 2013. “This performance is remarkable given the current market challenges, especially the ongoing weak volumes in many European sales markets,” adds Dr. Eric Fellhauer from Lazard.

There are several key drivers of this stable situation: car production, which is still strong when viewed from a global perspective; a favorable segment mix; an even higher vehicle technology level; better capacity utilization worldwide and moderate development in raw material prices.

Strong differences in performance across the supplier landscape

While powertrain and chassis suppliers are maintaining their above-average profitability with EBIT margins of around 7%, suppliers of interior components faced a further margin decline in 2012 (down to 4.4%). “And there is another clear message,” says Marcus Berret from Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. Suppliers that focus on innovative product functionality rather than on process know-how continue to generate higher profits than their more process-focused peers.

Looking at regional differences, suppliers headquartered in Europe and NAFTA maintained the high profitability levels they had achieved in the previous two years. The Asian picture is more diverse: “While Japan stayed below the global average with an average EBIT margin of 5.3%, Chinese and Korean suppliers are still leading the field – but the significant drop of about 3 percentage points compared to 2010 shows that competition is getting tougher for them.”

Profitability levels also vary significantly by company size. Small suppliers with less than EUR 1 billion in annual revenues have seen a substantial margin decline of about 1.5 percentage points compared to 2010’s record margins, while very large multinational suppliers managed to maintain that level. This is a clear indication that small suppliers are facing more difficulties in meeting the challenging requirements from their customers, e.g. regarding global engineering and delivery capability.

Growing business, but risks and complexities on the rise

Looking ahead, automotive suppliers will generally benefit from further increasing vehicle demand, the resulting growth of the global automotive component market as well as from technology upgrades, especially in powertrain and chassis.

At the individual company level, however, the business environment of automotive suppliers is characterized by an increasing number of risks. “We expect continued weakness in European component demand, and as a result, both OEMs and especially suppliers will need to adjust capacity. This trend will be further accelerated by OEMs shifting their production to the markets where the vehicles are sold. This will continue to create significant problems for Eurocentric suppliers,” says Berret.

Further risk factors include the heavily increased dependency on the Chinese car market (which is showing clear signs of maturity), even more pressure on suppliers to engineer and produce parts globally resulting in increased management complexity especially for small and mid-sized players. Added to this are the growing dependency of suppliers on fewer larger-scale component projects as well as continued pressure from OEMs to reduce prices and to push through less favorable economic schemes.

This means that individual suppliers have to monitor all possible risks extremely carefully and quickly reach the right strategic conclusions. Given a business environment with significantly more risk factors and uncertainties than in earlier years, suppliers that make strategic errors will lose their competitiveness within just 2 or 3 years.

Read more: http://evertiq.com/news/32550

Once again we see reports uncovering labour violations at Apple suppliers in China – this time it’s Jabil that’s under the spotlight.
A new undercover investigation by China Labor Watch (CLW) has revealed a series of ethical and legal labour violations in a factory in Wuxi, China owned by U.S. electronics manufacturer Jabil Circuit that is currently producing the soon-to-be-released cheap iPhone for Apple.

Among the infringements uncovered by CLW include millions of dollars in unpaid overtime wages; over 100 hours of monthly mandatory overtime, three times in excess of legal limits; more than 11 hours of standing work every day with no rest outside of 30-minute meal breaks; illegally inadequate pre-work training; hiring discrimination; and more.

Read more: http://evertiq.com/news/32508

Criminal proceedings by the Serious Fraud Office have commenced against Gyrus Group and Olympus Corporation.
Gyrus Group Ltd, a UK subsidiary of Olympus Corporation, and Olympus have been charged with offences of making a statement to an auditor which was misleading, false or deceptive. Gyrus Group faces four charges and Olympus faces one charge.

The alleged offences are said to have taken place between April 2010 and March 2011 and arose from a global fraud case for which Olympus Corporation was prosecuted in Japan.

As a result of the global fraud prosecution in Japan, Olympus as well as three former executives Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, Hideo Yamada and Hishashi Mori were sentenced in July 2013.

The first hearing in this case will take place at Westminster Magistrates‘ Court on 10 September 2013.

Gyrus Group Ltd, formerly Gyrus Group PLC, was a Berkshire based medical systems company and was acquired by Olympus in 2008.

Read more: http://evertiq.com/design/32489

In the post-PC world, and in the midst an ecosystem war, Microsoft has finally bought Nokia. This deal is less about the devices themselves, and more about the Windows Phone platform.
In order to have any relevance in this new era, Microsoft must develop a strong ecosystem – at 4% market share, it still has a long way to go. The acquisition enables Microsoft to re-double its efforts with Windows Phone, and use the Lumia brand to truly innovate with the platform.

Microsoft is now able to control the full user experience, which will help avoid OS fragmentation (as has been the case with Android) and make it easier to attract developers to the platform. Microsoft is also now much better placed to win back some of the enterprise customers it has lost as a result of BYOD and consumerisation. It is now able to offer a full portfolio of hardware, software and services to customers.

The question that arises from the acquisition is what Microsoft intends to do with the Windows Phone platform now that it owns an OEM. Its long history with partners suggests that it is unlikely follow Apple’s lead and only allow its platform to be used on Nokia devices.

In order to grow market share, Microsoft will need to keep Samsung and HTC on board, and will need to alleviate any concerns that emerge as a result of the acquisition. Microsoft can use Nokia to really drive innovation on the platform, as Google is doing with Motorola. However, in order to succeed it will need to ensure it maintains good relationships with its partners.
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Autthor: by Adrian Drozd, Research Director, ICT Europe

Read more: http://evertiq.com/news/32477

Aiming to expand its business in the Middle East, Casio established Casio Middle East FZE in Dubai in March 2013 as its first sales and marketing company in the region.
Casio has been supplying products to countries in the Middle East through sales agents since the mid-1970s. In 1994, Casio set up a representative office in Dubai to function as a contact point for customers.

In recent years, markets in the Middle East, particularly the six member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Arab United Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia), have been thriving against the backdrop of robust economic growth and an expanding youth population. Accordingly, Casio regards the region as a strategic growth market and is pursuing business expansion there.

Starting in October this year, it will work together with sales agents in each of the countries and carry out sales and marketing activities tailored to these countries By promptly supplying products and services suitable for the lifestyles and cultures of local people, the company intends to popularize Casio products and expand its business in the region.

Read more: http://evertiq.com/news/32464

German machinery and tool orders fell short three percent in real terms of last year’s result. Domestic business surged by ten percent, international business slumped by nine percent.
According to the less volatile three-month comparison, May to July 2013, incoming orders fell by four percent on a year earlier. Domestic orders dropped by three percent, foreign orders by five percent, the German Engineering Association (VDMA) reports.

“In a rather reluctant economic environment, July saw German investments in machinery and plants up ten percent compared with the previous year. Such movements are by no means unusual, in particular after a row of weak months. There is good reason to be sceptical whether July marks the beginning of the long-awaited turning point. However, at least the contracting foreign demand could be largely compensated,” VDMA Chief Economist Dr. Ralph Wiechers said when interpreting the result.

Read more: http://evertiq.com/news/32448