Apple closed at $ 97.99 (-0.37, -0.38%) on the Nasdaq after today's big event with a day high of $103.08 and a day low of 96.14. Apparently the market didn't quite like Time Cook managed firm's new devices. In my opinion, the Iphone 6 and 6 plus do not have anything really innovative and unique compared to their rivals. The same for the Apple watch, which is undoubtedly original in its interface, but comes with a too high a price (prices starting at $349), requires an Iphone (starting from Iphone 5) to work and is not equipped with any particular feature that really makes it stand out from the crowd. In other words nothing properly surprising was showcased. Everything just proceded as the rumours predicted. The only thing that attracted the favour of the market, is known as Apple pay. It is a new payment system on which we talked about earlier on this website (Apple bank ready to debut). In fact, during its unveiling Apple's stock reached the day high. Currently (9.46 p.m. London time) Apple's stock is exchanged at $98.05 on the After Hours market.
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Apple according to sources has got another surprise for us. An electronic payment sysyem for physical goods in high street shops. At the moment, people at Apple should be defining agreements with the major credit cards panorama players (VISA, MASTERCARD, AMERICAN EXPRESS). It is not to be excluded that the system could launch on the Septmber 9, together with the new Iphone and maybe the first Apple wearable computer. The new Iphone is expected to feature a NFC pass, which together with a fingerprint-reader (already present in the Iphone 5s), would be used for processing purchases via the new Apple payment system, making useless to digit the PIN for purchases above the 19 euro threshold (The credit card number would be securely stored on the phone which would communicate it via NFC, then the user identity would be confirmed using the fingerprint-reader). Payments through smartphones equipped with NFC are already popular in the the USA, but didn't have much success in Europe. Apple new system, considering the number of users who have registered a credit card on the Itunes store (about 800 millions), could really spread mobile payments in Europe too. Stay tuned for updates The German online fashion retailer Zalando has lined 3 banks Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse for an ipo on the German stock exchange, coming later this year (according to sources the operation should be completed by mid-September). A sum around €5bn (around 15% of the capital), is expected to go on the market. The Berlin besed Zalando was launched in 2008 and has grown rapidly. It is now active in 15 countries and has 13.5 active customers (a great share places an order through a mobile device). Anyway, the company is still not profitable but is constantly improving its operating margins. If you want more information on this topic give a look to this article by THE FINANCIAL TIMES http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/ad2678ec-d746-11e3-a47c-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3BVlGXYFw Italy and UK are very different countries under many aspects from culture to food. Anyway, very few people know that they have many divergences when it comes to the approach the stock markets. First of all, stock market investing has lot more popularity in the UK. Financial knowledge is more widespread in the UK than in Italy. (e.g. very few people read a financial newspaper in Italy). This is due to the more open british mentality and to a different business panorama. The defect in Italian business panorama, as many critics state, is the too high reliance on the banking system, especially when it comes to credit and the too strong presence of the founding family component in Italian companies. Instead in the UK, entepreneurs are more willing to resort to the stock market than to bank credit to kick-start their projects. This is also to the very little presence of the founding family component in UK businesses. As a result companies who are seen as relatively little in the UK, are seen as big when compared to the Italian ones. The Italian economy suffers from the presence of almost no big companies, when using international assessment criteria. Maybe FIAT is the only big italian companies, even though is legal residence is not in Italy anymore from a few weeks. Anyhow, some little changes can be observed in Italy right now. More companies are starting to discover the potentialities of the stock market and going public (especially on the AIM market) In my view, to recover Italy also needs a complete review of its financial system making it more similar to the British one. I know it is a long-term process which needs time, but the results will dwarf the costs substained. It is also because of its financial system that the UK economy, is leading today's European economy. If Italy wants to compete with the bing world players, it needs to eliminate the complete reliance on the bank credit, which should be combined with other means (stock markets, hedge funds, private equity funds, venture capital) and to decrease the founding family presence in order to have a shift in the entepreneurs' mentality. A business doesn't have to remain a family one, it needs to expand and produce profits! For data on Italy's economy click here http://www.tradingeconomics.com/italy/indicators For data on UK's economy click here http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-kingdom/indicators |
AuthorMy name is Marco and I'm a 22 year old Italian guy. If you want to know more about my world just browse through my website! ArchivesCategories |