Apple Will Not Disappoint It's Christmas Shoppers

Apple has initiated last minute overnight deliveries to accommodate all Christmas shoppers

As reported by 9to5 Mac, Apple Inc. the tech giant is one of those companies that try its best to facilitate consumers. This time the company is assisting all those who want to do last minute shopping for Christmas during the holiday season.

As per the publication, Apple users can buy the company’s products from their online store till 2 pm on 23^rd December. The company will deliver all those products overnight and will not charge any extra amount as the delivery charges.

This feature seems like a great incentive since the tech behemoth is trying quite hard to bring the new service coined as “Personal Pickup” to different regions other than the United States. The buyers also have the leverage to place their order online by simply checking the availability slot present and then go to their brick and mortar stores to pick the product in just a few hours. So users can also place their orders online and pick it up two hours before the company’s official closing time at their ease.

This facility got immense traction amongst the consumer base of the company in the United States. This is another reason why the company wants to take this feature to its other stores in United Kingdom, Australia and Canada.

To motivate and encourage the pickup trend, the company has also plans regarding bringing the service to six new countries such as Italy, Sweden, France, Netherlands, France and Germany. Many analysts believe the reason behind coming up with a service of this nature during the holiday season is incompliance with their plan to make Apple products the most feasible last minute present. There is a lot of rush at the company’s brick and mortar stores thus delivery and pickup will actually help them in streamlining and facilitating buyers.

Christmas is an extremely busy time of the year. So if buyers are given the leverage to get their hands on Apple devices through pick up on December 24 along with shopping online till December 23 with free deliveries then it will certainly lure a great chunk of the masses that plan to shop for Christmas at the last minute. The company has a policy where they ship its products in two days. However, through this initiative they are actually going against this policy that will make them a blessing in disguise for Christmas shoppers. The delivery option is not viable for those placing orders before 23^rd of December.

Tor Myhren To Render His Services To Apple

Apple has been making several structural changes to achieve its goal

Apple Inc. is making several structural changes that will help the company in achieving its targets of reigning over the tech fraternity. The company is recruiting the top notch industry giants so that they can get one step closer to their goals.

The changes are being made to the company’s top executives where recently it was announced that Mr. Jeff Williams has now been promoted and will now held the position of the company’s Chief Operating Officer (COO). Mr. William is associated to the company since a fairly long span of time. Back in 1998, Williams was heading global procurement. In just 2 years, he became the Vice President of Apple’s Operations. He is associated to be as the pioneer member who was present during the launch of the Apple iPhone and is now working to take the Apple Watch to newer heights.

This is not the only thing that has happened at Apple but the company has now welcomed Mr. Tor Myhren on board who has been named as the President of Marketing Communication. Mr. Tor Myhren will be working directly under Mr. Tim Cook, the Chief Executive Officer of the company. It has been reported that the executive will render his services to Myhren next year. Previously he served at Grey Advertising as the Chief Creative Officer.

Moreover Johny Sriuji has also been promoted as the Senior Vice President of the company’s Hardware Technologies segment. Apple Store and various operating systems will be headed by Mr. Phill Schiller now.

Ironically, the person who will be replacing Mr. Myhren at Grey Advertising is Hiroki Asai who has served Apple for the past 18 years. Mr. Asai was taking care of marketing communications and graphic design at the tech behemoth and will be heading marketing at Grey’s now.

Apple is known for poaching the best talent that has ample experience. The company knows who has the potential to take the company to newer heights thus they never fail to surprise their fans. The company at this point of time is hiring aggressively since it is competing with various tech based companies. The ideology behind AAPL is to offer services that are top notch and unique. To make that happen, the company needs individuals that are devoted to the company and share the same vision which Steve Jobs has instilled in the top leadership. Hence the efforts made by the company are destined to achieve the targets that have been chalked out by the late maestro. 

Tesla CEO Is Ready To Embrace Competition

Elon Musk along with other counterparts is encouraging Volkswagen to come up with electric cars

Elon Musk, the Chief Executive Officer at Tesla Motors Inc. along with almost three dozen colleagues are now forcing the regulators in California to encourage Volkswagen AG to come up with cars that are ecofriendly.

Volkswagen had to deal with a lot of criticism when the company made use of a software that assisted them in cheating during the emission test that was conducted on cars that were being fueled through diesel.

The Californian regulators should push Volkswagen to come up with cars that do not produce emissions. A letter was written by Mr. Elon Musk and his counterparts to the California Air Resources Board’s head, Ms. Mary Nichols. Those cars that are powered by gas and diesel tend to produce a lot of emissions however; the new technologies like electric vehicles can actually result in no or few emissions.

Volkswagen previously claimed that they will come up with a Phaeton car that will be governed using electric batteries. Moreover, they also vouched to come up with high volume electric cars and hybrid plugins that cross 186 miles on an average.

The Tesla and Volkswagen have not really commented on the letter. As per a spokesperson from CARB, “Our focus has and will continue to be cleaning the air and advancing the cleanest vehicle and fuel technologies.”

Apart from Mr. Musk, who is the electric car giant, other Californian regulators like Jeff Skoll- former executive at eBay Inc. and Internet entrepreneur. Along with that Mr. Michael Brune of Sierra Club has also signed the letter.

The scandal that Volkswagen had to deal with earlier is actually a bad name that will haunt the company’s credibility for the years to come. By cheating during the tests they have actually ruptured their image in the automotive sector that needs to be cleared through playing a vital role in shaping the ecosystem.

This is a great way through which the company can repent for the mistakes it has committed. However, the thing that is quite ironic is that Mr. Elon Musk wants Volkswagen to join the electric car bandwagon. If the company starts producing EVs then it will further ignite competition for them.

This clearly indicates that TSLA is geared up to deal with competition and is confident about its present market presence. A new competitor also acts as a catalyst to bolster growth thus it will be great to see how things unfold when Volkswagen actually joins the EV race.

Samsung Now Has Apple As Its Neighbor In San Jose

Apple has acquired a new space in San Jose neighboring its arch rival Samsung

Apple Inc. the tech behemoth makes strides that make it outshine. The company recently made an acquisition where they have now acquired a semiconductor plant in the San Jose vicinity of Silicon Valley as cited by the reports published in the Business Journal. This year is seen as a massive breakthrough with numerous expansions for Apple. The reports claimed that the company has paid almost $18.2 million the previous week to acquire the land that covers an area of 70,000 square foot.

The building initially catered as a fabrication plant for semiconductors (chip fab) that were used by Maxim Integrated Products. The estate was placed on sale when the company put an end to its consumer electronics business. The building has minimal space and is not appropriate for the mass production of semiconductors. However, it is good enough to enable the production on a low volume scale, pilot testing or making the prototypes for the new chips.

The thing that is quite amusing is that the location is right next to the semiconductor facility of Samsung Electronics. In the start of 2015, Samsung inaugurated the plant which is located at Tasman drive and North First Street. So now both the tech giants are now each other’s neighbor, where both are competing with one another in the tablet and smart phone market. Moreover, Samsung is also the major supplier for AAPL. Both the companies are also dealing with various lawsuits over patents.

Samsung reportedly has to pay a massive amount worth $548 million as compensation to the damages they have caused on the Apple iPhone maker. An appeal is also planned to be filed by the company since they believe that the patent laws are extremely outdated.

At this point of time one cannot really predict how Apple will make use of this plant. Since the building is fairly small, it cannot really be used as a space for the manufacturing of processors. Many analysts perceive that the location will be used for development and research so that they can come up with strong prototypes for chipsets that will be used in the coming Apple products. Moreover, the design for processors can then be given to third party manufacturers to initiate production.

The company is now extremely devoted to streamline its focus on in house development to improve technology since major investment related firms forecast a downfall in the shipment of iPhones in the times to come. This is also another catalyst that promotes such causes.

Chinese Competitors Pose Threat For Tesla

China has geared up to enter the EV sector which will result in competition for Tesla
Tesla Motors Inc. has given birth to something that can eventually pose threat to its auto electrification business.  Mr. Elon Musk, the Chief Executive Officer of the company is one opf those people who loves to think big, the firm is all geared up to reign over the automotive market with its diversified range of electric cars irrespective of a massive loss they had to deal with worth $20,000 on each vehicle. The company has achieved enough to persuade other automotive giants to enter the electric car segment. These automotive companies can act as a threat when it comes to the company itself.

One of the primary threats that can rupture the company’s existence is through Porsche which is the subsidiary unit of the German automotive giant, Volkswagen. After the company had to deal with the emission scandal, Porsche has also decided to stimulate the sales of EV by adding on batteries. At this point of time many analysts are not actually paying heed to the competition that can arouse from the Chinese automotive market.

Most of us are aware of the fact that Jia Yeuting, a Chinese billionaire and the brain behind Leshi Tv commonly known as the Chinese Netflix is also working on a EV project. The project has been coined as Faraday Futures which is all geared up to launch its care during the CES 2016. The rival of Tesla electric cars will then reach consumers by FY19.

This is not it but there is also another competitor belonging to China that is all set to give a tough time to Tesla. Atieva is another company that is gradually making a mark in the market of electric vehicles. The company has collaborated with the largest automotive maker in China namely the Beijing Automotive Industry Corporation (BAIC). This has helped them in gaining traction already in the industry.

The company has been pushing quite hard where they have already unveiled the picture of their concept car. According to the website, “Challenging the Idea of what a car can be”, this information is good enough to provoke the automotive industry that considers it to be a disruption creator. They further added, “We’re a car company, not a design house. And we’re definitely not a traditional automaker,” further states the official website.

So now Tesla needs to gear up and push itself before the China based automotive company take charge and make it difficult for them to sustain in the industry.

Alphabet Opts For Clean Energy At Its Data Centers

Google is doing a commendable job since they will be making use of clean energy to generate electricity.

When it is about Alphabet Inc.’s own data centers, the tech behemoth is not ready to embrace any experiments under any circumstances. Thus for the same reason the company is geared up for coming up with six distinct solar and wind power ventures. According to the tech giant, the power that is being directed to their data centers needs to be generated using sources that are renewable.

The collaboration is not likely to get any lesser than 842 megawatts of electrical capacity which needs to be clean. It needs to be kept in mind that the company wants the scheduled initiatives in Sweden, Chile and United States to be completed. In the coming two years, this collaboration can result in a two gigawatts of energy for the tech giant that will help them to keep on pace with the demand that is growing at a rampant pace.

The company has previously claimed that its aim is to increase the push the amount of renewable electricity that its making use of by 2025. The firm also stated that before this collaboration could actually pave its way; almost a third of the company’s operation was being powered using clean energy. This is not it but Google believes that this deal is the biggest pact ever made in their history considering that it is a non-utility firm.

The time for the project is also very well thought since now President Obama will meet the global leaders to discuss the changes observed in climate. Apart from this, only a few days back Microsoft Corp. CEO, Bill Gates and Facebook Inc. CEO, Mark Zuckerberg announced that they will come up with funding so that they can bolster research for clean energy.

According to Speculator Today, “All in all, it is safe to say Google is willing to do whatever it takes to show the world that is much more than a tech giant. The company is adamant when it comes to focusing on all key aspects of its operations and its repercussions on the environment. It is also making a considerable effort on making sure it does not affect the environment and the people around them, which in turn is a great move to begin with.”

Hence in a nutshell, the initiative taken by Google is commendable since they will be making use of clean energy to generate electricity. It is the need of time that all big companies start to think like GOOG and come up with similar ventures.

Ecolab Inc. Appoints Chairmen and CEO of Cargill, Inc.

The announcement was made by the board of directors of the healthcare company of the appointment of the new director.

Ecolab, Inc. has recently appointed the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cargill, Inc., David W. MacLennan. Cargill, Inc. is a worldwide producer, marketer and manufacturer of food, financial, agricultural services and products. The global leader is headquartered in Minneapolis whose chair and CEO will now serve as one of the board members of Ecolab. This announcement was made by the Board of Directors of the health care company.

The new director added to the Board of Directors of the healthcare company is 56 years old and has quite a few years of experience in the industry. According to the Chairman and CEO of the leading health services provider, Douglas M. Baker Jr the new hire brings a lot of experience from all aspects of the industry including financial, operational along with global to the healthcare company. He added that they will look forward to the contribution of Mr. Dave as they continue to grow the business worldwide.

Mr. David has been the CEO of Cargill since 2013 and became the Chairman of the global leader in producing and manufacturing various products in September 2015. From the 2011, he has served in the leading company as the chief operating offer as well as the president. Even before all these top management positions, he held various high level seats in the company, serving as the chief financial officer. Initially he was the President of Cargill Energy along with being the managing director of a Value Investment Group. Along with holding various positions in Cargill, the experienced director has been a part of Piper Jaffray, Goldberg Securities and US Bancorp.

In other news, a quarterly dividend by Ecolab, Inc. was announced on December 3, 2015. During the trading that took place on Thursday, Ecolab stock was being traded at $118.22 which showed a decline in the stock of 0.35%. During the courses of the trade, the volume of shares that were being traded was 890,139 shares. The current market capitalization of the health care company is $34.91 billion. The earnings per share reported were 2.63 with a price to earnings ratio of 44.79.

The one year high of the health services company is $122.48 while the one year low of the company is $97.78. Currently the dividend that’s being offered is at $0.35 with a dividend yield of 1.19. Institutional Investors own over 89% of Ecolab’s shares. For the quarter, the revenue that was reported by the health services company was $3.45 billion while the analysts had predicted it to be $3.55 billion. There was a difference of 0.10 billion in the actual and predicted revenue.

Oil Companies Including BP Plc Prepare For A War Against Coal Companies

Climate change awareness rises hurting coal companies, oil companies unexpected alliances to protect themselves and support the environment.

Global awareness about global warming and climate change is increasing and is being taken into consideration by countries worldwide. Unfortunately, this hurts most of non-renewable energy manufacturing companies, as the population tries to switch to renewable sources of energy to protect the environment as much as possible. Oil companies have formed unexpected alliances to protect the industry and fight with coal industries asking the government to start a carbon tax. Other environmentalists are asking the government to start new taxes on energy companies that cause pollution of all sorts.

BP Plc., Royal Dutch Shell Plc. and many other energy manufacturers are demanding a carbon tax so that coal companies suffer and pay for the gas emissions they release into the air. Oil companies are joining forces making unexpected alliances for this demand to be met, this is being done because natural gas demand is ultimately going rise, which would provide these companies huge sums of profit on their part.

The UN Climate Summit held in Paris was attended by major famous public figures such as Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and many others; the summit has been going on since November 30 and is expected to end on December 11. The growing concern about the climate and awareness worldwide is leading oil and gas companies to team up and ironically support the climate by asking for carbon tax, which is actually going to benefit them.

There is evidence for this claim; Royal Dutch has increased natural gas production rather than crude oil for a while now, while BP PLC is also expected to develop natural gas on a larger scale. For now 44% of energy is developed through coal, EIA informed that coal companies release a huge amount of carbon dioxide into the air compared to any other fossil fuel. After the public was aware of this, the coal companies suffered, a huge decline in price was witnessed. Walter Energy and Patriot Coal have gone bankrupt.

BP has left the coal production service in 2014 and 2012, after the decline in the market was witnessed. Many individuals and authorities are now switching from coal to natural gas after the concerns rising. A huge decline is expected in coal production in the coming year, US will do so by 13 gigawatts, China has also been reported to switch to renewable sources of power.

Coal will is not dependable for energy and power in the future while the market moves to natural gas with the hope of reducing pollution as much as possible. Companies that are producing energy through wind and solar power are expected to generate huge profit in the coming years, since the world is trying to save the environment and prevent damage.

BP stock closed at $33.81, going red by -2.75% on December 3. 

eBay Signs A Deal With Shyp To Be Its Logistics Partner

eBay has come up with an agreement to make Shyp as its official logistics partner to take care of the buyers and sellers shipment services.

EBay Inc. is one of the biggest online retailers in the United States. A few years before, it was in the list of companies who dominated the e-commerce sector however, its rivals and other companies have overtaken its position in recent times. It has not given up on competing with the current market leaders. Amazon and Wal-Mart are way ahead than all other online retailers in the United States but eBay is still a popular online marketplace in the region.

In order to strengthen its position in the market, the company is making a few deals that would make it better. It is believed that the online auction website has struck a deal with Shyp, as reported by The Next Web. Shyp will be taking care of the company’s logistics for all the sellers present on the platform. Shyp has already made a name of its own in the country in the beginning of the year where it allowed consumers to send items and packages to anyone without really known their actual addresses. This method was convenient for not only the sender but the recipient as well.

Analysts believe that this method turns out to be a ‘boon’ for the buyers and sellers on eBay who wish to send or receive their goods with extra security and piracy. The deal has been agreed between both parties and Shyp has officially announced it saying that this new partnership allows the sellers to automatically connect within the startup’s smartphone app. This would further quicken the process of picking an item and forward it for shipment.

According to the startup logistics company, “When your items are packed and ready to ship, we automatically update your eBay listing with tracking and carrier information, and notify your buyers that their items are on the way. Use the Shyp app to track your shipments all the way to delivery and maintain a record of the eBay items you’ve sold and shipped.”

The Next Web reports that the couriers could arrive as early as 20 minutes and can easily take 20 packages at one time. Furthermore, it can also manage to take items that weigh nearly 50 pounds. According to a source, “In order to give an extra incentive, Shyp is also waiving the normal $5 fee associated with service,” however this offer would expire in January. As of now, this service will only be available to the users in Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles (LA), San Francisco, and New York. 

Boeing And US Navy Demonstrate EA-18G Growler Military Aircraft

Boeing and US Navy demonstrated new target detection and data sharing integrated in the EA-18G Growler Military airplane.

Boeing is working together with the US Navy. It gave a demonstration regarding the fresh data sharing and target detecting technology systems with better aircraft safety and efficiency, which have been constructed in the company’s military combat airplane, EA-18G Growler. The demo was presented at the fleet experimentation campaign of the Navy. The targeting facility in the airplane has been modified and enhanced contributing to better efficiency of the plane and its providing better safety than before for the crew running the aircraft.

Boeing Co.’s Military jet, EA-18G has a high bandwidth data link and a tablet that is Windows based, which provides a control system for missions. This is the first time Navy is achieving such technology, targets can be detected from far away and important information can be shared quickly as not possible before. The accuracy of target location has been enhanced, allowing the crew to operate conveniently. The tablet enables the Navy to communicate easily with other aircrafts and access data whenever necessary.

The updated military aircraft manufactured by the aerospace company allows the Navy to perform actions it could never earlier. The vice president of the company, Dan Gillian, said, “This long-range targeting technology is essential as we advance electronic attack capabilities for the conflicts of today and tomorrow, the complexity of global threat environment continue to evolve.” The Captain of US Navy F/A-18 and EA-18G’s program manager, David Kindley, said, “This enhanced targeting capability provides our aircrews with a significant advantage, especially in an increasingly dense threat environment where longer-range targeting is critical to the fight.”

The aerospace company expects to receive more order for its innovative product from customers in the future, but for now, it remains with the US navy and the military of Australia. The company has plans to update the services of all Navy growlers to this new technology as a standard feature. It is making efforts to provide better series to the Navy and other customers because it recently lost a contract with the military.

Similarly, another important contract was lost with the US Air Force and was given to Northrop Grunman instead. This contract was highly important to the aerospace giant, who is changing and adding innovative tech in its aircraft to attract the lost customers within this year, and it is evidently working. The target enhancements and the tablet facility are going to help it to regain the attention of lost customers more in the next months.

Boeing Co. stock closed at $146.96, going red by -0.53% on December 2. 

EBay And Amazon Will Sell Handloom's Products

EBay and Amazon have come up to an agreement to roll out Handloom's products on their platforms in the next month.

EBay Inc. has an exciting news for all those people who love handloom product. It is believed that in the coming times, online shoppers will be able to purchase handloom products online on EBay and Amazon’s handloom products to the online shoppers in India.

website. All of the products that will be listed and mentioned on the platform would be certified by the textiles ministry of the region. The Indian government is in talks with both online retailers regarding to spread the reach of

According to the Times of India, a senior official stated “The ministry is in talks with the two e-commerce firms to provide online platforms to registered producers of the ministry's 'India Handloom' brand to help them spread their reach.” The development commissioner of handlooms, Alok Kumar, said that the deal has been signed and the agreement has been done in writing with the online auction website, EBay. Alok Kumar expects the handlooms to be revealed on the platform in January. Apart from EBay, Amazon India is also looking for the possibilities to expand in this product category as well.

Both companies realize that the demand of handloom products in India is great. Amazon India is also discussing with Alok Kumar over the possibilities to run a trial version for some handloom products on its platform.

The Indian spokesperson of EBay said, “eBay India will make priority display of handloom products on its platform, leading to an exclusive section for certified-branded handloom products which either have `India Handloom' brand or 'Handloom' mark.” However one thing which still remains undecided is the commission charged by both of the e-commerce platforms by selling these brands’ products.

Before any of this is official and the company introduces handloom products, it requires some clarification regarding various issues. Alok Kumar adds that the ministry e-marketing policy has changed from August onwards as it will be necessary for EBay to have a minimum cap of 8 percent for all the services that an online marketplace would provide including shipping services.

Amazon currently charges apparel sellers a referral rate of 15 percent and it is believed that it will be charging Handloom’s reliable sellers only 8 percent. EBay so far has not commented or revealed anything regarding its agreements on this matter.  Alok Kumar said that if all of this works out between both online retailers and producers then it will be good to review these policies after a short time. However, producers must be at benefit. 

Coca Cola Co Workers Of Two Chicago Based Plants Go On A Strike

The workers, disappointed with their work life, went on a strike on Thursday demanding to increase their wages and add them to the middle class.

To protest against the unfair labor practices that have been taking place at Coca Cola, workers from two of Chicago’s production plants went on strike on Thursday.

Coca Cola plants in Niles and Alsip, which represent as many as 319 production and warehouse workers of the company, had earlier negotiated with the carbonated beverage company for a three year contract. In this contract the terms of improved wages, retirement benefits, health insurance and other labor practices had been mentioned. However, this contract expired on Tuesday due to which the workers decided to go on a strike.

According to a nine year veteran who works at Coke was among all those 24 workers who were protesting, Carl Maxwell, the company had not been giving the workers the respect that they deserve. He further added that they do not want to out protesting but they had no other option but to do so. The strike by a union was called at 5:00 am on Thursday and asked the workers to spend their eight hour shift protesting outside the plant.

At the Niles, 100 picketers were expected throughout the day while as many as 50 to 75 workers were at the Alsip, according to the communication director for Teamsters Joint Council, Will Petty. The company tried to negotiate with the workers during which they abruptly left. According to Coca Cola Co, they had offered them new signing bonuses, increase in annual pay along with a healthcare package, furthermore they were options of retirement plans as well, just like the workers wanted, according to the Chicago Tribune reports.

The current wage structure of the employees of the company stands at $12 to $19 per hour. According to Will Petty, the workers of the company usually don’t even know whether they will be asked to work extra hours apart from their nominal shift. The nine year veteran further stated that the workers are just asking for their fair share of the pie and add to the middle working class and they will keep making billions for the company.

According to Charles James, an employee who supplies coke products to fast-food chains and has been with the company for the past 21 years, he says that the price for everything has been going up whether its eggs, milk, taxes etc. except for the their wages.

In 2014, the soft drink giant reported revenue of $45.93 billion along with a net income of $7.1 billion. The company said that it pose a proposal in front of the union but which included everything that was initially in the previous contract.