Analysts Look At Apple Music In A Positive Manner

The software giant has decided to launch a new music service and analysts are looking at it in a positive manner.

Apple has launched a new updated Apple Music service which has attracted quite a lot of attention of the analysts in the industry. This new video streaming service has been launched on Tuesday and analysts believe this is not going to work too much for the tech giant in the initial stages, if that is what the investors are expecting. The iPhone making firm has been working on this project for some time now and before the release, the analysts showed many bearish signs as to why they thoughts this service is not going to be very profitable for the company. However, a recent analysis has shown that this service might not turn out to be so bad after all and it is very much expected that in near future, the stock value of the company increases with the help of the popularity and usage of this streaming service.

Apple is clearly not the first company to be stepping into the video streaming business. Two main giants in the industry are none other than Pandora and Spotify who have been maintaining high position in the video viewing industry for quite some time now. These companies are no exactly similar as Pandora is famous for providing free radio services through the process of streaming to the users and the main source of income for the firm is through adverts while on the other hand, Spotify works through providing video streaming services but by following subscription plans.

Pandora currently has a user base of around 79.2 users as per the reports that emerged after the first financial quarter of the current year. It was seen through the reports that the firm managed to secure around 10 percent of the total radio listeners in the United States which was noted down as a huge achievement. As for Spotify, the same cannot be said it has around 75 million users and around 20 million of those users are paying $9.99 every month as subscription fees.

Analysts who have been comparing all the three companies for a better inside look on the kind of competition being stirred up are of the opinion that Apple Music going to turn out to be a dangerous threat Spotify as the software company has decided to offer its monthly subscription plan for a price tag of $9.99 too, just like its rival in the industry. The MAC producers will also be offering a huge number of 30 million tracks to the users which might take away much of the users from Spotify.

                                                                                                                  

Cisco Reports Jump in South African Internet Traffic

South Africa is expected to see a massive jump in Internet traffic as more people switch to smartphones and other smart devices.

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) has reported a jump in Internet traffic from South Africa, as the public there switches to smartphone devices. This was stated by a report from Cisco Visual Networking Index 2015, which predicts that the number of smartphone users will jump from the current 15 million to around less than 30 million by 2019. Whereas, Internet traffic from that side is expected to grow at an annual rate of 44%.

The IP based networking products maker predicts that by 2019, around 43 billion minutes of video content will be downloaded. It is an indication that businesses and consumers alike are taking advantage of growing access of social media to connect to one another. Meanwhile, mobile video traffic growth is expected at around 73%, as many South Africans also stream video content from their smartphones.

The facts provided by Cisco reinforce the views of many researchers who have highlighted how smartphones are going to play a very critical role for the development of South Africa, especially when the infrastructure, despite well-developed, is showing signs of creaking due to pressure from population. Public is becoming more aggressive of being close to those managing the business, in order to demand better goods and services.

According to a study commissioned by the by Orange Horizons on the provision of Wi-Fi in Mitchell’s Plain and Khayelitsha near Cape Town, it was revealed that nearly 9% of the respondents used Internet on their smartphone. These respondents were granted 3GB data free during the day, but around half of them stated that the speed and access were not enough and wanted more.

In fact, according to the same Cisco research, smartphones will cement their position by 2019 as the most primary tool to have access to the Internet, at around 30% for all networked devices, a rise from 2% last year. Demand for video is likely to serve as a driving force for new internet video services that is expected to eat up less than 80% of IP traffic.

Finally, Cisco also predicts that by 2019, the average broadband speed will rise from the current 3.5 Mbit/s to around 10 Mbit/s, which will likely result in the growth of smart TVs and machine-to-machine communications. Overall, it is a very bullish outlook for the South African IT industry. The next age is regarded as the age of smart devices.

Cisco stock price ended the day at $28.28, a decline of 0.42% from the previous day.

Netflix All Set To Make Its Way In India

Netflix is said to be entering the Indian streaming industry by the end of 2016.

Netflix Inc. is rapidly expanding throughout the world. The company is the online streaming giant that has disrupted the television industry in an attempt to cut the cords of viewers. The streaming service offers its services in more than 50 countries and now it has nearly 62 million plus paid subscribers on its platform. Recently, it has focused mostly on expansions and less on generating profits and revenues. However, after adding many regions in its pipeline and actually expanded in some of the countries. The latest additions were Australia, Cuba, and New Zealand along with China to be the next.

Netflix’s expansion in China is said to be the most hyped and talked about in the streaming industry. Now reports are coming that Netflix is planning to make its way in India. The Indian population loves watching movies and streaming online video content. Furthermore, the trend of streaming in the region is growing substantially in recent times. Even then there is a lack of online movies and TV shows’ streaming services in the region. But, sources suggest that ‘a consistent impediment in the recent past, in addition to licensing hassles, has been the long debate around net neutrality in India.’

According to a reported published in the Times of India, it stated “US-based Netflix, has firmed up plans to enter India by 2016, according to people familiar with the matter. This has sent domestic DTH players into a tizzy with some of the major ones chalking out strategies to diversify beyond television. On the cards are iconic shows including Buniyaad, Nukkad and Malgudi Days on various mobile devices across iOS and Android.”

The streaming service has vowed to be in each and every country of the world by the end of 2016 along with totally decimating the traditional television trend and make a new market of internet TV only. Netflix also seeks to pass a huge number of users by the end of 2019 in order to sustain its market position and status.

Whenever Netflix eyes to enter a certain market, it imposes great threat on the traditional pay TV cable business operators as well the local established businesses in the same sector. The report that was published also quoted a spokesperson of Netflix “We have said we plan to be nearly global by the end of 2016. We have nothing else to share at this point.”

Local Direct Broadcast Satellite owners (DTH) such as Tata Sky has already started to make a plan and work on it in order to bring Netflix to the masses once it is all set to launch

Cablevision Systems See Dead Future For Big Bundle Of Cable Channels

Cablevision Systems CEO sees fewer customers taking the “big bundle” of cable channels and a shift to a mix of online and over-the-air broadcast programming.

James Nolan, CEO of Cablevision Systems (NYSE:CVC), anticipates a bleak future for the big bundle of cable service channels, expecting customers to switch over to a mix of online and over the air broadcast programs. In an investor group meeting organized by the Guggenheim Partners, he said that a reduction in the number of customers in taking big bundle is inevitable.

Such an impact is likely to affect programmers, which Mr. Dolan estimates from his own personal estimate is around 20-25 percent loss in the following five years, especially with the industry moving away from the current structure to new dimensions, such as digital antennae. His views hold many teeth in it. A Wall Street analysis of the Nielsen data show that the top 40 TV channels in the US, such as CNN and ESPN, lost more than 3 million subscribers for the past four years, because of ‘cord cutting’.

Demographics are also playing its part, with the customer base of the baby boomers shrinking while the current generation is hooked up into the Internet and streaming for movies and videos online. This is the reason why Mr. Dolan warned that the cable operators would stop selling video services one day and focus more on broadband service.

In response, Cablevision Systems has been introducing “cord-cutter packages”, which uses a digital antenna in order to pick up to 70 broadcast channels, including popular channels, such as CBS, ABC, and Fox.

Cord cutter and digital antenna programs are not yet deemed practical for the time being, due to a lack of content. However, due to HBO and ShowTime, it is now possible to mix the broadcast with over the top cable offerings. The price tag for the digital antenna is around less than $40, in addition to data and phone service, what Dolan calls it as a cheap triple play.

While there are a handful of competitors out there in the market, the CEO of cablevision is confident that their offer is one of the cheapest, because of lower prices, while acknowledging that their service is not yet a top class. Now the focus shifts to the customers having the chance to move from one bad cable company to a good one.

The organization is known for its affordable offerings to people who think that cable is too costly, as stated by the CEO.

Cablevision Systems stock price ended the day at $24.51, a gain of 0.60% from the previous day.

Herbalife And Taipei Medical University Partner Up For Diet Clinical Study

Study to show whether combination of meal replacement, fish oil, and a calorie-restricted diet led to effective weight management.

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) entered into an agreement with Taipei Medical University to conduct a clinical study as well as trials to study the combination of fish oil, meal replacement and calorie restricted diet leading to a better management of weight and improvement in the metabolic syndrome.

This is the first of a kind medical research study and part of the nutrition food company’s corporate social responsibility in collaborating with a medical university in Asia that is renowned in researching on traditional medicinal products with a slight modern twist to address the growing health challenges of the world.

The results released showed that during the 12-week period that was conducted, participants lost 6.5 cm in terms of waist circumference, around 4.5 kg in weight and 2.5% in body fat percentage. Other factors, such as the triglyceride level, low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, fasting blood glucose level, were all brought into control by the method.

A total of less than 190 students were selected for the study in Taiwan, and were segregated into four different parts, namely  “calorie restricted diet”; “calorie restricted diet with meal replacement”; “calorie restricted diet with fish oil”; and “calorie restricted diet with meal replacement and fish oil” groups.

David Heber, chairman of Herbalife Nutrition Institute and Advisory Board, stated that metabolic syndrome is affecting at least 20-20 percent of the middle aged adults in many countries around the world and has resulted in increased waist circumference, fast rising blood sugar and blood pressure. This condition is becoming increasingly common among Asian adults, and that is the reason why here is a spike in cases of diabetes and heart disease.

The Taipei Medical University was all praise for the collaboration from Herbalife’s part, which had provided vital data and the scope of the study structure and sharing of expertise that has helped to shape the study to reflect on the local needs while ensuring correct information is being supplied, so that prevention measure can be enacted to ensure healthier living for young adults around the world, instead of looking it from the perspective of profits and what healthy snacks from the part of Herbalife can be supplied to those adults for a better standard of living.

The Journal will be published in the “Journal of Functional Foods”, a well-known journal in the food science research field, as well as on the “European Journal of Clinical Nutrition”, an internationally renowned nutrition journal. Herbalife’s stock price ended the day at $53.91, a loss of 0.30% from the previous day.

Middle East and U.S airlines trade charges on subsidy claim

Middle East and United States airline chiefs traded accusations on Monday over a campaign by major U.S. carriers.

According to Reuters, Middle East and United States airline chiefs traded allegations on Monday on a campaign by chief U.S carriers to limit what the look is deeply subsidized competition from Gulf Corresponding.

In the US, airlines are working to encourage the government of United States to change the Open Skies contracts with the Qatar and United Arab Emirates, alleging them of heaping their airlines with over $40 billion in grants and twisting competition. Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways and Emirates deny the claim of subsidy.

Akbar Al Baker, the Chief Executive Officer of Qatar Airways said any alteration in the agreement might spark protection.

Al baker stated in an annual meeting at the International Air Transport Association in Miami, "Any rollback of liberal market access and Open Skies policies will reverberate across the whole world and will lead to retaliatory protectionism affecting all aspects of trade,"

After the comments by Al Baker, Tony Tyler Director General of IATA said they were in support of liberalization. The body has said it does not have any right to officially act on the problem.

While replying to the journalist’s questions, Mr. Tyler said, “IATA and its members are fully in favor of growing liberalization, free and fair competition, that's the policy of members and policy of IATA,"

The Chief Executive Officer of American Airline Group, Doug Parker recognized that the carrier has got a code share coalitions with Etihad and Qatar, but stated that US must impose its trade policies.

After Al Baker comment, Parker said during the press conference, "We've produced evidence to the U.S. government that indeed other countries are subsidizing carriers that are flying to the United States,"

Parker said the government of US was working thoroughly on the matter and was in continuous contact with the airlines. He also said that the government of US timeline was unclear, but he believes it will act soon.

While United States carriers such as American and Delta Airlines have closed positions on the matter, other such as FedEX Corp and JetBlue Airways Corp partner of Emirates have raised up for the open Skies contract, raising voice that alteration might set a bad example.

Lufthansa of Germany, whose business is on Asia routes have been damaged by the Gulf carriers competition.

Carsten Spohr, CEO of Lufthansa said in a news briefing, "There's various ways to how you can achieve balance of openness. It could be limitations of destinations, limitations of frequencies,"

Cummins Inc. Expected To Report $2.57 EPS Following “A” Credit Rating

Company reported EPS at $2.04 in late April this year.

Analysts at Wall Street are expecting Cummins Inc. (NYSE:CMI) to report an earnings per share at $2.50, which is 26% more than when the company reported its EPS at $2.04 for the quarter ending on March 31, 2015.

The consensus is made after Cummins Inc. was given an “A” credit rating from Morningstar, indicating that the company is at low risk of default at the end of last month. It has also led many brokerage analysts to set the target price at $154 on the stock. The most bullish assessment among analysts is seeing the stock price at $180 and the bearish ones are expecting $134.

For future growth projections for the company, analysts are expecting earnings per share to average around $10.35, with the most bullish assessment calling for EPS at $11.08, and the most bearish calling for $9.7.

Cummins has been expanding its operations by taking advantage of strong, yet sputtering, economic growth, even though the economy is mostly driven by startups and high finances. Last month, the company has expanded its distribution center in Memphis, in order to support its global supply chain operations to optimize freight and transportation options, as it stretches itself to the point of bringing down costs while helping to support the country’s physical infrastructure in a market that is likely to value in trillions of dollars. This provides a tremendous opportunity for the diesel engine and fuel and natural gas systems manufacturer to keep innovating and try to adapt to ever-changing needs of environmentally sustaining lives of citizens.

It is also aggressively investing in boosting its clean power credentials to make its engine oil fuels more economically and environmentally friendly. Demand is more to come from overseas market, as countries, such as India and China, try to step up their fight against environmental pollution that is choking the health of its citizens at the cost of economic growth. Although the company had to face the hiccups from crisis to crisis, such as the Asian financial crisis in the late 90’s to the Great Recession, it has managed to, more or less, dodge them due to its wide exposure to the world, helping to offset volatility.

Cummins stock price ended the day at $135.47, down 0.53% from the previous day, despite the relatively bullish assessments from analysts and the company’s future drive. However, the future of the company regarding its endeavors is yet to be determined accurately.