Bidness Etc - Can Xiaomi Yi Take Over GoPro?

Xiaomi Yi action camera might be good but not on par with GoPro Hero.

GoPro Inc. the action camera giant has become a great commodity in its space. However, when news started to buzz regarding the launch of an action camera by Xiaomi- the Chinese smartphone manufacturer in March, many GoPro investors were scared that the companies aim to reign over the Asian market would soon fade away.

So the Yi Action Camera by Xiaomi is said to be almost less than a sixth of the GoPro Hero 4 and is said to be half the price of an action camera by GPRO. So now it is said that the Chinese camera has certain specifications that can become a potential threat to the market of GPRO products.

The question here arises whether Xiaomi’s device can be considered to be a major substitute to GoPro’s camera. One of the analysts at Wall Street Journal, Mr. Menglin Huang takes an in-depth look at Xiaomi’s action camera which is sold for $64. The camera is equipped with a 64GB built-in storage that has an approximate weight of 72 gram whereas a GoPro Hero weighs 111 gm. The waterproof depth for both the cameras that are Yi and GoPro Hero is said to be 40 meters.

The camera by the Chinese vendor allows the consumer to shoot in high definition mode at a 60 fps rate and 120 fps rate. It has the ability to take time lapses, burst shot, timer shot, single shots etc. the analyst at Wall Street believes that the image quality of these cameras is fairly average. Moreover, the camera is also made with a 16-megapixel sensor that is designed by Sony Corporation. Thus, the device is also not bad in terms of image quality but does not work well in low light scenarios.

However, Xiaomi Yi action camera has certain limitation. Firstly, the cover material is made up of plastic which seems to be relatively cheap. The device does not really have been equipped with many accessories. And the limited devices available are charged an extra price. The way it looks and feels, it is quite similar to a GoPro Hero camera but will not fit in the case.

The market for this product is quite different from GoPro and it also lacks to a great extent in terms of quality. Moreover, the limited accessories will not make the device feasible for several situations. Currently, the product has been only launched in the Chinese market but in order to be sought after by the international fraternity a lot more needs to be done.

Bidnsss ETC - Tesla Retail Stores To Be Supported By Major Dealers Reports Morgan Stanley

Tesla Motors facing several legal battles with auto dealers regarding establishing their own stores.

Tesla Motors Inc’s recently announced that it will establish its retail stores in the United States; however this decision by the company was not very well received across the board. When companies start to own their own retail stores, this becomes an imminent threat to franchise automotive dealers considering the current paradigms of the automotive sector. So now the electric car giant is in an awkward position where it has been fighting legally with automotive dealers in various states including North Carolina, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Massachusetts.

Almost a week ago, the House Bill (HB) 1653 was declined by the authorities; this after becoming a law would allow Tesla Motors to establish 12 of its stores in the vicinity of Texas. This state has acted like a force to stop the Tesla from establishing a direct sales mechanism within the region. Apart from Texas, there are several other regions like Iowa, West Virginia, Arizona and Michigan where this Palo Alto Based automaker is restricted from directly selling its item.

One of the prime reasons behind several auto dealers and large enterprises including the General Motors Company are not in favor of directly selling business mechanism because they assume by doing this, it will allow the company to start offering undue advantages which the remaining will not really offer. Moreover, the auto dealers are scared if the car maker is granted permission to manage their own retail mechanism, this will allow the manufacturers to strategize regarding the prices and will also be more rigid in terms of providing customer services to clients.

In opposition to this, the Morgan Stanley analyst mentioned in a report that the auto dealers should not discourage Tesla Motor from establishing its retail chain mechanism but many auto dealers of the state are “quietly” in favor of TSLA CEO-Elon Musk.

Adam Jonas, a renowned analyst mentioned in a note that a good number of auto dealers in US will not really have any issue with if the law for state dealer franchise that currently stops the automakers to establish stores gets nullified. According to the sell side firm, someone of the automaker stated that “We’d actually benefit from it.”

Hence, in a nutshell, there are adequate steps that can be taken by the state to overcome the reservations the company and auto dealers are facing. Tesla Motors at this point needs to come up with a strong stance that will allow them to overcome the legal battles. However, Morgan Stanley is optimistic about the venture.

Bidness ETC - Ford To Minimize Production In China

Fords to minimize production in China amid slow growth.

Ford Motor Company has decided to minimize the production of certain vehicles in China after the first quarter of the fiscal year of 2015. The reason behind cutting down on production is that their growth in the region does not boast of positive results.

Ford’s auto position in the Chinese market has weakened that has forced the company to reduce the production of certain car models allowing them to cut down on the prices unlike other international brands in the market.

Previously, the company had targeted China as the next potential market for its cars. Ford had already established three new manufacturing plants in the region in order to have a strong position. China is said to be the largest market for vehicles in the world boards of numerous potential. Ford has already invested $1.08 billion in a manufacturing plant in China which will allow them to produce 200,000 car models per annum.

However, now the company needs to redefine its strategy since now they need to decrease the production. The vice president for Asia Pacific of F Company, Dave Schoch states that a decline has been observed in the showroom traffic. Even then, the company does not wish to minimize the cost of its product. The reason behinds this is that by reducing cost it will hamper the product value. If this continues to happen, then the company will further minimize production.

Mr. Schoch clarified that only a few model of certain vehicles will be affected by this decision made by the company. He further added that the productions cuts are not applicable on all models; however, the names of the cars have not been revealed who will undergo this minimization. Moreover, the company is now also monitoring the performance of rivals and devising ways to cope up with the situation.

He further mentioned that at this point it is quite difficult for them to maintain a 10-12 per cent growth. So now they need to narrow down their focus and opt for a sustainable growth of 7 per cent. Despite the company has not been doing well since a long time, Mr. Dave Schoch is still optimistic about the future of this company. He believes that the company will fight back by coming up with new models of its flagship vehicles like Ford Edge and Taurus in FY15. Although he knows that the company might have to spend a great amount of money in order to redeem its position.

Bidness ETC - General Electric Company Could Face Trouble On The Discontinuation Of Import Export Bank

The electric company is concerned about the Export-Import Bank closing down as this will adversely affect its business activities.

According to recent news on General Electric Company that has attracted quite a lot of attention, it has been made evident that the electric company is in a serious position in terms on where it stands with its business.

Reuters carried out an interview, and a spokesperson of the company told the press that the firm is under serious trouble and could even end up losing a huge chunk of money amounted up to $350 million as the deal that it signed with Angola might end up in a dissolved state depending on the status of the US Export-Import Bank. It has recently emerged as a problematic fact that the US Congress is planning to order the bank to discontinue due to its own reasons which have turned out be quite a massive threat for the firm.

The Export-Import Bank is an important back for the companies being operated in the United States as it gives its significant services to the companies who wish to carry out their business activities in the countries all around the globe. With the exceptional services given for the exportation of goods by the bank, huge companies and empires like General Electric and Boeing Co take the services from this bank for safe export of their products anywhere on the globe. Since the export system of the bank is quite safe and reliable, none of the firms wants the bank to discontinue its operations. To make this happen, it has been reported that Boeing Co has been working towards backing it up to not stop working.

The fact that Export-Import Bank’s charter is about to get expired has worried quite a lot of companies that want the firm to keep its operations working. By the end of June, the firm’s charter will be discontinuing which has raised a lot of concerned eyebrows around the industry. On the other hand, if the bank needs a renewed charter, it needs to get in terms with the US Congress. The Bank has been lately facing quite a lot of issues and accusations from the other companies in which the firms have complained that their products are sold at a comparatively lower price than the price they get when they sell their products as retailers.

The president of GE Transportation has raised his concerns over the issue exclaiming that by the closing down the bank, the firm will be facing quite a lot of problems in which the orders received from over the globe will not only be lost, but this will also affect the firm’s credibility.

Bidness ETC - GoPro Hero 4 Price Likely To Drop

GoPro needs to drop the price of Hero 4 Silver to attract buyers.

GoPro Inc. despite being known for in the consumer industry as an action camera manufacturer seems to be stumbling with finances recently. The company has recently reported a loss that exceeds almost a quarter of their net worth in the start of the fiscal year of 2015. One of the reasons behind this shortcoming is that they are expected to launch the GoPro Hero 5. Irrespective of that, there has not been much movement by them in the market.

As reported by some of the experts, GoPro needs to take some big steps that will allow them to sustain in the industry. One of the things that can contribute positively to their portfolio is by slacking the price of Hero 4 Silver. GoPro sales have halted, so this might just be a fairly smart move for them. The company products have succeeded in gaining traction where the Hero brand has done relatively well. So if they cut down on the prices, then they are likely to gain more consumers.

So now if they actually do this, then in the long term they might just benefit. For instance, those who have previously not used a GoPro device then by buying a slightly reduced price Hero 4; they can actually realize the potential of this range and might just develop interest in buying Hero 5. Moreover, the device is relatively old, so reducing the price won’t harm them but will get the interest of those who don’t wish to spend so much.

Moreover, Sales of Hero 4 have been declining on a steady pace merely because those who wished to get hands on the device have already bought it. Only those who are skeptical about the price are left to be attracted.

The company need not reduce the price of all Hero 4, but the Silver version is fairly reasonable than Black with limited features. Thus, this might be the right choice in terms of cutting down the prices. This would also allow them to scrutinize if it actually helped them in terms of money or not.

In case they realize that this actually turned out to be good for them, then they can obviously reduce the prices of Hero 4 other models to embrace the change. At this point, they won’t lose anything by experimenting and this might again start to stream in revenues for them.

Hence, GoPro now needs to make its mind whether it wants to have a stumbling quarter again or have some progress to boast of until Hero 5 is launched.

Bidness ETC - Novartis Stock Update For Current Quarter

Novartis stocks are estimated an earning per share of $1.12 for the current quarter.

Novartis AG is a prominent name in the world of healthcare providing health solutions globally. The company’s network is global having the status of a multinational firm whose expertise lies in marketing, research, manufacturing and development in a variety of medical products for healthcare purposes. The company has a diversified portfolio of products in services where it caters to medicines, animal health products, preventive vaccines, eye care, diagnostic tools, generic pharmaceuticals that are cost effective etc.

There are five core operating segments of the company: pharmaceuticals which comprises of patent protected medicine prescription, Alcon that deals with surgical, vision care products and ophthalmic pharmaceutical, diagnostic and vaccines that deals with blood testing procedures and human vaccine development, consumer health that provides over the counter medicines along with Animal Health.

The company in 2011 acquired a non controlling interest in Alcon which was again a major breakthrough for them.

Analysts at Wall Street expect that the first quarter earnings per share for Novartis stocks is estimated to be $1.12 for the current quarter. The digits have been derived from the average estimations made by the sell-side research organization dealing with the stocks. Recent NVS reported their earnings per share (EPS) which compounded to $1.33 for the first quarter of the fiscal year of 2015. This highlights that the digits are almost 0.21 where analysts estimate an 18.75 percent difference.

On an average, all the analysts who have kept eyes on Novartis stock price have estimated a price target of $108.166. this is said to be mean estimates of the three companies that are watching this stock closely. This is said to be the latest update in terms of Novartis stock price target.

In general the broker recommendation is basically an average taken of individual ratings that are provided by analysts allowing them to come up with Consensus Analyst Rating for each and every stock. Usually, there are ratings given for each stock from 1 to 5 where 1 means a strong BUY whereas 5 means a strong SELL.

Hence, Novartis at this point of time has 1.75 rating given by three sell-side analysts. A part of this group is a sell-side firm that expects a substantial upside on the stock price which is said to turn to $115 in a year’s time. The analyst who is conservative about the stock has given an estimated price target of $103.5 in a year’s time.

Novartis (NVS) stocks are currently extremely bullish and even those conservative about the stock have given a fairly good price target.

Bidness ETC - IBM and Deloitte work on data risk management

IBM and Deloitte work on data risk management system to overcome loopholes.

International Business Machines Corp. and Deloitte is firm that computers can comprehend to “financial regulatory guidelines” more rapidly and thoroughly than human beings.

Both the companies have designed a system that can solve complex regulations that deal with financial issues for governmental institutions allowing firms totally it with their own plans so that they can easily then meet up with the requirements.

This initiative is a result of collaboration between the two firms that will help in making financial institutes and other similar organizations work more fluently. The idea behind such a system is to come up with such techniques that will help these companies to come up with better risk management systems.

Risk management is primarily about comprehending, evaluating and mitigating about what are the shortcomings and loopholes in the firm's plans. In order to do so, it is required to assess the conditions that might cause the plan to fail along with the monetary repercussions associated with the damages.

Businesses have been facing immense pressure since the past couple of years where many public and private sectors are concerned about how firms evaluate access and combat potential threats. Risk management packages are also being offered by Oracle, SAS and SAP.

IBM who has already been working on data analytics and cloud computing believes that the recent advancements made in this domain can help organizations to evaluate risk factors in a more comprehensive manner.

Both the companies have collaborated to come up with a regulatory compliance along with a control service that can help in harnessing these technologies. Moreover, Deloitte already has ample experience in terms of regulatory intelligence and has also diploid IBM’s cloud computing expertise and big data analytics together in order to come up with the best possible services.

The mechanism is fairly simple but extremely smart. For example, the service will comprise of IBM’s cognitive computing Watson service which will then parse on the regulations. This will be done one paragraph to another so that organizations can easily skim through the mandates avoiding any shortcoming.

Hence in a nutshell, both the firms are working on ways that will help organizations in the long and short run to evaluate the potential risk factors. This will be done through IBM’s analysis technologies along with the financial expertise of Deloitte. Both the companies have come up with a system that will be very useful in the times to come. Risk management is extremely important considering the volatility of recent times.

Bidness ETC - Exxon Mobil Ramps Up Production At New Indonesian Oil Field Despite Of Oversupplied Market

The output from the Banyu Urip field, part of ExxonMobil's Cepu block in East Java, is crucial to Indonesia's long-term efforts to meet rising domestic demand.

Exxon-Mobil (NYSE:XOM) has ramped up its production at a new Indonesian oil field, with a target to boost its output later this year by more than 200,000 barrels per day, just when the market is already oversupplied, despite the rise in oil prices for the past few weeks.

The output will originate from the Banyu Urip field, which is part of Exxon’s Cebu block in East Java. The move is seen as a long-term plan to tap into the country’s rising domestic demand, especially as other fields begin to age in the Southeast Asian country.

This is in contrast to ConocoPhillips’s, which has just laid off 300 out of 1200 Indonesians from the workforce, citing low oil prices and cost cutting measures. If Exxon is taking a long-term approach by looking at the future energy demand of the country and investing accordingly, which will probably result in a more oversupplied oil market, then why cannot ConocoPhillips?

Currently, the oilfield is producing over 75000 bpd during the end of last month. The oil field was discovered in 2001, and since its 15 years in operation, it has been going strong, though there has been lingering disagreements between the oil major and state company Pertamina, which consequently slowed the process of development.

Indonesia plans to boost its oil output from the current 800,000 bbl/day to around 830,000 bbl/day. Country has been struggling to boost its oil output ever since it has left OPEC, due to investors’ worries over corruption and bureaucracy. Traders say that they expect the first shipment of crude oil from the new oil field to commence around the third quarter, which is going to hurt the oil market even more with oil prices still tumbling downwards despite the rise in price for the past few weeks.

In separate news, Exxon Mobil has announced that the company has begun its bitumen production operation at the Cold Lake Nubile project in northeastern Alberta, Canada. Currently it is producing around 20,000 barrels per day, which is likely to increase up to 40000 barrels per day once the project operates in full stream. The project was planned and executed on behalf of ‘Imperial Oil Limited’, when it was first sanctioned in 2012.

The company is now looking forward to the output from Banyu Urip field, which is crucial to Indonesia's long-term efforts to meet rising domestic demand.

Exxon Mobil’s stock price ended the day at $87.49, a gain of 0.60% from the previous day.

Bidness ETC - McDonald's Opts For Menu Adjustment

McDonald's restructures its menu to accommodate new easy to make items.

McDonald’s Corporation is coming with new ways to diversify and streamline their restaurant menu so that they can construct their pricings once again. According to the Wall Street Journal, the company through such initiatives wishes to make the financial scenario better.

These initiatives are not new but are a series of changes that the new Chief Executive Officer of the fast food behemoth, Mr. Steve Easterbrook has taken. The CEO wishes to change the game for the company so that they pave their way to redemption. One of the primary goals of McDonald's restaurant is to attract customers and encourage them to opt for their food all over again, particularly in the United States.

According to the CEO, a thing that has played a massive part in increasing their misery is the large menu that is present for buyers in the United States market. He continued by saying, this actually causes the operations to slack and adds complexity to the kitchen environment. He considers it to be the basic reasons behind the long queues at the drive through.

It has now been reported that the company is making changes to its menu. It is expected that the new McDonald's (MCD) menu will comprise more of snack wraps and chicken sandwiches in order to simplify the menu. Recently, the company also held a webcast in which they clearly highlighted the strategies for the times to come with a more in-depth view.

The company has started to restructure the prices of its menu. The fast food giant mentioned during the webcast that it has decided to add certain items like double beef patty burger having tomato and lettuce, a McChicken burger with the same vegetables which are available for $1.5 where earlier items of similar nature were sold at $1.20-$1.39.

Several McDonald’s franchises demanded a mid-range menu since the buyers did not really have many choices. They could either choose high-end items or low-end items. Apart from this, the company also wishes to come up with thirst quenching beverages for summers. The company is also working on these summer drinks as mentioned in the webcast. This will comprise of frozen and fresh lemonade. Moreover, the company also wishes to start their all day breakfast menu which is currently being experimented in San Diego and is likely to make its way to Nashville.

Hence, in a nutshell, McDonald’s efforts are quite vigorous and show that the company wishes to resume its position. However, it might not be as easy as it seems.

Bidness ETC - Verizon Decides To Offer Motorola Droid Turbo For $499.99

The wireless company has decided to provide Motorola Droid Turbo in a contract with a lesser price tag than before.

Verizon Communication (VZ) news update talks about the offer that the wireless providers have made to the customers in which Motorola Droid Turbo has been made available with a new price which is $100 lesser than the original price. The previous year, it was recorded that the wireless carrier made an offer to provide the same phone for around $599.99 which even though was deemed as quite expensive, analysts agreed to it as the phone has qualities that are worth the price tag. However, the recent decrease that has been made by the wireless business has been taken as a pleasant surprise by the users and analysts alike.

The Turbo phone is being offered by Verizon wireless in a contract in which the device will be made available in red, black and nylon and the phone will also have a built-in memory of 32GB. As for the 64GB Droid Turbo, the smartphone has been made available to the market for $149.99 if taken without a contract. Under a contract, the phone will be offered with a price tag of $549.99. The only difference is that the in 64GB, nylon is not going to be offered for sale. Droid Turbo has been installed with new technology which has been appreciated by the users in large.

The phone has a huge screen of around 5.2 inches whereas the display resolution comes to be around a massive 2560x1440. On the other hand, the phone will also be powered with Adreno 420 processor that will be compatible with a graphics system. The most attractive part for users that love to take pictures with their phones is that this device made by Motorola has a primary camera of 21 MP, something that is not very common and is sure to delight the photographers who love capturing pictures. As for the secondary camera, it comes with 2MP.

The Motorola Droid Turbo will also be compatible with 2G, 3G and 4G LTE which makes it all the more attractive for the customers. As for more details, the phone also can be charged wirelessly with a new feature of Turbo Charging. This new model of the company has not been upgraded to Android 5.0 and is expected to get an upgrade to 5.1 Android soon.

Analysts believe that only some of the smartphone making companies have succeeded in making the new phone that deserve to be appreciated. Since all the attention of users is now being given to Samsung’s new phone model Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, Droid Turbo has not quite received the attention that it deserves.

Bidness ETC - Facebook Introduces "Add A Link"

Facebook curbs the need of Google by launching "Add A Link"

There are several problems which users undergo while using mobile applications. Among them is posting of links which get extremely clumsy where users have to switch app, copy and paste etc. So in order to solve this problem, Facebook Inc (FB) has taken an initiative where it has been testing a keyword search engine that will be in-app allowing users to find articles and websites so that they can add them to these status updates.

Along with the options to update location or pictures, some Apple iOS users have been given the option to “Add A Link”. So if users have any query, they can easily mention there and FB, the social media giant will provide several links that the user might be interested in sharing. This allows users to see what is on the sites and by tapping on them they can also add a caption before sharing it. The company will also provide a list of preferences based on the links that have been shared mostly.

This is a major advancement by the company to curb Google. Initially, if a user needed to search for any link or article, they had to switch to Google’s app via mobile and copy and paste the link on their preferred social media platform. So in one way, Social Media Platforms were contributing positively to the usage of Google.

However now, there would not be much need of Google Inc at least on Facebook since the website will perform the duties of a search engine which is expected to be less cluttered and more sophisticated.

This will be a major breakthrough for Facebook since now it will have the audience hooked to itself. Most of the users, including me found the process to copy paste links extremely monotonous and time-consuming. So if now Facebook will put an end to this misery, then users will naturally prefer to stay on the platform rather than opting for search engines.

Tech Crunch reports that the “program could launch soon, and Facebook might give publishers 100% of ad revenue if they sell what’s shown next to the articles. If Facebook sells the ads, it might get 30%”

Usually what happens is that users tend to put an end to their windows session when they want to switch tab and search. So this initiative by the company will give them reasons to stay back and have their needs catered through this platform on its own without the need of other browsers or search engine.

Bidness ETC - Yelp CEO Gives His Remarks Over Google's Effort To Buy His Firm

Jeremy Stoppelman discussed Google Inc and Yelp Inc misery.

The trading mechanism came to a halt today when the stocks of Yelp Inc surged by 15 per cent. This has been reported by the Wall Street Journal when they stated that the company was looking for sale options. This is not the first time where earlier in 2009 the search engine giant, Google Inc. showed their interest in buying Yelp Inc for an approximated amount of $500 million. The buyout was actually in favor of the company boosting Google Inc (GOOG) products and services.

However the chief executive officer of Yelp, Mr. Jeremy Stoppelman is not really sure about selling “his baby” he mentioned while addressing the Associated Press. The late CEO of Apple Inc. Steve Jobs played an instrumental role in excluding him out of it.

The Business Insider asked several questions regarding the buyout to Mr. Stoppelman. They asked how the company felt when they were approached by Google Inc. To which Mr. Jeremy Stoppelman replied, that it was an extremely difficult decision for him since he is emotionally attached to the company calling it his baby. Despite the bond, the company had no other option since he wanted it to flourish where he knew this was the only opportunity.

The business insider also asked if they received a call from Steve Jobs during that time to which he said that Jobs was against Google Inc. He had his reservations with the company which was extremely obvious where he alleged Google’s operating system Android to steal ideas from their popular iPhone. He believed that Yelp had immense potential to grow and it would actually lose its charm if it associated itself with Google Inc.

However, there are always two sides to the coin that reveal a different story. So many sources in the past also claim that Google Inc was the one that actually suspended it. Google Inc and the other company were actually working on the details of the deal, but the soon information was leaked. Many accused Yelp officials to be behind this leak.

Hence nobody really knew what caused the mishap but Google Inc was initially really interested to have Yelp on its portfolio. The change in strategy caused problems for them and lack of communication added more to the commotion whereas Google Inc has completely different stories that state Apple is the root cause of the problem. So if these issues resolve then Yelp might be soon seen with Google Inc thriving and flourishing under the able leadership of Google Inc executives.

Bidness ETC - Google's Plans To Build New Headquarter Are Massive

Google loses the battle to construct an architectural wonder to LinkedIn.

Google Inc. had eyed Mountain View's North Bayshore district since a while now to construct its glass utopia which is said to be the grandest and one of the most mysterious place ever. But now it does not really seem possible since the company will have to look for a new location. The region’s city council kept a voting after which it was deduced that Google will not get a chunk of that 2.2 million square foot land, but LinkedIn would.

Google, the search engine had massive plans to build an extensive headquarter that will be tarnished with an extremely thin coating of glass mesh. That actually looked phenomenal in the renderings. However, the city as believed did not really want an architectural wonder and preferred a plain and simple LinkedIn workplace by granting them a substantial chunk of land and handing the leftovers to Google states the Silicon Valley Business Journal.

So according to estimates it has been deduced that the area Google is actually getting will only accommodate one of the four buildings required as proposed in the initial construction plan of the company.

Two prominent names in the world of architecture, Bjarke Ingels the Danish architect belonging to Bjarke Ingels Group along with and Thomas Heatherwick belonging to the Heatherwick Studio collaborated to come up with such a design that allows for camouflage parking space underground, and make the area green with foliage, trees and other possibilities. The best part about this new headquarter would have been that a good chunk of the area of this project will be open to the masses.

However, the other side of the story is that LinkedIn’s plans were actually more sensible, appropriate and reasonable when considering both the projects reports The New York Times. Firstly, the headquarter could be constructed using the current techniques used by builders and developers. However, Google had certain tweaks that were not feasible with the current construction technologies. Moreover, LinkedIn has also vowed to diversify the canvas of Mountain View’s regional business quite different from that of Google whose revenue of taxes is linked to either better or worse.

Hence, in a nutshell, Google’s plan is extremely futuristic and beautiful but cannot be executed due to the current constraints and reservations. But this is not the end and Google can actually look for another location where they can actually make their dream of a glass utopia possible. However now, LinkedIn can enjoy its moment of glory where its new building will soon make its way on the global canvas.

Bidness ETC - Tesla Motors Earnings Report For 1QFY15

The auto making company managed to beat the analysis of the Street analysts by reporting earnings just a little higher than expectations.

Tesla Motors (TSLA) reported earnings for the first quarter of 2015 on Wednesday, May 6 2015 in which the company proved the expectations of the analysts to be wrong. The smart car makers were seen to report a net loss of around $45 million which made it come around to 36 cents per share. A rise in the loss was seen as compared to the year before when the loss came around at 12 cents per share. As for the GAAP net loss, the car makers witnessed the total loss of $154 million which resulted in coming around at $1.22 per share. Such a loss was experienced by the electric car makers due to the increasing worth of the dollar on a global basis.

The last quarter that was faced by Tesla Motors (TSLA) turned out to be a difficult one for the company as it tried to penetrate into the Chinese market but due to some major issues, it failed to do so. For the last quarter, the net loss that was witnessed by the firm came around at 13 cents per share while the gain turned out to be at 33 cents which beat the estimated earnings of the Wall Street analysts who thought the company would report 30 cents per share for the gains.

The smart car producers reported adjusted revenue of around $1.1 billion for the first quarter which ended up beating the estimations of the analysts at Wall Street who predicted that Tesla sales for the quarter will produce revenue of around $1.05 billion, Bloomberg reported.

In a recent press release by Tesla, the company expected to report the sales of around 10,030 vehicles by the end of the first quarter and this guide number was comfortably met by the firm when it presented the number of cars sold coming around at 10,045. As for the total cars that were produced, the electric car makers made 11,160 vehicles.

Tesla Motors has made an expectation of producing around 12,500 cars by the end of the second fiscal quarter. The firm also reported in the earnings conference call that its plan of selling 55,000 units of the Model S cars is still in progress.

Bidness ETC - BlackBerry Is In Dire Need Of Help

BlackBerry CEO believes that the company requires assistance to survive.

The chief executive officer of BlackBerry Ltd, John Chen believes that the company now needs help in order to change its image as a company that has been stumbling since a long time. It has been 18 months since Mr. Chen has taken charge of the company and their finances have been fairly stable during this tenure, the only problem they have been facing is the troubled image of the company.

"One of the biggest things that I'm working and struggling with, that everybody here could help with, is our reputation," stated Chen while addressing a crowd of 400 individuals at Kitchener. He further added that "Not long ago, the company was in deep trouble. We are now out of trouble in terms of financial, but we haven't established a growth…until that happens nobody will go willingly buy our products."

The company posted their earnings report for the first quarter of fiscal year of 2015 by the end of March where they were themselves baffled by making a profit of $28 million. However, they experienced a massive drop in terms of sales of their products. Their revenues actually dropped by 33 per cent where the total revenues for the company compounded to $660 million. Previously for the same quarter the company had succeeded in banging $976 million.

John Chen is known as a turnaround specialist and was bought in 2013 in November to serve BlackBerry and bring it out of its problems. However right after he took a seat, BlackBerry (BBRY) stocks declined even further and the loss compounded to $1 billion.

Tuesday, Chen addressed the masses and urged them to promote the brand as much as it can be. According to him, BlackBerry has embraced massive blows over the past five years for which he now requires assistance and support.

"The reason I said everybody could help is, you need to tell people that BlackBerry not only has a strategy, it's no longer a troubled company. The sooner that message gets out and registers, the sooner we'll return to growth," added Chen.

However, the audience Chen addressed does not really require mush pushing since they belong to the top two universities in Waterloo and have the image of the intellectual elites of the society.

According to Mr. McCarter Grespan Baynon Weir Lawyers, he had an idea about how the company had been struggling since the past five years but Mr. John Chen was the only ray of hope that could help the company come out of its tyranny.

BlackBerry has the potential to emerge out successful all it requires is some motivation from the consumers end.

Bidness ETC - GoPro Plans To Reach New Heights In 2QFY15

The action camera makers are expecting to report higher revenue growth as compared to the sales it made in the previous quarter.

GoPro camera business has been working towards making its sales boost right upwards since quite a long time and analysts believe that the action camera makers have been doing a magnificent job that has been showing in the increase in sales that the company recently witnessed in the first quarter of the current financial year. It has been proved by the camera producing company that all the strategies that have been adopted have turned out to be extremely profitable for it.

This statement can be verified by the number of sales the company was seen doing in the first financial quarter of 2015 where it beat the estimations and predictions of the equity analysts by a mile. The estimations made by the analysts of Wall Street were also proved to be wrong and analysts believe that that the speed the camera makers have seemed to be working upon, it will soon become of the biggest camera producers in the country.

The recent earnings for the first quarter that were announced by GoPro turned out quite positively with the earnings per share coming around at $0.52 beating predictions of $0.24 of the WSJ. On the other hand, the action camera manufacturers sold around 1.3 million action cameras in totality which helped the revenue of the firm increase as much as to $363 million. If the first quarter of 2014 is taken into consideration, it will be seen that an increase of a massive 54% has been recorded in the rise of the revenue per quarter.

Furthermore, the gross margin of GoPro (GPRO) sales also witnessed an increment from the first quarter of the previous year to around 45.1% which was recorded to be coming around at 40.9% in the past.

GoPro has given a guidance report for the second financial quarter of the current fiscal year where the revenue is expected to come around better $300-$400 million, which will see an upgrade by 59% as compared to the year before.

As for the EPS for 2Q, the expected amount per share has been expected to come in between $0.24-$0.26. The estimates and guidance that has been given by the company are much more than what analysts have been expecting from the firm which indicates that arise is bound to take place in the sales of the firm and it also shows that it believes that by the end of the second quarter, GoPro stock will be boosting its revenue growth and earnings with a huge difference as compared to the growth it witnessed in the previous quarter.

Bidness ETC - Here's What You Need To Be A Part of Google Inc

Certain that can make you a Google employee are here.

Google Inc. the search engine giant is one of those companies that have one of the most diverse portfolios. The company has undertaken several ventures that have contributed positively to their growth and performance. Likewise, Google stocks are also doing fairly well making their position to strengthen even more in the market.

The trajectory at which Google is growing is merely because of the fact that they value human resource. Any organization that wishes to flourish certainly needs to give the right amount of confidence to their workers so that they take such initiatives that help the company achieve its target.

Despite how appealing a job at Google might seem, there are certain traits that are required in a Google employee so if you think you have it all in you then Google is your next job destination.

Firstly, those who wish to be a part of Google that has and will continue to change lives globally need to understand that fitting the culture of the company is extremely important. Google is one of those companies that despite massive growth still wish to govern like a bunch of startups interconnected to one another rather than operating like a corporation.

The strategy helps them to remain focused to their goal and not get baffled by the glamor of their progress.

However, according to Laszlo Bock, the chief official heading human resource, those who qualify for an interview with Google do not really need to be nervous because they think they won’t be able to fit in. the only thing they are required to do is push out ideas that might add to the company’s portfolio and will help them thrive growth.

One of the most important things for them is the person so don’t wear a suit to make an impression.

To sum it all up, Google considers two things when they are actually deciding if an individual is a perfect fit for the company or not. These things are “intellectual humility” and “conscientiousness” which he mentioned in an interview.

Bock explains this by saying, at many places “cultural fit” is primarily dealing with candidates like him. However, at Google the case is slightly different where they expect individuals that add something new to the company. They do not need conventional ideas but require something different and innovative. Apart from this, conscientiousness is extremely important because it gives the employee ownership coupled with intellectual humility that gives the dignity to an employee to actually admit that something lacked or went wrong.

Bidness ETC - Microsoft Seeks To Establish Manufacturing Plants In India

Microsoft wishes to establish its manufacturing plants in India amid increase on import taxes.

Microsoft Corporation is considering various possibilities regarding establishing its own manufacturing plant in the Indian market since the local government has been making trade fairly difficult in the region. According to officials, the company finds it extends out of budget to import smartphones. The company understands the potential of the Indian smartphone market that is growing on a fast pace.

MSFT has taken several moves to rebrand itself in the region after it acquired the business of Nokia."We're evaluating that (local manufacturing) constantly in terms of what our local footprint is.”

According to Weber, "We continue evaluating that across the globe, including India while he highlighted the company’s future plans and endeavors. Microsoft has the honor of being the largest software provider across the globe which initially acquired Nokia for $7.5 billion which was signed the previous year. At that point if time the company had the opportunity to buy Nokia's manufacturing plant situated in Chennai but could not do so since the project was dealing with a tax dispute that remains unresolved to date.

The problem has now aroused for multinational companies that initially used to import smartphones and other merchandises since the taxes have been raised to a great extent. The reason behind increasing taxes is to promote and bolster the native brands.

Microsoft is not the only company that wishes to establish its manufacturing plants in the Indian market whereas local manufacturers are also trying to house their plants in India only to minimize cost. This includes top-notch smartphone manufacturers like Micromax, Karbonn, and Lava. This is not it but global companies like Xiaomi, Asus and Samsung have also shown similar interests in order to bolster and maximize production.

Microsoft understands that there is immense competition in India. For the same reason, the company has decided to offer prices that will be very low to match industry demands. The company has also mentioned that its 4G LTE and 3G smartphones will be priced at significantly low rates in order to attract buyers. Operators offering 3G and 4G LTE packages will also be contacted to promote their packages through Microsoft smartphones.

Hence, in a nutshell, Microsoft products and services are on the right track since the market they wish to conquer has numerous growth opportunities. The strategy they are deploying by offering affordable smartphones is extremely wise and will help them promote the brand in the region. A manufacturing plant will help the company a lot since they will manufacture locally and minimize costs which will help the Indian economy as well.