By JAY ALABASTER, Associated Press
– Apple's newest iPhone was in short supply just hours after its global launch began in Tokyo on Thursday morning as hundreds queued outside stores across the city to become among the first in the world to own the device.
At the Apple store in the swanky Ginza shopping district, several hundred lined the street in the early afternoon heat, as staff handed out bottled water and loaned black umbrellas with the company logo. A man dressed as a giant iPhone danced and waived his arms as he made it to the front of the line.
"I like the design. It's sleek — I think it's cool!" said Yoko Kosugi, 41, a graphic designer, who took her new phone out of her bag to show it off, plastic wrapping still on the screen.
Long lines formed from early morning across the city at Apple stores and retail outlets across the city.
Thursday's global launch of the iPhone 4 was being carried out at 7 a.m. local time in each region, so Japanese were among the first in the world to get their hands on the device. The U.S., France, U.K. and Germany are also part of the global launch.
In the trendy shopping district of Harajuku, over 300 people were lined up at the flagship store of Softbank, Japan's exclusive carrier, when its doors opened in the morning. That store ran out of phones by early afternoon, said company spokesman Naoki Nakayama.
"We've been selling out at each launch, it's the same conditions," he said, declining to release any numbers.
When the initial version of the iPhone was released in Japan two years ago, some questioned whether it could succeed without many of the advanced hardware features common on Japanese models. But the phone's addictive touch screen and broad selection of downloadable applications have made it a runaway hit in the country.
The newest model is thinner with a better-resolution screen and longer battery life. It features a new operating system that can also be installed on some older models.
Even among Apple's most faithful, some said the phone has become a victim of its own success in Japan.
"As Softbank has cut prices and more and more people signed up, it has made the network much slower," said Motoki Sato, a university student who lined up outside of Softbank's store in urban Shibuya.
But he still waited through the night before the launch along with dozens of others at the Shibuya store, to get "a birthday present for myself" when he turned 24 on Thursday. He occasionally glanced at his black iPad as he spoke, and said he tried not use his older iPhone too much to conserve battery life through the long wait.
A swarm of pre-orders earlier in the week also led to long lines around Tokyo and overwhelmed computer servers struggling to keep up with demand.
joi, 24 iunie 2010
Toyota president apologizes to shareholders
By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business
Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda bowed deeply and apologized to shareholders Thursday for the troubles caused by massive global recalls of the company's vehicles.
Toyoda was facing shareholders for the first time since the Japanese automaker's reputation for quality was damaged by the recall crisis that started last October.
Again bowing deeply after the remark, Toyoda also said the company was doing its utmost to improve quality control and thanked shareholders for their support.
"I apologize deeply for the concerns we have caused," he said. "We believe our most important task is to regain customers' trust."
The shareholders' meeting was closed to the media, but the proceedings could be seen in a TV monitor in another room at Toyota headquarters in the city named after the automaker. Atonement for Japanese company heads typically comes as a deep bow held for several seconds to show heartfelt remorse for wrongdoing.
Toyota, the world's biggest automaker, has been working to patch up its reputation after more than 8 million vehicles were recalled worldwide over reports of unintended acceleration and other defects.
U.S. authorities slapped Toyota with a record $16.4 million fine for acting too slowly on the recalls. Toyota dealers have repaired millions of vehicles, but the automaker still faces more than 200 lawsuits tied to accidents, the lower resale value of Toyota vehicles and the drop in the company's stock.
Although the recall debacle hung over the shareholders' meeting, the statements from Toyoda and other officials were met with polite applause. A handful of shareholders shouted their anger.
The region where the automaker is headquartered is packed with Toyota plants, suppliers and other businesses like hotels and restaurants that are heavily reliant on Toyota and fiercely loyal.
"The company stumbled badly over the recalls, and it became a big problem," said one shareholder, who identified himself only by his surname Nishikawa.
He also expressed hopes Toyoda as the "face of the company" will handle the recall problem bravely, without breaking into tears, referring to a widely reported meeting that a tearful Toyoda had with dealers in the U.S. where the recalls were concentrated.
Others asked about Toyota's strategy for green vehicles and how it planned to expand in emerging markets, including dealing with labor strife that has temporarily shut down production n China.
Toyota Executive Vice President Satoshi Ozawa said recall-related costs for the fiscal year ended March totaled 380 billion yen ($4 billion).
Executive Vice President Shinichi Sasaki acknowledged that Toyota had failed to fully understand the feelings of customers about safety.
But he said the company was working harder to beef up quality controls, including appointing outsiders to assess the company's transparency, and finding out more how drivers were using Toyota vehicles.
"We want to make Toyota No. 1 in quality from the customers' viewpoint," he told shareolders.
Toyoda said directors on the board will forego their bonus payments for the second year in a row. Directors didn't get bonsues the previous year after Toyota reported the worst losses in its history as the financial crisis sent auto sales plunging.
That won the approval of at least one shareholder, who pointed out the contrast with Japanese rival Nissan Motor Co., which disclosed at its shareholders' meeting Wednesday that Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn had received $9.5 million in compensation.
Analyst opinion has been mixed about Toyota's prospects, which remain shaky and depend on a global auto recovery.
"I'm not that pessimistic. I am hopeful the world's economy is going to grow happier," Nomura Securities Co. auto analyst Shotaro Noguchi said in a telephone interview.
"The image that Toyota cars were dangerous got serious three months ago so that even kids knew about it. But people forget and that has changed," he said.
Toyoda pointed to his striking a deal last month with Tesla Motors Inc., a U.S. electric car manufacturer, to open an electric car plant at the site of Toyota's former venture with General Motors Co. as an example of how Toyota will start anew.
In April, Toyota closed the California plant, called New United Motor Manufacturing Inc., or NUMMI.
He promised Toyota will continue to grow, but without pursuing size for size's sake.
"Our company is about doing the right thing in the right way," he told the meeting. "And I like to think we are the kind of company that cares about people's feelings."
Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda bowed deeply and apologized to shareholders Thursday for the troubles caused by massive global recalls of the company's vehicles.
Toyoda was facing shareholders for the first time since the Japanese automaker's reputation for quality was damaged by the recall crisis that started last October.
Again bowing deeply after the remark, Toyoda also said the company was doing its utmost to improve quality control and thanked shareholders for their support.
"I apologize deeply for the concerns we have caused," he said. "We believe our most important task is to regain customers' trust."
The shareholders' meeting was closed to the media, but the proceedings could be seen in a TV monitor in another room at Toyota headquarters in the city named after the automaker. Atonement for Japanese company heads typically comes as a deep bow held for several seconds to show heartfelt remorse for wrongdoing.
Toyota, the world's biggest automaker, has been working to patch up its reputation after more than 8 million vehicles were recalled worldwide over reports of unintended acceleration and other defects.
U.S. authorities slapped Toyota with a record $16.4 million fine for acting too slowly on the recalls. Toyota dealers have repaired millions of vehicles, but the automaker still faces more than 200 lawsuits tied to accidents, the lower resale value of Toyota vehicles and the drop in the company's stock.
Although the recall debacle hung over the shareholders' meeting, the statements from Toyoda and other officials were met with polite applause. A handful of shareholders shouted their anger.
The region where the automaker is headquartered is packed with Toyota plants, suppliers and other businesses like hotels and restaurants that are heavily reliant on Toyota and fiercely loyal.
"The company stumbled badly over the recalls, and it became a big problem," said one shareholder, who identified himself only by his surname Nishikawa.
He also expressed hopes Toyoda as the "face of the company" will handle the recall problem bravely, without breaking into tears, referring to a widely reported meeting that a tearful Toyoda had with dealers in the U.S. where the recalls were concentrated.
Others asked about Toyota's strategy for green vehicles and how it planned to expand in emerging markets, including dealing with labor strife that has temporarily shut down production n China.
Toyota Executive Vice President Satoshi Ozawa said recall-related costs for the fiscal year ended March totaled 380 billion yen ($4 billion).
Executive Vice President Shinichi Sasaki acknowledged that Toyota had failed to fully understand the feelings of customers about safety.
But he said the company was working harder to beef up quality controls, including appointing outsiders to assess the company's transparency, and finding out more how drivers were using Toyota vehicles.
"We want to make Toyota No. 1 in quality from the customers' viewpoint," he told shareolders.
Toyoda said directors on the board will forego their bonus payments for the second year in a row. Directors didn't get bonsues the previous year after Toyota reported the worst losses in its history as the financial crisis sent auto sales plunging.
That won the approval of at least one shareholder, who pointed out the contrast with Japanese rival Nissan Motor Co., which disclosed at its shareholders' meeting Wednesday that Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn had received $9.5 million in compensation.
Analyst opinion has been mixed about Toyota's prospects, which remain shaky and depend on a global auto recovery.
"I'm not that pessimistic. I am hopeful the world's economy is going to grow happier," Nomura Securities Co. auto analyst Shotaro Noguchi said in a telephone interview.
"The image that Toyota cars were dangerous got serious three months ago so that even kids knew about it. But people forget and that has changed," he said.
Toyoda pointed to his striking a deal last month with Tesla Motors Inc., a U.S. electric car manufacturer, to open an electric car plant at the site of Toyota's former venture with General Motors Co. as an example of how Toyota will start anew.
In April, Toyota closed the California plant, called New United Motor Manufacturing Inc., or NUMMI.
He promised Toyota will continue to grow, but without pursuing size for size's sake.
"Our company is about doing the right thing in the right way," he told the meeting. "And I like to think we are the kind of company that cares about people's feelings."
Spanish EU presidency marred by economic crisis
by Pierre Ausseill
Spain's ambitious presidency of the EU was eclipsed by the European debt crisis which thrust the country's fragile economy into the global spotlight and weakened the Spanish government, analysts said.
Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero had planned to use the six-month presidency of the 27-nation bloc, which wraps up on July 1 when Belgium takes over, to bolster his international stature.
But nothing went as planned as the eruption of the Greek debt crisis, and the subsequent fears that it could spread to other southern European nations like Spain and Portugal, caused stock markets and the euro single currency to plunge.
Under pressure by EU heavyweight Germany, the Spanish government adopted unpopular austerity measures, including public sector spending cuts, aimed at slashing a public deficit that hit 11.2 percent of gross domestic product in 2009, the third-highest after Greece and Ireland.
The government also adopted an overhaul of its rigid labour market as recommended by the International Monetary Fund to fight an unemployment rate of 20 percent.
The reforms, which make it easier and less expensive to fire workers, put an end to Zapatero's honeymoon with the nation's unions, which have called a general strike for September 29, and caused his popularity to drop.
Spain was ending its stint as EU president as a "protectorate" of the bloc with its "economy managed from abroad", the leader of the main opposition Popular Party, Mariano Rajoy, charged Wednesday during a debate with Zapatero in parliament.
"The circumstances of the Greek crisis and the widespread problem of fiscal deficits overtook Spain as they would have overtaken any rotating presidency," said Ignacio Molina, a Europe analyst with the Elcano Institute think tank in Madrid.
"But Spain also emerged as one of the weakest countries in this scenario. It found itself without a margin for manoeuvre, being in the position of judge and litigant at the same time. It was difficult for other countries to consider it a neutral president," he added.
Hierlemann Dominik, a specialist in European affairs at German's Bertelsmann Foundation, said all other priorities "such as relations with the Maghreb, the rights of women, were swept away by the crisis in the euro, they were marginalized."
On the diplomatic front Spain's presidency of the EU was marked by the cancellation of two key summits, one with the United States in May and the other with the Mediterranean Union in June.
The EU-US summit was called off after US President Barack Obama cancelled the trip citing his busy schedule while the Mediterranean Union summit was postponed to give time for progress in indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
The death of Cuban dissident Orlando Zapata in February torpedoed Spain's bid to get the EU to soften its common position regarding the communist island.
Spain did achieve its goals for the EU-Latin America summit held last month with the announcement of a free trade agreement between the bloc and Central America and the relaunch of free trade talks with South American trading bloc Mercosur, which is made up of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay.
Zapatero defended Spain's performance during the EU presidency, saying Wednesday it had been "satisfactory" and "useful".
He pointed to the approval at an EU summit last week of Madrid's proposal to make bank stress tests public -- which he said would be "fundamental" to restore calm in the markets -- as an example of the success of the Spanish presidency.
"We had to deal with difficult circumstances for the European Union and also for our country," he added.
Spain's ambitious presidency of the EU was eclipsed by the European debt crisis which thrust the country's fragile economy into the global spotlight and weakened the Spanish government, analysts said.
Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero had planned to use the six-month presidency of the 27-nation bloc, which wraps up on July 1 when Belgium takes over, to bolster his international stature.
But nothing went as planned as the eruption of the Greek debt crisis, and the subsequent fears that it could spread to other southern European nations like Spain and Portugal, caused stock markets and the euro single currency to plunge.
Under pressure by EU heavyweight Germany, the Spanish government adopted unpopular austerity measures, including public sector spending cuts, aimed at slashing a public deficit that hit 11.2 percent of gross domestic product in 2009, the third-highest after Greece and Ireland.
The government also adopted an overhaul of its rigid labour market as recommended by the International Monetary Fund to fight an unemployment rate of 20 percent.
The reforms, which make it easier and less expensive to fire workers, put an end to Zapatero's honeymoon with the nation's unions, which have called a general strike for September 29, and caused his popularity to drop.
Spain was ending its stint as EU president as a "protectorate" of the bloc with its "economy managed from abroad", the leader of the main opposition Popular Party, Mariano Rajoy, charged Wednesday during a debate with Zapatero in parliament.
"The circumstances of the Greek crisis and the widespread problem of fiscal deficits overtook Spain as they would have overtaken any rotating presidency," said Ignacio Molina, a Europe analyst with the Elcano Institute think tank in Madrid.
"But Spain also emerged as one of the weakest countries in this scenario. It found itself without a margin for manoeuvre, being in the position of judge and litigant at the same time. It was difficult for other countries to consider it a neutral president," he added.
Hierlemann Dominik, a specialist in European affairs at German's Bertelsmann Foundation, said all other priorities "such as relations with the Maghreb, the rights of women, were swept away by the crisis in the euro, they were marginalized."
On the diplomatic front Spain's presidency of the EU was marked by the cancellation of two key summits, one with the United States in May and the other with the Mediterranean Union in June.
The EU-US summit was called off after US President Barack Obama cancelled the trip citing his busy schedule while the Mediterranean Union summit was postponed to give time for progress in indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
The death of Cuban dissident Orlando Zapata in February torpedoed Spain's bid to get the EU to soften its common position regarding the communist island.
Spain did achieve its goals for the EU-Latin America summit held last month with the announcement of a free trade agreement between the bloc and Central America and the relaunch of free trade talks with South American trading bloc Mercosur, which is made up of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay.
Zapatero defended Spain's performance during the EU presidency, saying Wednesday it had been "satisfactory" and "useful".
He pointed to the approval at an EU summit last week of Madrid's proposal to make bank stress tests public -- which he said would be "fundamental" to restore calm in the markets -- as an example of the success of the Spanish presidency.
"We had to deal with difficult circumstances for the European Union and also for our country," he added.
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