BUSINESS

Samsung had a sobering admission this week: Apple is getting its way in the ever-expanding tablet market, with one company executive conceding at the ongoing Barcelona Mobile World Congress that the Galaxy Tab product lines were not selling as expected.

Although online sales accounted for only 5 per cent of total retail spending in 2011, it grew at an incredible pace of 29 per cent while traditional retail store sales went up by a mere 2.5 per cent.

Oil and gas producers Beach Energy and Roc Australia have continued the recent solid earnings reports of the country's hydrocarbons sector.

Homesales.com.au one of Australia's fastest growing real estate sites, has topped the 100,000 listings mark.

Coca Cola Amatil (CCA), the publicly listed group that owns the Coke franchise in Australia and the Asia Pacific, has reported increased net profit after tax ( up 19.0 percent), increased total sales (up 6.9 percent) and increased earnings per share (up 18.3 percent) for its financial year ended 31 December 2011 compared with the previous 12 months.

For the second time in a week a senior financial regulator has warned our banks against relaxing their lending standards on home loans.

The U.S. Navy has ordered two more join high speed vessels (JHSV) or catamaran worth $321.7 million from Australian shipbuilder Austal. With the two new orders, the total catamaran orders awarded to Austal has reached $1.45 billion.

Barely a week after Telstra Corporation submitted its revised structural separation undertaking (SSU), the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) gave its approval for the $11 billion deal between NBN Co and the country's dominant telco to go ahead.

After a positive start, the local share market is trading flat at lunchtime in the East, weighed down by losses in the financial and energy sectors, and some disappointing earnings results. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is weaker by 3pts or 0.1pct to 4351.5.

As expected Caltex Australia has reported a big loss for 2011 after taking into account the $1.5 billion write-down in the value of its two oil refineries in Brisbane and Sydney.

Virgin Australia 1, Qantas 0, and falling further behind?

The Australian media industry has become a black hole that shows no sign of disappearing, judging by the flow of weak interim and full year figures this week for groups from Fairfax Media to Foxtel, Seven West Media and Network Ten.

The group yesterday revealed a net profit of $541 million, more than 15 times higher than its 2010 takings.

FNArena has added another video to its Investors Education section on the website. In this broadcast, ATW's Jerry Simmons explains why he is carefully watching the movements of the gold price these days.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed down one point to 12,981 while the S&P added 0.1% to 1367 and the Nasdaq rose 0.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) doesn't plan to -- and never did -- tout prototypes of future devices at the Mobile World Congress or at any other electronics exhibition; it doesn't provide teasers; and it doesn't intentionally misplace prototypes at a San Francisco, California-area bar.

Which is the world's most expensive car? Well, the title of 'world's most expensive car' is hard to award. There are a few cars that are priced in Euros or Pounds, which means their prices in U.S. Dollars depend on the day.

Sony Ericsson's new smartphones will hit the market soon under the new division Sony Mobile Communications that rose from the ruins of the Japanese firm's failed partnership with the Swedish tech company.

The Japanese yen recorded its steepest decline in two years, reaching 80 against the U.S. dollar overnight and 87.1 when pitted with the consistently surging Australia currency.

Fitch Ratings downgraded over the weekend the AA credit ratings by one notch of three large Australian banks. As a result the long-term issue default rating of Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and National Australia Bank is now AA- which reflects their weaker funding profile.

WikiLeaks has announced on Monday the publication of millions of email exchanges obtained from controversial international security expert Strategic Forecasting Inc (Stratfor), which WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has accused of targeting activist groups.

For car maker Holden to maintain its two-model manufacturing facility in Adelaide, the firm needs $250 million assistance from the government, Holden Chairman and Chief Executive Mike Devereux said on Sunday.

There is a possibility that Apple, Inc. (NYSE:AAPL) will take the victory the tablet wars due to the eminent release of iPad 3 and the slash on the price tag of the iPad 2.

The Australian stockmarket will open weaker today as investors eye the latest surge in oil prices (see top story), which threatens the gathering rebound on global markets.

Very quickly, the rising price of oil and petrol has emerged as the most significant obstacle to the nascent recovery in global economies and markets strengthening in the next few months.

The risk of the closure of Caltex Australia's Sydney and Brisbane refineries became higher after the oil giant announced on Monday $852 million loss for 2011. Caltex is currently reviewing its operations which could result in the axing of 800 refinery jobs.

Many people are anticipating the Mobile World congress as top players in the smartphone industry are expected to launch their latest offering during the event.

Dell just unveiled the company's first ultrabook called the XPS 13. Dell also announced that they would begin shipping the company’s ultrabook to U.S. and Canada stores by next week.

By Kathleen Brooks, Research Director UK EMEA at FOREX.comRisk is back on and some indices are hitting fresh multi-year highs as I write this.