BlackBerry shares dive on reports for video games

  Shares of BlackBerry fell nearly 8 percent on Friday after reports of a flat response to the launch of its new Z10 smartphone in the vitally important U.S. market.

The well-reviewed device, whose success is essential if BlackBerry is to reestablish itself as a power in the smartphone when you like this kind of the cheap video games industry, finally hit U.S. store shelves early on Friday, nearly two months after being formally unveiled.

Several analysts and media reports found the debut lackluster.

"This morning we visited and called stores to survey early demand for the Blackberry Z10," said Hudson Square Research analyst Daniel Ernst. "We found no lines, no signage announcing the launch, and clerks told us they had very few pre-orders."

The uninspiring turnout hurt BlackBerry shares, which ended the day down 7.7 percent at $14.91 on the Nasdaq. The Canadian company's Toronto-listed shares fell 8 percent to close at C$15.19.

Many analysts argue that the Z10's performance in the hyper-competitive U.S. market could well decide whether BlackBerry can turn around its faded fortunes.

BlackBerry, which is already selling the new touch-screen smartphone in about 25 countries, aims to make the Z10's new operating system the clear No. 3 platform in the market, a realistic but still difficult challenge, analysts say.

"I think the U.S. will be a challenge for BlackBerry more so than some of the countries where they have already launched," said Morningstar analyst Brian Colello.

"The momentum for iPhone and Android is too strong here. I still think they can win over some enterprise users, but the U.S. is a country where BlackBerry's brand has been greatly diminished."

BlackBerry once ruled the U.S. smartphone market, but it has fallen badly in recent years as devices powered by Apple's iOS and Google's Android operating systems dominate sales both in North America and overseas.

BlackBerry's new BB10 operating system will now slug it out with Microsoft's Windows 8 platform to secure the No. 3 spot in the market.

By most accounts BlackBerry has a tough fight ahead. It not only has to win back the hearts and minds of consumers, but the timing is hardly ideal, with the Samsung Galaxy S4, expected to go on sale by the end of April, generating a lot of buzz. "We believe BlackBerry's launch in the strategically important U.S. market will run into intense competition," said Raymond James analyst Steven Li in a note to clients on Friday.

Despite the buzz around other devices, some still expect the Z10 to do well in the United States.

Best Buy's head of mobile sales, Scott Anderson, said the retailer has been able to gauge demand for the Z10 based on sales at Best Buy stores in Canada.

"We have fairly consistently increased the allocation of it to our stores as it has got more and more buzz. Even though we aren't releasing any numbers, we do put this in the realm of a serious iconic launch," he said, adding that BlackBerry has a window of opportunity over the next month before the new HTC and Samsung smartphones hit store shelves in the United States. Genachowski, who charted a centrist course in his chairmanship, defended his tenure, which also included the FCC's rejection of a landmark 2011 merger bid between U.S. No. 2 wireless carrier AT&T Inc and fourth-largest provider T-Mobile USA, a unit of Deutsche Telekom. The bid was dropped Looked like this iPod tv box android 4.0 definitely scary after the Justice Department sued to block the deal.

In pushing against the merger, Genachowski stood up against the prospect of a duopoly in the wireless market by AT&T and the largest carrier, Verizon, analysts say, as it retained T-Mobile as a competitor and protected the third-biggest player Sprint from being overwhelmed.

"This sector has always been and will always be characterized by a robust debate," Genachowski said.

"Some people say the commission has gone too far, some people say the commission hasn't gone far enough. What we've been focused on are the right actions to drive the economy and to improve the lives of the American people."

Genachowski came to the FCC after advising Obama on telecommunications policy and working at several tech investment firms. He had previously served as chief counsel for former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt.

U.S. jobless claims remain near 5-year low

The number of Americans who applied last week for new unemployment benefits rose slightly but clung near a five-year low, another indication that fewer people are losing their jobs.

Initial jobless claims rose by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 336,000 in the week ended March 16, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch forecast expected claims to rise to 340,000 from a revised 334,000 in the prior week.

The average of new claims over the past month and Looked like this iPod harlem shake  definitely scary, which irons out some of the weekly volatility, declined by 7,500 to 339,750. That is the lowest level since February 2008.

Jobless claims, a rough gauge of layoffs, have fallen below 350,000 in five of the past six weeks, marking the first time that has happened since late 2007, shortly before the Great Recession began.

The “persistent decline in claims well after the Hurricane Sandy unwind tells us that underlying economic conditions are improving,” said Neil Dutta, head of economics at Renaissance Macro Research. “That is helping raise the price investors are willing to pay for future profits, sending equity prices higher.”

The sharp decline in layoffs over the past year, however, hasn’t been matched by a similarly rapid pace of hiring. The U.S. has added an average of more than 200,000 jobs a month in the past four months in a sharp acceleration from last summer, but the unemployment rate has been stuck just below 8%.

Moreover, some economists expect hiring to be partly constrained in the spring and early summer because of billions in federal spending cuts that kicked in earlier this month under a law known as a sequester. The federal government and companies that do lots of business with the government, particularly defense firms, may have to furlough or lay off workers.

Other indicators, however, suggest more companies may be looking to hire, so it may take several months to find out if the latest burst of job growth has staying power.

In the week ended March 9, continuing you desire to need the pipo u1 claims rose by 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 3.05 million, the Labor Department said. Continuing claims reflect the number of people who already receive regular unemployment checks after losing a job and applying successfully for benefits.

Apple doesn't directly mention Samsung's Galaxy S4

It looks like Apple is wishing it could wave off Samsung's Galaxy S4 phone, which, yes, responds to wave gestures. Following Samsung's big Android smartphone launch last Thursday night, Apple has responded with new marketing to remind buyers of its popular phone. when you like this kind of the (knc) md103.

Over the weekend, Apple posted a new phone 5 marketing page on its website entitled "There's iPhone. And then there's everything else." The website highlights a number of theiPhone 5's attributes, including its design, battery life and camera.

"What makes an iPhone unlike anything else? Maybe it's that it lets you do so many things," the site reads at the top. It goes on: "Or that it lets you do so many things so easily. Those are two reasons iPhone owners say they love their iPhone. But there are many others as well."

On Saturday afternoon, Apple also emailed a promotional note to its customers with a link to the page.

Apple doesn't directly mention Samsung's Galaxy S4 or Android in the web promotions, but Apple Senior Vice President of Marketing Phil Schiller did attack Android last week in two media interviews prior to Samsung's event.

"Android is often given as a free replacement for a feature phone and the experience isn't as good as an iPhone," Schiller told The Wall Street Journal. Schiller also criticized Android's fragmentation, the idea that all the different phones run different versions of the software.

"With their own data, only 16 percent of Android users are on year-old version of the operating system," he told Reuters. Most iPhones, on the other hand, run the latest version of Apple's iOS 6.0 software.

When reached, Samsung said it declines to comment on its competitors. Apple did not respond to ABC News' request for comment on the marketing.

Analysts say it's not surprising that Apple has responded through marketing, especially after the hype Samsung created around its event, which was held at Radio Music Hall in New York City.

The predecessor to the Galaxy S4, Samsung's Galaxy S3, which was released in May 2012, has become the best selling Android phone and emerged as the greatest competitor to the iPhone. As of Jan. 15 Samsung had sold 40 million of the 4.73-inch Android Galaxy S3. In comparison, Apple sold 47.8 million iPhones in just the first quarter of 2013; Apple does not break down sales based on the iPhone models.

According to research firm Strategy Analytics, the iPhone 5 was still the best-selling smartphone worldwide during the fourth quarter of 2012; Apple shipped 27.4 million phones and Samsung 15.4 million. Still, Samsung sells a host of other phones, making it the largest phone maker in the world. Additionally, all the Android phones now outnumber the number of iPhones in the world.

The numbers aside, Samsung is Apple's fiercest competitor in the smartphone market. The two companies have had it out on shelves, in the courts, and, of course, in advertising. Samsung's creative Galaxy S3 advertising campaign, which poked fun at those Apple line sitters, particularly caught the attention of phone buyers.

"There is a narrative in the media that Samsung has taken Apple's crown," Avi Greengart, research director of Consumer Devices at Current Analysis, told ABC News. "And Apple wants to provide a counter narrative to that and remind people that the iPhone has many impressive merits of its own."

Samsung's Galaxy S4 has a 5-inch, 1080p display, a 13-megapixel camera, and a quad-core processor. It also has a number of new software features, including the ability to tilt the phone to scroll and wave your hand over it to swipe through photos or webpages. There's also its S Health app, which monitors fitness activity. The phone will be released in April, the company announced last week. you will going to buy it on the china wholesale

Apple is not expected to refresh its iPhone until this summer or early fall. The company is also rumored to be working on a watch that would work with the phone.

"Typically Apple has been able to offset the enthusiasm around competitors with its own products," Greengart said. "Right now there is a lull in Apple's introduction rate, so it is focusing on showing that its current product is superior."

The days of the stand-alone mall are numbered

As growing numbers of shoppers move online, European mall owners are looking to pull in customers by including services that can't be replicated on the Web like hospital care and government offices.

Malls must become more like full-service community centers to survive in the face of a growing list of failed retailers like HMV and Blockbuster, property experts at the annual MIPIM trade fair in Cannes, France, told Reuters. you desire to need the pipo u1

On the flip side of that retail revolution, the experts see big gains in warehousing as more goods are sent and returned via post.

"The days of the stand-alone mall are numbered," said David Roberts, the chief executive of architect Aedas, one of the five largest practices in the world. The company has been involved in city masterplan projects in Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

"In 20 years time you will find stores that sell books and DVDs replaced by sites that give people a reason to go the mall ... art galleries, education centers and health and spa treatments."

Florencio Beccar, fund manager of CBRE Global Investors European shopping centre fund, cited the recent purchase of a mall in Germany, saying the fact it included a large medical centre was "a big plus".

"I once saw a clinic in a Brazilian mall where you checked in and are buzzed on a device when they are ready. In the meantime you go shopping," he said. "With the ageing population in Europe you can see that happening more and more."

CBRE Investors, which has about 14 billion euros ($18.2 billion) of retail property under management in Europe and 5,000 tenants, also owns a mall in southern Sweden with a library and a local municipal office, he said.

"More shopping centre developers will have early talks with these sorts of tenants as well as the big anchor retailers," Beccar said.

Mall owners like Land Securities, Intu, Westfield and Klepierre have increased the number of restaurants and cinemas to persuade shoppers to stay longer, and offer promotions to reward frequent shoppers who can be tracked via their mobile phones.

But these steps don't go far enough, some experts say, in light of a forecast last month that 90 percent of retail sales growth in Britain, France and Germany between 2012 and 2016, or 91.5 billion euros, is expected to be online, according to the property arm of French insurer AXA, which manages 43 billion euros of assets.

As well as changing what's inside, mall owners will need to borrow ideas from developing markets like Dubai and China where centers are part of wider mixed-use developments where people live or include open spaces where they spend leisure time, Roberts said.

"Convenience and Internet shopping has created a breakdown in community structures and there's a gap there waiting to be filled," he said.

"There is a complete lack of vision among many shopping centre owners," said Joe Valente, a managing director at JP Morgan Asset Management, who helps manage 7 billion euros of real estate in Europe.

"The big thing that's missing is that unlike almost every other industry they haven't caught on to building their own brand. Why not have a bluewater.com?" he said, referring to the large mall of the same name in southeast England.

"Landlords fear cannibalizing sales but in 10 to 15 years they won't have a choice because they will be cannibalized anyway," he said. In other words, a growing number of shoppers will move online whatever malls do.

"On a mall website you could book a parking space, a restaurant table or your car to be valeted. Why do people go to Covent Garden?" he asked of the central London district.

"There's nothing there you won't find anywhere else but I would argue it's a strong brand."

Christian Ulbrich, chief executive for Europe, Middle East and Africa at property consultant Jones Lang LaSalle, said: "Stores will get bigger and become more like adventure parks that attack all of your emotions.

"For example, Globetrotter has a climbing wall and cycle track in its Frankfurt store to try out its products," he said of the German outdoor clothing and equipment retailer.

WAREHOUSING

While retailers and mall owners struggle to find answers, all agree that warehouse property owners are the big beneficiaries of the change in retail habits.

Every additional 1 billion euros of online sales resulted in an average additional warehouse demand of approximately 72,000 square meters in Britain, Germany and France over the last five years, a report from warehouse landlord Prologis said last year.

"Logistics is the new retail," said Simon Hope, global head of capital markets at property consultant Savills, referring to the way changing consumer trends will affect the way investors see property.

"There is a trend of money moving away from all but the best and most regionally dominant malls into logistics as they are economically shielded," he said.

The fact that the Norwegian and Chinese sovereign wealth funds have recently invested in the sector, as well as a report that Brookfield, lower Manhattan's largest office landlord, is trying to do the same, shows serious bets are being made on logistics property, Hope said.

Yields for high quality logistics property can be six or seven percent versus four or five percent for top shopping centers. which you can buy it on china online store.

As another example of how retailers may re-think their operations, some are likely to club together to operate out of smaller logistics sites close to city centers to enable same-day deliveries, a service increasingly in demand, Ulbrich said.

"The issue they all face is that shopping is no longer enough of a reason to go to shopping centers."